- Title
- Devastation and restoration: the use of Namibian dense salt blocks and the Cape Cross Salt Pans as visual metaphors
- Creator
- Greyling, Wil-Merie
- ThesisAdvisor
- De Jager, Maureen
- ThesisAdvisor
- Folaranmi, Stephen
- Subject
- Sculpture
- Subject
- Destruction
- Subject
- Restoration and conservation
- Subject
- Salt pans in art
- Subject
- Grief in art
- Subject
- Loss (Psychology) in art
- Subject
- Visual metaphor
- Subject
- Salt mines and mining Namibia
- Date
- 2023-10-13
- Type
- Academic theses
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/437203
- Identifier
- vital:73352
- Description
- This mini-thesis explores personal experiences during seasons of loss and grief using physical landscapes, specifically Namibian dense salt mining activities at the Cape Cross Salt Pans, as metaphors for devastation and restoration. Furthermore, the thesis investigates the connection between spiritual and physical landscapes through song and dreams to interpret personal experiences of loss and grief. The thesis explores how believers may find physical places of value outside the constraints of formal religious activities and how these experiences could evoke spiritual landscapes. The qualitative auto-ethnographical approach followed in this study proved an appropriate research methodology, explicitly involving observation and documentation of the physical landscape and reflection on personal experiences, such as dreams. In coming to terms with personal experiences of grief and loss, the individual results of the process were generated using methods such as retrospective reflection and observation. In my findings, I unpack how I found personal meaning from my creative and academic explorations. The metaphoric characteristics of dense salt blocks figuratively express ‘metamorphosis’, ‘weeping’, and ‘growth’. My findings include that one can represent healing and restorative elements with artistic value. The Namibian salt mining industry is typically removed from artistic activities and expression, but I succeeded in forging an atypical relationship with the industry players in an area of the salt block mining industry. In my practice, I explored the character of mined resources, in this case, dense salt blocks, by changing their inherent properties from low-value commercial minerals into unique art objects. In the process, I examined the metaphoric associations that organically mined material, in this case, salt blocks, may hold. Therefore, I link personal creative storytelling to a site with spiritual and sacred values and thus become a place to come to terms with loss and grief.
- Description
- Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2023
- Format
- computer, online resource, application/pdf, 1 online resource (75 pages), pdf
- Publisher
- Rhodes University, Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Greyling, Wil-Merie
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike" License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/)
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RU Department of Fine Art
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | GREYLING-MA-TR-23-279.pdf | 13 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |