Border crossing, collecting, gravitating: small narratives of three ordinary collectors in the Chinese diaspora in South Africa since the late 1980s
- Authors: Grobbelaar, Binjun
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: Chinese diaspora , Art Collectors and collecting South Africa , Autobiography in art , Art History , Knowledge, Sociology of , Proximity
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/467039 , vital:76809 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/467039
- Description: Shifting away from the conventional viewpoint that confines art collecting predominantly to established structures like art institutions, markets, and exclusive collector networks, a trajectory historically influenced by Western collecting traditions and museology, this thesis takes a radical turn by delving into the small narratives of three ordinary Chinese collectors, namely Shengkai Wu, Yiyuan Yang and Shudi Li, who immigrated to South Africa since the late 1980s. The focus on Chinese collectors and migration resonates with my positionality as a recent Chinese immigrant in South Africa and aligns with Boaventura de Sousa Santos’s approach to proximity in knowledge-making, which emphasises ‘knowing with’ and ‘walking alongside’ the subjects of study. The selected immigrant collectors were chosen based on their current low-to-middle economic status in South Africa. These three individuals have decades of living and artcollecting experience in the country, having held professional backgrounds in China prior to their immigration. The number of collectors was determined through an in-depth qualitative biographical research method, taking into account the niche field of art collecting and the relatively small Chinese population within the broader South African demographic. It approaches collecting as a method of pursuing clues and explores it as a socio-cultural practice by collaging the biographies of three ordinary collectors as micro-histories. Details of these ordinary lives are entangled with the lives of objects that traverse China and South Africa. The use of non-official data, at times fragmented and partially obscured, is employed to craft a narrative that weaves together diverse and complex perspectives. The aim of this thesis is to attempt to shift from elite collecting narratives to a more diverse understanding of the global circulation and appropriation of art and cultural objects in relation to grassroots migration. This shift is explored through the unique insights derived from recovering the personal narratives of ordinary immigrant collectors and their associated objects in overlooked geographical locations and states of transformation within the context of China– Africa relations. I engage China–Africa relations within the framework Global South, seeks to address the limitations of describing the multi-dimensional interweaving of low-profile individual and objecthood, unofficial and official, historical and ephemeral relationships in the burgeoning field of China-Africa relations. The investigation unfolds through two interconnected aspects embedded in the development of each collector’s biography. Firstly, it delves into how the collecting practices of these three Chinese collectors are interwoven with their experiences in both China and South Africa. Secondly, it examines the agencies of the collectors and the relationships they establish with the objects they collect. I approach these collectors as curators of their autobiographical exhibitions in the process of preliminary data collection and subsequent thematic and object-oriented interviews. Through the analysis of collectors’ oral, visual and written narratives, as well as the biographies of objects, this PhD thesis in Art History uncovers a multilayered influx of crossways of knowledge-making by the collectors on the ground. Inspired by practical material re-ordering and personal interests, these collectors engage in configuring the border-crossing process within the Chinese diaspora in South Africa. Recurring narratives of critical socialist experiences in Maoist China are linked to their suppressed agency and subsequent recovery through emigration to South Africa. They negotiate a complex diasporic terrain marked by engaging with socialist philately materials, persistently gravitating towards China. Concurrently, they transcend conventional nation-state framework, accentuating the convergent aesthetic qualities inherent in transnational artefacts and community-based art practices. The collectors’ engagement with exported Chinese “specialised arts and crafts”, and unconventional artefacts, such as philately materials, creates a bottom-up fresh interpretation of what constitutes collecting Chinese art in the context of South Africa. Fragments of British colonial history on the Rand, Chinese semi-colonial history, and contemporary printmaking in both China and South Africa, embedded in tangible material artefacts and in intangible visual connection, become visible through their logics of collecting and affective approach from the bottom up. Highlighting the often-overlooked Chinese agency in the creation of these objects, this research illustrates how individual mobility between China and Africa can contribute to the nuanced role of aesthetics through collecting, redefining what is visible and meaningful in the context of the Chinese diaspora and art collecting in South Africa. Specifically, discourses on the border poetics of Zheng He, colonial postcards and notices on the Rand, visual connection in printmaking, and Chinese semi-colonial artefacts of a converged “Chinese–British” aesthetic and a controversial Tang blue-and-white dish are instances where ordinary Chinese collectors in the Global South strategically mobilise collecting as a means to migrate towards an alternative politics of hope, as conceptualised by Chiara Brambilla. This hope presents a “strategic Southerness,” cultivates an “alter-geopolitics of knowledge” (Simbao 2017) that, pushing against the often-dominant representation of spectacle within the structured frameworks of art institutions, markets and networks of elite collectors. I argue that these emerging themes and objects in the collectors’ narratives represent a grounded, localised knowledge-making from below, unfolding practices underpinned by the material conditions of ordinary collectors of art and material culture in the Global South, aspects that have not been given adequate attention in history. In the process of encountering, reassembling, and appropriating these material objects and associating people in South Africa, I argue that collecting becomes not only an act of diasporic agency in constructing memories of the past, but also offers insight into the complex Chinese diaspora within the dynamics of a rising Chinese presence in Africa. On the one hand, these ordinary collectors employ collecting as an act of resistance against the aftermath of political turmoil and the epistemological inequality imposed on grassroots communities. Their emergence has contributed to transforming the residual colonial culture of the “othering” in the landscape of art collecting in South Africa. On the other hand, their agency intersects with Chinese diasporic nationalism, which lingers in the tension between internalised Eurocentric exploitation and romanticised appreciation and cultural preservation, a question that awaits for further investigation. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2024
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024-10-11
- Authors: Grobbelaar, Binjun
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: Chinese diaspora , Art Collectors and collecting South Africa , Autobiography in art , Art History , Knowledge, Sociology of , Proximity
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/467039 , vital:76809 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/467039
- Description: Shifting away from the conventional viewpoint that confines art collecting predominantly to established structures like art institutions, markets, and exclusive collector networks, a trajectory historically influenced by Western collecting traditions and museology, this thesis takes a radical turn by delving into the small narratives of three ordinary Chinese collectors, namely Shengkai Wu, Yiyuan Yang and Shudi Li, who immigrated to South Africa since the late 1980s. The focus on Chinese collectors and migration resonates with my positionality as a recent Chinese immigrant in South Africa and aligns with Boaventura de Sousa Santos’s approach to proximity in knowledge-making, which emphasises ‘knowing with’ and ‘walking alongside’ the subjects of study. The selected immigrant collectors were chosen based on their current low-to-middle economic status in South Africa. These three individuals have decades of living and artcollecting experience in the country, having held professional backgrounds in China prior to their immigration. The number of collectors was determined through an in-depth qualitative biographical research method, taking into account the niche field of art collecting and the relatively small Chinese population within the broader South African demographic. It approaches collecting as a method of pursuing clues and explores it as a socio-cultural practice by collaging the biographies of three ordinary collectors as micro-histories. Details of these ordinary lives are entangled with the lives of objects that traverse China and South Africa. The use of non-official data, at times fragmented and partially obscured, is employed to craft a narrative that weaves together diverse and complex perspectives. The aim of this thesis is to attempt to shift from elite collecting narratives to a more diverse understanding of the global circulation and appropriation of art and cultural objects in relation to grassroots migration. This shift is explored through the unique insights derived from recovering the personal narratives of ordinary immigrant collectors and their associated objects in overlooked geographical locations and states of transformation within the context of China– Africa relations. I engage China–Africa relations within the framework Global South, seeks to address the limitations of describing the multi-dimensional interweaving of low-profile individual and objecthood, unofficial and official, historical and ephemeral relationships in the burgeoning field of China-Africa relations. The investigation unfolds through two interconnected aspects embedded in the development of each collector’s biography. Firstly, it delves into how the collecting practices of these three Chinese collectors are interwoven with their experiences in both China and South Africa. Secondly, it examines the agencies of the collectors and the relationships they establish with the objects they collect. I approach these collectors as curators of their autobiographical exhibitions in the process of preliminary data collection and subsequent thematic and object-oriented interviews. Through the analysis of collectors’ oral, visual and written narratives, as well as the biographies of objects, this PhD thesis in Art History uncovers a multilayered influx of crossways of knowledge-making by the collectors on the ground. Inspired by practical material re-ordering and personal interests, these collectors engage in configuring the border-crossing process within the Chinese diaspora in South Africa. Recurring narratives of critical socialist experiences in Maoist China are linked to their suppressed agency and subsequent recovery through emigration to South Africa. They negotiate a complex diasporic terrain marked by engaging with socialist philately materials, persistently gravitating towards China. Concurrently, they transcend conventional nation-state framework, accentuating the convergent aesthetic qualities inherent in transnational artefacts and community-based art practices. The collectors’ engagement with exported Chinese “specialised arts and crafts”, and unconventional artefacts, such as philately materials, creates a bottom-up fresh interpretation of what constitutes collecting Chinese art in the context of South Africa. Fragments of British colonial history on the Rand, Chinese semi-colonial history, and contemporary printmaking in both China and South Africa, embedded in tangible material artefacts and in intangible visual connection, become visible through their logics of collecting and affective approach from the bottom up. Highlighting the often-overlooked Chinese agency in the creation of these objects, this research illustrates how individual mobility between China and Africa can contribute to the nuanced role of aesthetics through collecting, redefining what is visible and meaningful in the context of the Chinese diaspora and art collecting in South Africa. Specifically, discourses on the border poetics of Zheng He, colonial postcards and notices on the Rand, visual connection in printmaking, and Chinese semi-colonial artefacts of a converged “Chinese–British” aesthetic and a controversial Tang blue-and-white dish are instances where ordinary Chinese collectors in the Global South strategically mobilise collecting as a means to migrate towards an alternative politics of hope, as conceptualised by Chiara Brambilla. This hope presents a “strategic Southerness,” cultivates an “alter-geopolitics of knowledge” (Simbao 2017) that, pushing against the often-dominant representation of spectacle within the structured frameworks of art institutions, markets and networks of elite collectors. I argue that these emerging themes and objects in the collectors’ narratives represent a grounded, localised knowledge-making from below, unfolding practices underpinned by the material conditions of ordinary collectors of art and material culture in the Global South, aspects that have not been given adequate attention in history. In the process of encountering, reassembling, and appropriating these material objects and associating people in South Africa, I argue that collecting becomes not only an act of diasporic agency in constructing memories of the past, but also offers insight into the complex Chinese diaspora within the dynamics of a rising Chinese presence in Africa. On the one hand, these ordinary collectors employ collecting as an act of resistance against the aftermath of political turmoil and the epistemological inequality imposed on grassroots communities. Their emergence has contributed to transforming the residual colonial culture of the “othering” in the landscape of art collecting in South Africa. On the other hand, their agency intersects with Chinese diasporic nationalism, which lingers in the tension between internalised Eurocentric exploitation and romanticised appreciation and cultural preservation, a question that awaits for further investigation. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2024
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024-10-11
Restless imagination: material, urban space and contemporary art practices in postcolonial Harare
- Authors: Zhang, Lifang
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: African art , Art, Modern 21st century , Materiality , Zimbabwean art , Public spaces in art Zimbabwe Harare , Found objects (Art)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/467061 , vital:76811 , DOI htps://doi.org/10.21504/10962/467061
- Description: The use of everyday objects as art materials has evolved into a contemporary phenomenon in Africa, deeply rooted in specific contexts and possessing global relevance. Despite limited scholarly attention, existing discussions tend to revolve around individual artists or particular mediums. Many discourses are associated with either the prevailing universalist perspective that views the trend as Western avant-garde derivation or the reductionist narrative that attributes it merely to local material scarcity. There exists a critical need to investigate historical genealogies and explore the theoretical frameworks essential for comprehending this phenomenon. Through a combination of visual analysis, fieldwork and interviews, this thesis conducts an in-depth examination of the use of found materials in Zimbabwe, exploring its historiography, mechanism, impact, and visual achievements. This thesis situates the investigation in postcolonial Harare, the city that profoundly shaped the evolution of the phenomenon of using found materials. Regarding timeframe, this thesis examines contemporary Zimbabwean artists’ practices, with a special emphasis on the period following the Redefinitions movement in the early 2000s. However, it also explores the pioneering material innovations of Tapfuma Gutsa and Keston Beaton, as well as analyses the importance of the Pachipamwe workshop between the 1980s and 1990s. Among the artists, it highlights those who consistently engage with found materials and delve into their interactions with urban spaces in their practices. With the city as the analytical framework, this thesis draws on debates centring on contemporary African art and theories about materiality and urban studies. Approaching found materials as the materiality of both art and the city, it reveals a convergence of various interrelated artistic practices in Harare. The multidimensional relationships are manifested in the artistic processes, where the collection of materials, the creation of artworks, and collaboration with diverse urban groups, are intricately linked to urban spaces in Harare. By unfolding this process and emphasising the labour of artists, this thesis transcends conventional perceptions of artworks as mere visual objects, revealing the societal and spatial interactions inherent in artistic practices involving found materials. This thesis also explores the visual and semantical interactions between art and the city, centring on a curated array of artworks which is not merely a visual representation or reflection of the city but also provides critical thoughts on and dialogues with the city, as well as (re)imaginations and aspirations of the urban landscape. The relationship between art and the city is further deepened through iii artistic practices, extending beyond the creation of artworks and involving art infrastructure building in Harare. This thesis conceptualises artists’ practices of working with found material as restless imagination, a term drawn from the name of the city, which refers to “no one sleeps” in the Shona language. The restlessness embedded in its naming has characterised the city in various dimensions and across time, with the haunting colonial legacy, ongoing urban crises, ubiquitous movements and the ordinary people’s unwavering efforts for liberation and survival. Artists residing in postcolonial Harare also adopt and cultivate restlessness as a working strategy not only to cope with but also to transgress such conditions. The evolution of found materials has been unfolded through a continuous process of restless imagination and innovative manoeuvres, which are embodied in the continual re-imagination of the convention of art materials, the expressive capacities of specific materials, and a commitment to labour throughout the transformative process. This open-ended though productive process of exploration perpetuates and extends to the re-imagination and reclaiming of urban spaces, transforming them into artistic spaces that foster artistic creation and the reproduction of artists and imaginations. This thesis argues the potential framing and comprehension of Harare city as the site of restless imagination pursued, embodied and materialised by artists through their artwork and engagement with urban spaces. Contemporary Zimbabwean artists have redefined their artistic practices, interacting with the materiality of everyday urban life, urban matters, urban spaces, and urban communities, and, concurrently, the relationship between art and city, art and society. By doing so, they open up space for possibilities to refashion the restless city, negotiate urban citizenship, and recreate themselves as agentive subjects in postcolonial Harare. It could be argued that artists, as urban citizens, akin to other residents grappling with everyday life in the city, also exercise their arts of citizenship through their creative innovations in artistic expression and practices. Therefore, this thesis not only delves into the contextualisation of artistic practices in Harare but also contributes to broader discussions on everyday practices in African cities through the lens of art. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2024
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024-10-11
- Authors: Zhang, Lifang
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: African art , Art, Modern 21st century , Materiality , Zimbabwean art , Public spaces in art Zimbabwe Harare , Found objects (Art)
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/467061 , vital:76811 , DOI htps://doi.org/10.21504/10962/467061
- Description: The use of everyday objects as art materials has evolved into a contemporary phenomenon in Africa, deeply rooted in specific contexts and possessing global relevance. Despite limited scholarly attention, existing discussions tend to revolve around individual artists or particular mediums. Many discourses are associated with either the prevailing universalist perspective that views the trend as Western avant-garde derivation or the reductionist narrative that attributes it merely to local material scarcity. There exists a critical need to investigate historical genealogies and explore the theoretical frameworks essential for comprehending this phenomenon. Through a combination of visual analysis, fieldwork and interviews, this thesis conducts an in-depth examination of the use of found materials in Zimbabwe, exploring its historiography, mechanism, impact, and visual achievements. This thesis situates the investigation in postcolonial Harare, the city that profoundly shaped the evolution of the phenomenon of using found materials. Regarding timeframe, this thesis examines contemporary Zimbabwean artists’ practices, with a special emphasis on the period following the Redefinitions movement in the early 2000s. However, it also explores the pioneering material innovations of Tapfuma Gutsa and Keston Beaton, as well as analyses the importance of the Pachipamwe workshop between the 1980s and 1990s. Among the artists, it highlights those who consistently engage with found materials and delve into their interactions with urban spaces in their practices. With the city as the analytical framework, this thesis draws on debates centring on contemporary African art and theories about materiality and urban studies. Approaching found materials as the materiality of both art and the city, it reveals a convergence of various interrelated artistic practices in Harare. The multidimensional relationships are manifested in the artistic processes, where the collection of materials, the creation of artworks, and collaboration with diverse urban groups, are intricately linked to urban spaces in Harare. By unfolding this process and emphasising the labour of artists, this thesis transcends conventional perceptions of artworks as mere visual objects, revealing the societal and spatial interactions inherent in artistic practices involving found materials. This thesis also explores the visual and semantical interactions between art and the city, centring on a curated array of artworks which is not merely a visual representation or reflection of the city but also provides critical thoughts on and dialogues with the city, as well as (re)imaginations and aspirations of the urban landscape. The relationship between art and the city is further deepened through iii artistic practices, extending beyond the creation of artworks and involving art infrastructure building in Harare. This thesis conceptualises artists’ practices of working with found material as restless imagination, a term drawn from the name of the city, which refers to “no one sleeps” in the Shona language. The restlessness embedded in its naming has characterised the city in various dimensions and across time, with the haunting colonial legacy, ongoing urban crises, ubiquitous movements and the ordinary people’s unwavering efforts for liberation and survival. Artists residing in postcolonial Harare also adopt and cultivate restlessness as a working strategy not only to cope with but also to transgress such conditions. The evolution of found materials has been unfolded through a continuous process of restless imagination and innovative manoeuvres, which are embodied in the continual re-imagination of the convention of art materials, the expressive capacities of specific materials, and a commitment to labour throughout the transformative process. This open-ended though productive process of exploration perpetuates and extends to the re-imagination and reclaiming of urban spaces, transforming them into artistic spaces that foster artistic creation and the reproduction of artists and imaginations. This thesis argues the potential framing and comprehension of Harare city as the site of restless imagination pursued, embodied and materialised by artists through their artwork and engagement with urban spaces. Contemporary Zimbabwean artists have redefined their artistic practices, interacting with the materiality of everyday urban life, urban matters, urban spaces, and urban communities, and, concurrently, the relationship between art and city, art and society. By doing so, they open up space for possibilities to refashion the restless city, negotiate urban citizenship, and recreate themselves as agentive subjects in postcolonial Harare. It could be argued that artists, as urban citizens, akin to other residents grappling with everyday life in the city, also exercise their arts of citizenship through their creative innovations in artistic expression and practices. Therefore, this thesis not only delves into the contextualisation of artistic practices in Harare but also contributes to broader discussions on everyday practices in African cities through the lens of art. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2024
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024-10-11
The spiritual space of Mubende Hill in Uganda: rethinking “awaka w’ensi aw’omweyimirize, Maama Nakayima” as a symbol of ritual and spiritual performance
- Authors: Nalukenge, Claire
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: Mubende (Uganda) , Rites and ceremonies Uganda Mubende , Spiritual practice , Ritual objects and ceremonial , Ritual in art , Spirituality in art
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/467050 , vital:76810 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/467050
- Description: This doctoral dissertation in art history investigates the dynamic relationships between ritual objects, rituals, spiritual performances, and their representations in specific cultural contexts. The main research question is: How do the ritual objects at Mubende Hill shape and communicate the meanings of the rituals, considering their performative contexts and embodied interactions? This thesis examines the ritual objects at the spiritual space of Mubende Hill in Uganda, which have various meanings and associations for different groups of people. It critically analyses how related objects are interpreted and represented by select Ugandan contemporary artists, including the 2019 history students of Margaret Trowell of Industrial and Fine Arts and the Uganda Museum. The difference between the above components is that the spiritual space, the artists, and the students represent objects as animate, whereas the Museum represents objects as obsolete. The spiritual space of Mubende Hill is a living space where people engage with ritual objects such as calabashes, clay pots, bowls, milk containers, and coffee beans in performative ways. Some of these objects are placed in various partitions of the sacred Omweyimirize tree at the spiritual space, and the objects become efficacious when engaged with through spiritual and ritual performance. In contrast, the Uganda Museum exhibits objects as inanimate, static, and enclosed in glass compartments. As such, the objects are rendered inactive. I examine the way the museum exhibits, frames, and labels these objects, and how this shifts people’s relationships with ritual objects. In contrast, I also analyze how selected Ugandan contemporary artists and the 2019 history students represent similar objects through their artistic practices, thereby opening up the meaning of these objects. This thesis addresses the critical need for a comprehensive reading and representation of objects within their living social and cultural contexts, a focus often overshadowed by museums. In trying to grapple with questions of representations of objects, I employed qualitative research methodologies, including extensive fieldwork, analysis of primary and secondary sources, participant observation, interviews, and photographic documentation The primary information was gathered from individuals at the spiritual space of Mubende Hill, Uganda, specifically the ritual specialists and the Balyammere, select contemporary Ugandan artists, and final year 2019 art history students from the Makerere Art School and select individuals from the Uganda museum. By comparing objects within their original contexts to decontextualized objects in museums and artistic and scholarly representations of objects, I analyze various art historical approaches to objects that grapple with issues of object representation, functionality, purpose, performance, and the movement of objects. I utilize this analysis of objects to critique colonial and contemporary neo-colonial approaches to ritual objects and develop decolonial understandings of objects that are embedded in personal experiences, stories, and narratives of text accompanied with visuals from the Balyammere’s object-ritual and spiritual performances. The study argues that ritual objects possess active agency, extending beyond mere aesthetic appreciation, and they are intertwined within their performative spiritual and cultural contexts. Analyzing these objects and their roles in rituals and spiritual performances allows us to deeply comprehend their meanings and significances as embedded in cultural, spiritual, and social fabrics. The study emphasizes a need for art histories that prioritize African-based scholars at the forefront of knowledge production and appreciate diverse, non-Eurocentric perspectives, suggesting a multidisciplinary approach to understanding art. A deeper understanding of the relationship between objects, rituals, and spiritual performances cannot only expand the knowledge in art history but also suggest alternatives to conventional object perspectives and practices, arguing for a comprehensive, culturally sensitive, and inclusive approach to understanding objects and art within their performative contexts. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2024
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024-10-11
- Authors: Nalukenge, Claire
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: Mubende (Uganda) , Rites and ceremonies Uganda Mubende , Spiritual practice , Ritual objects and ceremonial , Ritual in art , Spirituality in art
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/467050 , vital:76810 , DOI https://doi.org/10.21504/10962/467050
- Description: This doctoral dissertation in art history investigates the dynamic relationships between ritual objects, rituals, spiritual performances, and their representations in specific cultural contexts. The main research question is: How do the ritual objects at Mubende Hill shape and communicate the meanings of the rituals, considering their performative contexts and embodied interactions? This thesis examines the ritual objects at the spiritual space of Mubende Hill in Uganda, which have various meanings and associations for different groups of people. It critically analyses how related objects are interpreted and represented by select Ugandan contemporary artists, including the 2019 history students of Margaret Trowell of Industrial and Fine Arts and the Uganda Museum. The difference between the above components is that the spiritual space, the artists, and the students represent objects as animate, whereas the Museum represents objects as obsolete. The spiritual space of Mubende Hill is a living space where people engage with ritual objects such as calabashes, clay pots, bowls, milk containers, and coffee beans in performative ways. Some of these objects are placed in various partitions of the sacred Omweyimirize tree at the spiritual space, and the objects become efficacious when engaged with through spiritual and ritual performance. In contrast, the Uganda Museum exhibits objects as inanimate, static, and enclosed in glass compartments. As such, the objects are rendered inactive. I examine the way the museum exhibits, frames, and labels these objects, and how this shifts people’s relationships with ritual objects. In contrast, I also analyze how selected Ugandan contemporary artists and the 2019 history students represent similar objects through their artistic practices, thereby opening up the meaning of these objects. This thesis addresses the critical need for a comprehensive reading and representation of objects within their living social and cultural contexts, a focus often overshadowed by museums. In trying to grapple with questions of representations of objects, I employed qualitative research methodologies, including extensive fieldwork, analysis of primary and secondary sources, participant observation, interviews, and photographic documentation The primary information was gathered from individuals at the spiritual space of Mubende Hill, Uganda, specifically the ritual specialists and the Balyammere, select contemporary Ugandan artists, and final year 2019 art history students from the Makerere Art School and select individuals from the Uganda museum. By comparing objects within their original contexts to decontextualized objects in museums and artistic and scholarly representations of objects, I analyze various art historical approaches to objects that grapple with issues of object representation, functionality, purpose, performance, and the movement of objects. I utilize this analysis of objects to critique colonial and contemporary neo-colonial approaches to ritual objects and develop decolonial understandings of objects that are embedded in personal experiences, stories, and narratives of text accompanied with visuals from the Balyammere’s object-ritual and spiritual performances. The study argues that ritual objects possess active agency, extending beyond mere aesthetic appreciation, and they are intertwined within their performative spiritual and cultural contexts. Analyzing these objects and their roles in rituals and spiritual performances allows us to deeply comprehend their meanings and significances as embedded in cultural, spiritual, and social fabrics. The study emphasizes a need for art histories that prioritize African-based scholars at the forefront of knowledge production and appreciate diverse, non-Eurocentric perspectives, suggesting a multidisciplinary approach to understanding art. A deeper understanding of the relationship between objects, rituals, and spiritual performances cannot only expand the knowledge in art history but also suggest alternatives to conventional object perspectives and practices, arguing for a comprehensive, culturally sensitive, and inclusive approach to understanding objects and art within their performative contexts. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2024
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024-10-11
A second skin: investigating the role of dress in identity formation
- Featherstone, Juanito Romario
- Authors: Featherstone, Juanito Romario
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Identity (Psychology) in art , Clothing and dress in art , Clothing and dress Social aspects , Clothing and dress Psychological aspects , Self South Africa Makhanda
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/425322 , vital:72229
- Description: This thesis is a secondary component to an artistic practice-led process and as such, is guided by my own artistic practice in that way. In this body of work, I use myself as the main character or protagonist for the artworks that I have created. However, both the thesis and the exhibition also respond to social issues of identity beyond the personal and examines the construction of identity in a South African, and more specifically Makhanda context, as that is the larger context in which I am situated. The work itself is inspired by memories and experiences of feeling uncomfortable in my own (first) skin, and how I found that comfort in my second skin (dress). My professional art practice and my thesis are based on the concept of clothes as a second skin for human beings, specifically observing the ways in which we utilise dress to construct and express our identities. As such, this thesis is an attempt at understanding the relationship between clothes and the body through the lens of identity politics. Through the topics and artworks discussed in visual and textual analysis, this thesis intends to unpack the properties of dress as a complex medium individuals can utilise as a tool to construct their identity. This is partially achieved through the exploration of my own personal experiences of dress and of the spaces that shaped and mediated the construction of identity. Lastly, it is an attempt to understand the experiences of dress in parallel to the experience of the body/self, which consists of the world within and the one outside. , Thesis (MFA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
- Authors: Featherstone, Juanito Romario
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Identity (Psychology) in art , Clothing and dress in art , Clothing and dress Social aspects , Clothing and dress Psychological aspects , Self South Africa Makhanda
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/425322 , vital:72229
- Description: This thesis is a secondary component to an artistic practice-led process and as such, is guided by my own artistic practice in that way. In this body of work, I use myself as the main character or protagonist for the artworks that I have created. However, both the thesis and the exhibition also respond to social issues of identity beyond the personal and examines the construction of identity in a South African, and more specifically Makhanda context, as that is the larger context in which I am situated. The work itself is inspired by memories and experiences of feeling uncomfortable in my own (first) skin, and how I found that comfort in my second skin (dress). My professional art practice and my thesis are based on the concept of clothes as a second skin for human beings, specifically observing the ways in which we utilise dress to construct and express our identities. As such, this thesis is an attempt at understanding the relationship between clothes and the body through the lens of identity politics. Through the topics and artworks discussed in visual and textual analysis, this thesis intends to unpack the properties of dress as a complex medium individuals can utilise as a tool to construct their identity. This is partially achieved through the exploration of my own personal experiences of dress and of the spaces that shaped and mediated the construction of identity. Lastly, it is an attempt to understand the experiences of dress in parallel to the experience of the body/self, which consists of the world within and the one outside. , Thesis (MFA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
InVisible freedom fighter: a critical analysis of portrayals of women in archival photographs, independence monuments and contemporary art in Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) and Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia)
- Authors: Kalichini, Gladys Melina
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Women in art , Art History , Art Political aspects Zambia , Art Political aspects Zimbabwe , Revolutionaries in art , Visual culture
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/432433 , vital:72870 , DOI 10.21504/10962/432433
- Description: This doctoral dissertation in art history develops a notion of invisibility by critically analysing processes in which narratives about women are either concealed or uncovered in visual portrayals relating to the independence of Zambia (former Northern Rhodesia) and Zimbabwe (previously Southern Rhodesia). This study concentrates on three main visual categories that include archival photographs, national monuments, and visual art. It critically engages with concepts of memory and history through a framework of gender. The concept of invisibility developed in this thesis articulates a dynamic process in which independence narratives evolve over time, sometimes revealing memories associated with women and at other times rendering women invisible. National liberation in many African states is dominantly accredited to the political parties that were in power at the time of independence. In Zambia, the United National Independence Party (UNIP) is acknowledged for spearheading efforts to overthrow the colonial administration, while in Zimbabwe it is the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU – PF). Both political parties were headed by men, and the majority of their memberships was also comprised of men; as such, the dominant narratives largely illuminate the stories of men associated with these political parties. The overarching argument of this doctoral dissertation is that there is a gender bias inherent in dominant independence struggles narratives that are communicated through cultural heritage sites such as monuments and archives. In this study, art and art making inform theory as the methodological approach takes the direction in which selected artworks and visual materials are employed as a starting point of considering concepts that relate to the visibilities of stories about women. This approach cogitates the function of art, visual culture, and art history in the production of knowledges that foster in-depth understandings of concepts that explain social phenomena such as historical erasure. This doctoral dissertation in art history is divided into two parts, A and B, that conceptually complement each other. In section A which comprises of chapters one and two, the study develops an alternative visual archive that surveys the involvements of six specific women in the attainment of national independence in their respective countries, and critically analyses the Freedom Statue in Zambia and the National Heroes Acre in Zimbabwe as monuments dedicated to commemorating the independence struggle in the two countries. In Chapters three to five which form the second section of this dissertation, the emphasis of the discussion is on how selected visual artworks of three selected artists disrupt, counter or engage with dominant historical accounts that either exclude or marginalise narratives about women. The three artists include myself, Gladys Kalichini, and Zimbabwean born artists Kudzanai Chiurai and Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude. This thesis offers a culturally rich conversation about visual representations of social, political and cultural roles women performed in the colonial times in Northern and Southern Rhodesia and gives insight into the evolution of the luminosity of contemporary performances of women’s social collectives in Zambia and Zimbabwe. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
- Authors: Kalichini, Gladys Melina
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Women in art , Art History , Art Political aspects Zambia , Art Political aspects Zimbabwe , Revolutionaries in art , Visual culture
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/432433 , vital:72870 , DOI 10.21504/10962/432433
- Description: This doctoral dissertation in art history develops a notion of invisibility by critically analysing processes in which narratives about women are either concealed or uncovered in visual portrayals relating to the independence of Zambia (former Northern Rhodesia) and Zimbabwe (previously Southern Rhodesia). This study concentrates on three main visual categories that include archival photographs, national monuments, and visual art. It critically engages with concepts of memory and history through a framework of gender. The concept of invisibility developed in this thesis articulates a dynamic process in which independence narratives evolve over time, sometimes revealing memories associated with women and at other times rendering women invisible. National liberation in many African states is dominantly accredited to the political parties that were in power at the time of independence. In Zambia, the United National Independence Party (UNIP) is acknowledged for spearheading efforts to overthrow the colonial administration, while in Zimbabwe it is the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU – PF). Both political parties were headed by men, and the majority of their memberships was also comprised of men; as such, the dominant narratives largely illuminate the stories of men associated with these political parties. The overarching argument of this doctoral dissertation is that there is a gender bias inherent in dominant independence struggles narratives that are communicated through cultural heritage sites such as monuments and archives. In this study, art and art making inform theory as the methodological approach takes the direction in which selected artworks and visual materials are employed as a starting point of considering concepts that relate to the visibilities of stories about women. This approach cogitates the function of art, visual culture, and art history in the production of knowledges that foster in-depth understandings of concepts that explain social phenomena such as historical erasure. This doctoral dissertation in art history is divided into two parts, A and B, that conceptually complement each other. In section A which comprises of chapters one and two, the study develops an alternative visual archive that surveys the involvements of six specific women in the attainment of national independence in their respective countries, and critically analyses the Freedom Statue in Zambia and the National Heroes Acre in Zimbabwe as monuments dedicated to commemorating the independence struggle in the two countries. In Chapters three to five which form the second section of this dissertation, the emphasis of the discussion is on how selected visual artworks of three selected artists disrupt, counter or engage with dominant historical accounts that either exclude or marginalise narratives about women. The three artists include myself, Gladys Kalichini, and Zimbabwean born artists Kudzanai Chiurai and Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude. This thesis offers a culturally rich conversation about visual representations of social, political and cultural roles women performed in the colonial times in Northern and Southern Rhodesia and gives insight into the evolution of the luminosity of contemporary performances of women’s social collectives in Zambia and Zimbabwe. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
Revisionist narratives: locating six Black artist-teachers onto the map of twentieth-century modern art in Zimbabwe
- Authors: Muvhuti, Tichapera Barnabas
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Modernism (Art) Zimbabwe , Art, Modern , Wood-carving , Stone carving , Art, African , Artists as teachers , Art schools Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/432444 , vital:72871 , DOI 10.21504/10962/432444
- Description: Job Kekana (1916-1995) was a South African sculptor and teacher who moved to Zimbabwe in 1944, where he founded the Kekana School of Art and Craft in the early 1960s. There were also a few Black Zimbabwean artist-teachers, namely, Sam Songo (1929-1977), Cornelius Manguma (b. 1935), Lazarus Khumalo (1930-2015), Joram Mariga (1927-2000) John Hlatywayo (b. 1928), who were either working with missionaries Canon Edward Paterson (1895-1974) and Father John Groeber (1903-1973) at the Cyrene and Serima workshops respectively and later on at the Mzilikazi Arts and Crafts Centre, or with Frank McEwen (1907- 1994) at the National Gallery school. This thesis examines the relative invisibility of Kekana and the selected Black artist-teachers in the dominant discourse of the history and development of modern art in Zimbabwe. Employing the biographical approach as a methodology, and modernism as an analytical tool and foregrounding African thinkers like Chika Okeke-Agulu Elizabeth Georgis, Emma Wolukau- Wanambwa and Salah Hassan, this research exposes the possible reasons for their exclusion from the canon, which are rooted in a gatekeeping culture shown by actors in the local art scene, including art historians and scholars, as well as cultural workers in institutions like the National Gallery of Zimbabwe who have not sufficiently questioned and possibly shaken the enshrined legacies of Paterson, Groeber and McEwen. Canons mostly tend to tell a story that privileges and excludes others from the art narrative of a nation. With the arrival of Frank McEwen on the scene in the late 1950s the stone sculpture tradition rose to prominence in such a way that it overshadowed other forms of art produced in the two mission schools or workshops at Serima and Cyrene. In the process, Kekana and his students at the Kekana School of Art and Craft were relegated to the peripheries of the canon as they carved in wood and tended to work in a more representational style. While there is literature acknowledging the role of the missionaries in laying the foundation of modern art in Zimbabwe, local artists-cum-teachers working with them are only recognised as a footnote on the nation’s map of modern art. Recognising that canons are always evolving and shifting, and without discrediting the work of the three mentioned expatriates – and to an extent that of Tom Blomefield of the Tengenenge Workshop – this thesis attempts to expand the canon by arguing for the inclusion of the critiqued overlooked six. Citing the efforts of researchers, scholars and curators in multicultural South Africa to bring the previously marginalised generation of Black modernists into the mainstream, this thesis demonstrates that it is possible to spotlight the narratives of the Black artists and teachers who continue to occupy peripheral space in the history of Zimbabwe. This comparative analysis is done bearing in mind the temptation of falling into the trap of glorifying ‘South African exceptionalism’. In analysing the Black artist-teachers’ contributions as a counter-narrative, this research proposes a more heterogeneous modernism and revisionist art history. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
- Authors: Muvhuti, Tichapera Barnabas
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Modernism (Art) Zimbabwe , Art, Modern , Wood-carving , Stone carving , Art, African , Artists as teachers , Art schools Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/432444 , vital:72871 , DOI 10.21504/10962/432444
- Description: Job Kekana (1916-1995) was a South African sculptor and teacher who moved to Zimbabwe in 1944, where he founded the Kekana School of Art and Craft in the early 1960s. There were also a few Black Zimbabwean artist-teachers, namely, Sam Songo (1929-1977), Cornelius Manguma (b. 1935), Lazarus Khumalo (1930-2015), Joram Mariga (1927-2000) John Hlatywayo (b. 1928), who were either working with missionaries Canon Edward Paterson (1895-1974) and Father John Groeber (1903-1973) at the Cyrene and Serima workshops respectively and later on at the Mzilikazi Arts and Crafts Centre, or with Frank McEwen (1907- 1994) at the National Gallery school. This thesis examines the relative invisibility of Kekana and the selected Black artist-teachers in the dominant discourse of the history and development of modern art in Zimbabwe. Employing the biographical approach as a methodology, and modernism as an analytical tool and foregrounding African thinkers like Chika Okeke-Agulu Elizabeth Georgis, Emma Wolukau- Wanambwa and Salah Hassan, this research exposes the possible reasons for their exclusion from the canon, which are rooted in a gatekeeping culture shown by actors in the local art scene, including art historians and scholars, as well as cultural workers in institutions like the National Gallery of Zimbabwe who have not sufficiently questioned and possibly shaken the enshrined legacies of Paterson, Groeber and McEwen. Canons mostly tend to tell a story that privileges and excludes others from the art narrative of a nation. With the arrival of Frank McEwen on the scene in the late 1950s the stone sculpture tradition rose to prominence in such a way that it overshadowed other forms of art produced in the two mission schools or workshops at Serima and Cyrene. In the process, Kekana and his students at the Kekana School of Art and Craft were relegated to the peripheries of the canon as they carved in wood and tended to work in a more representational style. While there is literature acknowledging the role of the missionaries in laying the foundation of modern art in Zimbabwe, local artists-cum-teachers working with them are only recognised as a footnote on the nation’s map of modern art. Recognising that canons are always evolving and shifting, and without discrediting the work of the three mentioned expatriates – and to an extent that of Tom Blomefield of the Tengenenge Workshop – this thesis attempts to expand the canon by arguing for the inclusion of the critiqued overlooked six. Citing the efforts of researchers, scholars and curators in multicultural South Africa to bring the previously marginalised generation of Black modernists into the mainstream, this thesis demonstrates that it is possible to spotlight the narratives of the Black artists and teachers who continue to occupy peripheral space in the history of Zimbabwe. This comparative analysis is done bearing in mind the temptation of falling into the trap of glorifying ‘South African exceptionalism’. In analysing the Black artist-teachers’ contributions as a counter-narrative, this research proposes a more heterogeneous modernism and revisionist art history. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
Storytelling through video game artworks – Twee kante van ’n storie
- Authors: Randall, Tasmin Tania
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Colored people (South Africa) Ethnic identity , Colored people (South Africa) in art , Storytelling in art , Digital art , Browser game , Art Video games , Autoethnography , Stereotypes (Social psychology) in art , Discrimination based on hair texture , Swag
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/425355 , vital:72232
- Description: This mini-thesis serves as a supporting document for my Master of Fine Art (MFA) exhibition, ‘Twee Kante van ‘n Storie’. The exhibition explores my culture and experiences as a ‘Coloured’ woman in Makhanda through storytelling. I use the term ‘Coloured’ with quotation marks to remain respectful to those who do not wish to reclaim the term. My minithesis analyses how video games as artworks can be a mode of storytelling and can encourage sociocultural awareness. In my research, I use storytelling as a tool and autoethnography as a methodology to both discuss and influence my practice. For my MFA installation, I have created a digital interactive website that uses the same language as a video game. Throughout my process, I have used two video games, That Dragon Cancer and Boet Fighter, as case studies, in order to help the building and creation of my autoethnographic art video game. My art video game explores my experiences of my culture and living in a small town. Through the creation of four fictionalised characters, which are loosely based on true life experiences and first-hand observations, I can reveal and unpack cultural experiences and biases that I have observed over the years. Each character in the game grapples with one of three prominent themes; stereotypes, ‘swagger’ and texturism. Furthermore, through using autoethnography as a methodology and the researcher as the phenomenon (Ellis, 2004: 45). This study contributes to the gap in ‘Coloured’ cultural diversities that exist outside the lens of the Western Cape experience. This is a perspective not commonly found within academia. , Thesis (MFA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
- Authors: Randall, Tasmin Tania
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Colored people (South Africa) Ethnic identity , Colored people (South Africa) in art , Storytelling in art , Digital art , Browser game , Art Video games , Autoethnography , Stereotypes (Social psychology) in art , Discrimination based on hair texture , Swag
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/425355 , vital:72232
- Description: This mini-thesis serves as a supporting document for my Master of Fine Art (MFA) exhibition, ‘Twee Kante van ‘n Storie’. The exhibition explores my culture and experiences as a ‘Coloured’ woman in Makhanda through storytelling. I use the term ‘Coloured’ with quotation marks to remain respectful to those who do not wish to reclaim the term. My minithesis analyses how video games as artworks can be a mode of storytelling and can encourage sociocultural awareness. In my research, I use storytelling as a tool and autoethnography as a methodology to both discuss and influence my practice. For my MFA installation, I have created a digital interactive website that uses the same language as a video game. Throughout my process, I have used two video games, That Dragon Cancer and Boet Fighter, as case studies, in order to help the building and creation of my autoethnographic art video game. My art video game explores my experiences of my culture and living in a small town. Through the creation of four fictionalised characters, which are loosely based on true life experiences and first-hand observations, I can reveal and unpack cultural experiences and biases that I have observed over the years. Each character in the game grapples with one of three prominent themes; stereotypes, ‘swagger’ and texturism. Furthermore, through using autoethnography as a methodology and the researcher as the phenomenon (Ellis, 2004: 45). This study contributes to the gap in ‘Coloured’ cultural diversities that exist outside the lens of the Western Cape experience. This is a perspective not commonly found within academia. , Thesis (MFA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
Uviwe Umthandazo
- Authors: Madinda, Viwe
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Ubuntu (Philosophy) , Interpersonal communication , Mindfulness (Psychology) , Identity (Psychology) in art , Self-care , Spirituality in art
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/425344 , vital:72231
- Description: The discourse of identity and community are topics of interest to me. As a citizen living in post-apartheid South Africa, I am captivated by the re-emerging wisdom and knowledge of Nguni cultural philosophies and practices. My practice-based research is interested in a creative interpretation of these ancient philosophies and practices in the context of postcolonial life. The project in many ways re-members through observation of socio-political issues such as inequality, violence, and vandalism as reflections of internal challenges of the individual self in current reality. In essence, my discussion in this paper highlights the need for healing grief and loss for the well-being – physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual – of society. Self-definition is the core of any community and we see this in the philosophy of the African proverb umntu ngumntu ngabantu, ‘I am because you are’. ‘I am’ is a set of beliefs that construct the individual self; our life’s course then becomes a constant molding of the body and the world around us. The wisdom of ubuntu was, and is, a catalyst for many African cultures, as this law recognizes each individual as important and equal in the community. As a descendant of various indigenous clans originating in Africa the well-being and balance of my being is determined by how much I know about who I am. Consequently, being a part of the generation that is experiencing the transitioning phases from apartheid I question the ways we are dealing with the residue of coloniality concerning all aspects of self; the physical, emotional, and mental bodies of self. My creative work is a reflection of the exercises I implemented to cultivate selfhood as a way to participate in and control my reality as a marginalized member of society. The different chapters touch on many intersecting theories about tools for healing/soothing the self. The creative process experimented with the various concepts embedded in the expression ‘I am because you are’. In the process of this research, I learned that knowing yourself is one of the principles of ubuntu, which teaches me that I cannot be or give what I do not have. The themes I explore through the above expression are self-love, self-acceptance, and self-respect using a creative lens. This practice-based research proposes a concept; the act of love as a decolonial gesture. My exhibition Vuleka Mhlaba Ndinegene1 utilizes visual language to convey the need for more conversations on healing using natural elements, as a way to make a connection between self, the natural environment, and community. In the first and second chapters, the paper focuses on practices employed by artists such as Lhola Amira, Guadalupe Maravilla, Buhlebezwe Siwani, Tony Gum, Lina Iris Viktor, and Aida Muleneh, to relate the various approaches to re-member the severed connection between self, nature, and community. This study looks at theories on; holding space, sound healing, earthing, shadow work, astrology, and human consciousness. , Thesis (MFA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
- Authors: Madinda, Viwe
- Date: 2023-10-13
- Subjects: Ubuntu (Philosophy) , Interpersonal communication , Mindfulness (Psychology) , Identity (Psychology) in art , Self-care , Spirituality in art
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/425344 , vital:72231
- Description: The discourse of identity and community are topics of interest to me. As a citizen living in post-apartheid South Africa, I am captivated by the re-emerging wisdom and knowledge of Nguni cultural philosophies and practices. My practice-based research is interested in a creative interpretation of these ancient philosophies and practices in the context of postcolonial life. The project in many ways re-members through observation of socio-political issues such as inequality, violence, and vandalism as reflections of internal challenges of the individual self in current reality. In essence, my discussion in this paper highlights the need for healing grief and loss for the well-being – physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual – of society. Self-definition is the core of any community and we see this in the philosophy of the African proverb umntu ngumntu ngabantu, ‘I am because you are’. ‘I am’ is a set of beliefs that construct the individual self; our life’s course then becomes a constant molding of the body and the world around us. The wisdom of ubuntu was, and is, a catalyst for many African cultures, as this law recognizes each individual as important and equal in the community. As a descendant of various indigenous clans originating in Africa the well-being and balance of my being is determined by how much I know about who I am. Consequently, being a part of the generation that is experiencing the transitioning phases from apartheid I question the ways we are dealing with the residue of coloniality concerning all aspects of self; the physical, emotional, and mental bodies of self. My creative work is a reflection of the exercises I implemented to cultivate selfhood as a way to participate in and control my reality as a marginalized member of society. The different chapters touch on many intersecting theories about tools for healing/soothing the self. The creative process experimented with the various concepts embedded in the expression ‘I am because you are’. In the process of this research, I learned that knowing yourself is one of the principles of ubuntu, which teaches me that I cannot be or give what I do not have. The themes I explore through the above expression are self-love, self-acceptance, and self-respect using a creative lens. This practice-based research proposes a concept; the act of love as a decolonial gesture. My exhibition Vuleka Mhlaba Ndinegene1 utilizes visual language to convey the need for more conversations on healing using natural elements, as a way to make a connection between self, the natural environment, and community. In the first and second chapters, the paper focuses on practices employed by artists such as Lhola Amira, Guadalupe Maravilla, Buhlebezwe Siwani, Tony Gum, Lina Iris Viktor, and Aida Muleneh, to relate the various approaches to re-member the severed connection between self, nature, and community. This study looks at theories on; holding space, sound healing, earthing, shadow work, astrology, and human consciousness. , Thesis (MFA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2023
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023-10-13
Kuntanshi yamikalile (The Future): speculative nonconformity in the works of Zambian visual artists
- Authors: Mulenga, Andrew Mukuka
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Future in art , Africa -- In art , Art, Zambian , Art, African , Artists -- Zambia , Nyandoro, Gareth
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/172203 , vital:42175 , 10.21504/10962/172203
- Description: In recent years, select African visual artists practising on the continent as well as in its diaspora have increasingly been attracted to themes that explore, portray or grapple with Africa’s future. Along with this increasing popularity of the ‘future’ or indeed ‘African futuristic’ themes by visual artists, such themes have also attracted academic consideration among various scholars, resulting primarily in topics described as ‘African Futurism’ or Afrofuturism. These are topics that may be used to disrupt what some scholars – across disciplines and in various contexts – have highlighted as the persistent presumptive notions that portray Africa as a hinterland (Hassan 1999; Sefa Dei, Hall and Goldin Rosenberg 2000; Simbao 2007; Soyinka-Airewele and Edozie 2010; Moyo 2013; Keita, L. 2014; Green 2014; Serpell 2016). This study makes an effort to critique certain aspects of ‘African Art History’ with regard to the representation of Africa, and raises the following question: How can an analysis of artistic portrayals of ‘the future’ portrayed in the works of select contemporary Zambian artists be used to critique the positioning of Africa as ‘backward’, an occurrence at the intersection of a dualistic framing of tradition versus modern. Furthermore, how can this be used to break down this dichotomy in order to challenge lingering perceptions of African belatedness? The study analyses ways in which this belatedness is challenged by the juxtaposition of traditional, contemporary and futuristic elements by discussing a series of topics and debates associated to African cultures and technology that may be deemed disconnected from the contemporary lived experiences of Africans based on the continent. The study acknowledges that there is no singular ‘African Art History’ that one can talk of and there have been various shifts in how it has been perceived. I argue that while currently the African art history that is written in the West does not simplistically position Africa as backward as it may have done in the past, there appear to be moments of a hangover of this perception (Lamp 1999:4). What started out as a largely Western scholarly discourse of African art history occurred in about the 1950s and the journal African Arts started in the 1960s. Even before contemporary African art became a big thing in the 1990s for the largely US- and Europe-based discourses there were many discussions in the US about how the ‘old’ art history tended to freeze time and that this was not appropriate (Drewal 1991 et al). In order to advance the discourse on contemporary African visual arts I present critical analyses of the select works of Zambian artists to develop interpretations of the broader uses of the aforementioned themes. The evidence that supports the core argument of this research is embedded in the images discussed throughout this dissertation. The artists featured in the study span several decades including artists who were active from the 1960s to the 1980s, such as Henry Tayali and Akwila Simpasa, as well as artists who have been practising since the 1980s, such as Chishimba Chansa and William Miko and those that are more current and have been producing work from the early 1990s and 2000s, such as Zenzele Chulu, Milumbe Haimbe, Stary Mwaba, Isaac Kalambata and Roy Jethro Phiri.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
- Authors: Mulenga, Andrew Mukuka
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Future in art , Africa -- In art , Art, Zambian , Art, African , Artists -- Zambia , Nyandoro, Gareth
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/172203 , vital:42175 , 10.21504/10962/172203
- Description: In recent years, select African visual artists practising on the continent as well as in its diaspora have increasingly been attracted to themes that explore, portray or grapple with Africa’s future. Along with this increasing popularity of the ‘future’ or indeed ‘African futuristic’ themes by visual artists, such themes have also attracted academic consideration among various scholars, resulting primarily in topics described as ‘African Futurism’ or Afrofuturism. These are topics that may be used to disrupt what some scholars – across disciplines and in various contexts – have highlighted as the persistent presumptive notions that portray Africa as a hinterland (Hassan 1999; Sefa Dei, Hall and Goldin Rosenberg 2000; Simbao 2007; Soyinka-Airewele and Edozie 2010; Moyo 2013; Keita, L. 2014; Green 2014; Serpell 2016). This study makes an effort to critique certain aspects of ‘African Art History’ with regard to the representation of Africa, and raises the following question: How can an analysis of artistic portrayals of ‘the future’ portrayed in the works of select contemporary Zambian artists be used to critique the positioning of Africa as ‘backward’, an occurrence at the intersection of a dualistic framing of tradition versus modern. Furthermore, how can this be used to break down this dichotomy in order to challenge lingering perceptions of African belatedness? The study analyses ways in which this belatedness is challenged by the juxtaposition of traditional, contemporary and futuristic elements by discussing a series of topics and debates associated to African cultures and technology that may be deemed disconnected from the contemporary lived experiences of Africans based on the continent. The study acknowledges that there is no singular ‘African Art History’ that one can talk of and there have been various shifts in how it has been perceived. I argue that while currently the African art history that is written in the West does not simplistically position Africa as backward as it may have done in the past, there appear to be moments of a hangover of this perception (Lamp 1999:4). What started out as a largely Western scholarly discourse of African art history occurred in about the 1950s and the journal African Arts started in the 1960s. Even before contemporary African art became a big thing in the 1990s for the largely US- and Europe-based discourses there were many discussions in the US about how the ‘old’ art history tended to freeze time and that this was not appropriate (Drewal 1991 et al). In order to advance the discourse on contemporary African visual arts I present critical analyses of the select works of Zambian artists to develop interpretations of the broader uses of the aforementioned themes. The evidence that supports the core argument of this research is embedded in the images discussed throughout this dissertation. The artists featured in the study span several decades including artists who were active from the 1960s to the 1980s, such as Henry Tayali and Akwila Simpasa, as well as artists who have been practising since the 1980s, such as Chishimba Chansa and William Miko and those that are more current and have been producing work from the early 1990s and 2000s, such as Zenzele Chulu, Milumbe Haimbe, Stary Mwaba, Isaac Kalambata and Roy Jethro Phiri.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
Chirema Chine Mazano Chinotamba Chakazendama Madziro
- Authors: Mapondera, Wallen
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Art, Zimbabwean , Art -- Economic aspects -- Zimbabwe , Artists -- Zimbabwe , Takadiwa, Moffet , Nyandoro, Gareth , Clottey, Serge Attiku , Mapondera, Wallen -- Exhibitions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147457 , vital:38638
- Description: This mini-thesis has developed as a practice-based supporting document to the exhibition Chirema Chine Mazano Chinotamba Chakazendama Madziro. The exhibition responds to how people become innovative in finding alternative means of survival and staying relevant in an economically depressed country. Zimbabwe is often the first country that comes to mind when people talk about hyperinflation; the situation was and still is intolerable, but somehow its citizens find means to pull through. Unemployment and poverty are the main causes of physical and mental problems for an individual. With this thesis, I highlight the innovations employed by Zimbabweans as a way of keeping themselves busy. I approach this through analysing the Zimbabwean general public’s creative reactions, and by tracing Zimbabwean visual artists’ use of found objects as a reaction to the country’s economic hardships. As people have been pushed to find alternative ways of survival, Zimbabwean artists in particular also shifted from using conventional art materials due to their unavailability. They began to redefine what art material is by employing objects in their artworks that previously had a non-art function. As such, there is a growing need to recognise, classify and document the shifts and establish platforms to generate growth of these innovations. In this minithesis I discuss my own practice, and I analyse the works of Moffat Takadiwa, Gareth Nyandoro and Serge Attiku Clottey.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Mapondera, Wallen
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Art, Zimbabwean , Art -- Economic aspects -- Zimbabwe , Artists -- Zimbabwe , Takadiwa, Moffet , Nyandoro, Gareth , Clottey, Serge Attiku , Mapondera, Wallen -- Exhibitions
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/147457 , vital:38638
- Description: This mini-thesis has developed as a practice-based supporting document to the exhibition Chirema Chine Mazano Chinotamba Chakazendama Madziro. The exhibition responds to how people become innovative in finding alternative means of survival and staying relevant in an economically depressed country. Zimbabwe is often the first country that comes to mind when people talk about hyperinflation; the situation was and still is intolerable, but somehow its citizens find means to pull through. Unemployment and poverty are the main causes of physical and mental problems for an individual. With this thesis, I highlight the innovations employed by Zimbabweans as a way of keeping themselves busy. I approach this through analysing the Zimbabwean general public’s creative reactions, and by tracing Zimbabwean visual artists’ use of found objects as a reaction to the country’s economic hardships. As people have been pushed to find alternative ways of survival, Zimbabwean artists in particular also shifted from using conventional art materials due to their unavailability. They began to redefine what art material is by employing objects in their artworks that previously had a non-art function. As such, there is a growing need to recognise, classify and document the shifts and establish platforms to generate growth of these innovations. In this minithesis I discuss my own practice, and I analyse the works of Moffat Takadiwa, Gareth Nyandoro and Serge Attiku Clottey.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Petits récits: creative perspectives of Chinese encounters in Zambia
- Authors: Mwaba, Stary
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Personal narratives , Lyotard, Jean-François, 1924-1998 , Art and society -- Zambia , Social practice (Art) -- Zambia , Art and globalization -- Zambia , China -- Relations -- Zambia , Storytelling in art , Colonization in art
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146355 , vital:38518
- Description: This mini-thesis, which supports my MFA exhibition Black Mountain, articulates on-the- ground creative perspectives of the Zambia-China discourse, through the representation of little narratives - les petits récits - connected to personal experiences. Through my creative production as an artist, I respond to perceptions of the Chinese presence in Africa. I utilize historical and contemporary personal narratives to complicate existing perceptions of Chinese presence in my home context of Zambia. “Petit récits”, or “little narratives”, in Francois Lyotard’s term, refers to personal stories of individuals that subvert dominant master-narratives and their legitimization in social-cultural structure. In the case of China’s presence in Zambia, I refer to the dichotomized narratives in the media as metanarratives which pay little attention to the people on the ground and propose the approach of “little narratives” to foreground the lived experiences of Zambians who have individual encounters with Chinese in various social spaces. By employing the narratives of my family members through installations, paintings, and drawings, I intervene in a broader China-Africa discourse that is often driven by economics and politics, and I attach importance to the little narratives. In my thesis I divide my material into three chapters; each chapter grows out of an encounter with the presence of China (and Chinese people) in Zambia in relation to the very personal narratives of family members - Zoë my daughter, my grandma, and Ngolo my cousin. The first chapter focuses on my work Chinese Cabbage as my entry point to this topic, which is based on a school experiment I did with my daughter Zoë. In this chapter I also discuss the current discourses around China’s presence. Chapter two revisits the Zambian-Chinese historical encounters in memory of my grandma’s insaka stories about the construction of TAZARA Railway, and thus my works discussed in this chapter attach importance to the individual engagements from a historical perspective. Chapter three discusses in particular the controversial issues around Black Mountain and the works inspired by my cousin Ngolo’s stories of mining in Black Mountain and dealing with the Chinese traders.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Mwaba, Stary
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Personal narratives , Lyotard, Jean-François, 1924-1998 , Art and society -- Zambia , Social practice (Art) -- Zambia , Art and globalization -- Zambia , China -- Relations -- Zambia , Storytelling in art , Colonization in art
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146355 , vital:38518
- Description: This mini-thesis, which supports my MFA exhibition Black Mountain, articulates on-the- ground creative perspectives of the Zambia-China discourse, through the representation of little narratives - les petits récits - connected to personal experiences. Through my creative production as an artist, I respond to perceptions of the Chinese presence in Africa. I utilize historical and contemporary personal narratives to complicate existing perceptions of Chinese presence in my home context of Zambia. “Petit récits”, or “little narratives”, in Francois Lyotard’s term, refers to personal stories of individuals that subvert dominant master-narratives and their legitimization in social-cultural structure. In the case of China’s presence in Zambia, I refer to the dichotomized narratives in the media as metanarratives which pay little attention to the people on the ground and propose the approach of “little narratives” to foreground the lived experiences of Zambians who have individual encounters with Chinese in various social spaces. By employing the narratives of my family members through installations, paintings, and drawings, I intervene in a broader China-Africa discourse that is often driven by economics and politics, and I attach importance to the little narratives. In my thesis I divide my material into three chapters; each chapter grows out of an encounter with the presence of China (and Chinese people) in Zambia in relation to the very personal narratives of family members - Zoë my daughter, my grandma, and Ngolo my cousin. The first chapter focuses on my work Chinese Cabbage as my entry point to this topic, which is based on a school experiment I did with my daughter Zoë. In this chapter I also discuss the current discourses around China’s presence. Chapter two revisits the Zambian-Chinese historical encounters in memory of my grandma’s insaka stories about the construction of TAZARA Railway, and thus my works discussed in this chapter attach importance to the individual engagements from a historical perspective. Chapter three discusses in particular the controversial issues around Black Mountain and the works inspired by my cousin Ngolo’s stories of mining in Black Mountain and dealing with the Chinese traders.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Post-apartheid nostalgia and the future of the black visual archive
- Nsele, Zamansele Nsikakazi Busisiwe
- Authors: Nsele, Zamansele Nsikakazi Busisiwe
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Nostalgia in art , Memory in art , Africa -- In art , Africans in art , Fanon, Frantz, 1925-1961. Peau noire, masques blancs. English , South Africa -- In art , Black people in art
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167177 , vital:41444
- Description: The implications of nostalgia often strike a discordant note in post-apartheid discourse and this has opened up critical possibilities for research scholarship. For instance, Jacob Dlamini’s memoir Native Nostalgia entered the discursive fray in 2009, and it was subsequently followed by Derek Hook’s psychoanalytical approach in (Post) apartheid Conditions: Psychoanalysis and Social Formation in 2014. Notably, there is not yet a sustained and intensive research focus that has been conducted on post-apartheid forms of nostalgia within the discipline of art history and visual culture. I present this dissertation as a response to this gap. This thesis identifies mainly two competing nostalgias in post-apartheid South Africa. Through the analysis of selected artwork and media imagery, this dissertation critiques the connections of these nostalgias to the representation of the black figure in post-apartheid visual culture and the implications thereof. I argue that nostalgias for an apartheid-colonial-imperialist past operate through erasure and in the sanitisation of memory and as a result they render suffering indiscernible or in a sadomasochistic way consumes suffering as enjoyable. This thesis simultaneously critiques art work and visual representation that responds to South Africa’s nostalgia for the future: a restorative nostalgia that has emerged in the form of “rainbow nationalism”. This is a form of nostalgia that is underpinned by a dogged commitment to triumphalism and as a result erases the ongoing scenes of abjection. I use nostalgia and Afropessimism as analytical frameworks to argue that both real and visual representational forces work in tandem to restrain the future and this, I suggest is fulfilled by the transference of the black body from one state of unfreedom to next, resonating with a cyclical pattern. Frantz Fanon’s (1967) Black Skin White Mask forms the conceptual bedrock of my study, particularly his visual layout of “negrophobogenesis” and colonial temporality, which he describes as a “hellish cycle” or as an “infernal cycle” wherein the past overwhelms the present and ideas of the future.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Nsele, Zamansele Nsikakazi Busisiwe
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Nostalgia in art , Memory in art , Africa -- In art , Africans in art , Fanon, Frantz, 1925-1961. Peau noire, masques blancs. English , South Africa -- In art , Black people in art
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/167177 , vital:41444
- Description: The implications of nostalgia often strike a discordant note in post-apartheid discourse and this has opened up critical possibilities for research scholarship. For instance, Jacob Dlamini’s memoir Native Nostalgia entered the discursive fray in 2009, and it was subsequently followed by Derek Hook’s psychoanalytical approach in (Post) apartheid Conditions: Psychoanalysis and Social Formation in 2014. Notably, there is not yet a sustained and intensive research focus that has been conducted on post-apartheid forms of nostalgia within the discipline of art history and visual culture. I present this dissertation as a response to this gap. This thesis identifies mainly two competing nostalgias in post-apartheid South Africa. Through the analysis of selected artwork and media imagery, this dissertation critiques the connections of these nostalgias to the representation of the black figure in post-apartheid visual culture and the implications thereof. I argue that nostalgias for an apartheid-colonial-imperialist past operate through erasure and in the sanitisation of memory and as a result they render suffering indiscernible or in a sadomasochistic way consumes suffering as enjoyable. This thesis simultaneously critiques art work and visual representation that responds to South Africa’s nostalgia for the future: a restorative nostalgia that has emerged in the form of “rainbow nationalism”. This is a form of nostalgia that is underpinned by a dogged commitment to triumphalism and as a result erases the ongoing scenes of abjection. I use nostalgia and Afropessimism as analytical frameworks to argue that both real and visual representational forces work in tandem to restrain the future and this, I suggest is fulfilled by the transference of the black body from one state of unfreedom to next, resonating with a cyclical pattern. Frantz Fanon’s (1967) Black Skin White Mask forms the conceptual bedrock of my study, particularly his visual layout of “negrophobogenesis” and colonial temporality, which he describes as a “hellish cycle” or as an “infernal cycle” wherein the past overwhelms the present and ideas of the future.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
The use of ritual as physical and spiritual medium and its documentation in Buhlebezwe Siwani’s contemporary visual arts performance
- Authors: Lila, Philiswa
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Arts and religion , Ritual -- South Africa , Performance art -- Religious aspects -- South Africa , Women performance artists -- South Africa , Siwani, Buhlebezwe, 1987-
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/166160 , vital:41334
- Description: This thesis is motivated by my experience of Inzilo: Ngoba ngihlala kwabafileyo, a live performance by South African visual artist Buhlebezwe Siwani. The performance took place at Michaelis Galleries, University of Cape Town (UCT), as part of a group exhibition Between Subject and Object: human remains at the interface of art and science (2014), which accompanied the Medical Humanities in Africa Conference (from 28 – 29 August 2014). As an entry into my discussion, I describe how Siwani’s performance makes use of death and burial ritual in what seems to be an intention to make art that is (re)presenting an activity of reality to invade and control the sphere of feelings, emotions and a sense of ceremony that is dependent on both ritual and rites of the performance. I grapple with the fact that I experienced a ritual performance in a gallery space. Furthermore, I question how walking out of the performance I thought of the lines between art and/or life. The role of ritual in my thesis explores the symbolic meanings, powers and intentions of ritual rites in Africa. This reflection maps out historical locations that are relevant to the major debates, definitions, themes and the experiences of ritual as part of academic research. From Siwani’s practice as an artist and isangoma to other expressions in the fields of history, sociology, religion, feminism, to mention a few, my thesis is an enquiry that engages ritual and performance art theory and scholarship. Through a qualitative analysis, my methodology rejects a chronological, thematic and discipline centered research. Rather, I use a multidisciplinary approach based on critical visual analysis as knowledge creation in the visual arts, for example archives, documentation, performance, text, video, installation, painting, sculpture, etc. The findings suggests that the role of ritual in performance art is not a singular exploration, nor is it based on separating ritual and performance art. The results further reveal that ritual in performance art is not a reenactment of patterns and human behaviours, nor is the notion of reenactment used to denote the myriad meanings and functions of re-performing historical ritual events into performance art. Throughout, my thesis provides a focus that demonstrates the significance of how ritual in performance art has a profound subjective (personal or individual) and collective holistic way of serving human and spiritual needs, and that of creating an environment that is open to the content and context of art as it relates with traditional African religious practices, beliefs and knowledges. Focus is given to three major themes that make up the three chapters of my research: firstly, I reflect on death as personified by Siwani’s performance Inzilo: Ngoba ii ngihlala kwabafileyo and her role as isangoma. Here death is used to draw specific attention to the body in process of embodied presence and absence of physical and spiritual worlds. Secondly, drawing on Siwani’s concept of secrecy and boundaries of concealing and revealing rituals meanings and powers as isangoma, I question the role of secrets, which highlights the significance of bodies (human and natural sites of ritual) in ritual performance. Finally, the idea of a trace is explored. The intersecting use of a trace as the thinking-making-doing of ritual in performance articulates a connected thread that sets in motion the trace of ritual (installation, image and marked space pf ritual) as an afterlife that offers a continued space of processual ceremony for multiple effective encounters and movements..
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Lila, Philiswa
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Arts and religion , Ritual -- South Africa , Performance art -- Religious aspects -- South Africa , Women performance artists -- South Africa , Siwani, Buhlebezwe, 1987-
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/166160 , vital:41334
- Description: This thesis is motivated by my experience of Inzilo: Ngoba ngihlala kwabafileyo, a live performance by South African visual artist Buhlebezwe Siwani. The performance took place at Michaelis Galleries, University of Cape Town (UCT), as part of a group exhibition Between Subject and Object: human remains at the interface of art and science (2014), which accompanied the Medical Humanities in Africa Conference (from 28 – 29 August 2014). As an entry into my discussion, I describe how Siwani’s performance makes use of death and burial ritual in what seems to be an intention to make art that is (re)presenting an activity of reality to invade and control the sphere of feelings, emotions and a sense of ceremony that is dependent on both ritual and rites of the performance. I grapple with the fact that I experienced a ritual performance in a gallery space. Furthermore, I question how walking out of the performance I thought of the lines between art and/or life. The role of ritual in my thesis explores the symbolic meanings, powers and intentions of ritual rites in Africa. This reflection maps out historical locations that are relevant to the major debates, definitions, themes and the experiences of ritual as part of academic research. From Siwani’s practice as an artist and isangoma to other expressions in the fields of history, sociology, religion, feminism, to mention a few, my thesis is an enquiry that engages ritual and performance art theory and scholarship. Through a qualitative analysis, my methodology rejects a chronological, thematic and discipline centered research. Rather, I use a multidisciplinary approach based on critical visual analysis as knowledge creation in the visual arts, for example archives, documentation, performance, text, video, installation, painting, sculpture, etc. The findings suggests that the role of ritual in performance art is not a singular exploration, nor is it based on separating ritual and performance art. The results further reveal that ritual in performance art is not a reenactment of patterns and human behaviours, nor is the notion of reenactment used to denote the myriad meanings and functions of re-performing historical ritual events into performance art. Throughout, my thesis provides a focus that demonstrates the significance of how ritual in performance art has a profound subjective (personal or individual) and collective holistic way of serving human and spiritual needs, and that of creating an environment that is open to the content and context of art as it relates with traditional African religious practices, beliefs and knowledges. Focus is given to three major themes that make up the three chapters of my research: firstly, I reflect on death as personified by Siwani’s performance Inzilo: Ngoba ii ngihlala kwabafileyo and her role as isangoma. Here death is used to draw specific attention to the body in process of embodied presence and absence of physical and spiritual worlds. Secondly, drawing on Siwani’s concept of secrecy and boundaries of concealing and revealing rituals meanings and powers as isangoma, I question the role of secrets, which highlights the significance of bodies (human and natural sites of ritual) in ritual performance. Finally, the idea of a trace is explored. The intersecting use of a trace as the thinking-making-doing of ritual in performance articulates a connected thread that sets in motion the trace of ritual (installation, image and marked space pf ritual) as an afterlife that offers a continued space of processual ceremony for multiple effective encounters and movements..
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Visualising Chinese presence: an analysis of the contemporary arts of Zambia and Zimbabwe
- Authors: Zhang, Lifang
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Art, Modern -- 21st century , Art, Modern -- 21st century -- Chinese influences , China -- Relations -- Zambia , China -- Relations -- Zimbabwe , Art and society -- Zambia , Social practice (Art) -- Zambia , Art and globalization -- Zambia , Art and society -- Zimbabwe , Social practice (Art) -- Zimbabwe , Art and globalization -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146618 , vital:38542
- Description: With the revival and rapid growth of relations between China and African countries in the present century, the “China-Africa relationship” has become a topic of close attention globally and the media and politicians have been dominating the mainstream discourses with dichotomised narratives. China-Africa engagement has also spurred academic research, most of which is oriented toward large-scale economic, political, and strategic concerns. In this context, it is significant to conduct in-depth research exploring specific engagement between Chinese and African people on the ground. Contemporary artists based in Africa have started to represent, through artworks and performances, their experiences and expressions of relations between China and various African countries. However, an examination of twenty-first century connections between Africa and China in relation to the contemporary visual arts is a new area of study and only a limited number of scholarly works exist. To contribute to the research in this area, this thesis explores the ways in which artists engage with specific realities and lived-experiences of Chinese presence through their artistic practices, with a focus on a selection of artists from Zambia and Zimbabwe. Through visual analysis, interviews and field work, this thesis provides a systematic investigation of contemporary arts of Zambia and Zimbabwe in relation to Africa- China encounters, engaging with four aspects: the discursive field, the material presence, individual experiences of encounters, and the broader relational connections within the arts. This thesis argues that, motivated by the histories and realities of African societies, artists from Zambia and Zimbabwe, through their artistic practices, form part of the Africa-China engagement and insert their agencies in the south-south relations between Africans and Chinese. Therefore, this thesis demonstrates the value in approaching the broader discussion on Africa-China engagements from the perspective of contemporary art, arguing that, with the social concerns of the artists and the expressive capacity of creative forms, visual arts are able to embrace diversity, dynamics, complexities and contradictions, and, therefore, can develop the topic beyond the stereotypical narratives about Africa-China relations to a more nuanced understanding of African-Chinese encounters in specific contexts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Zhang, Lifang
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Art, Modern -- 21st century , Art, Modern -- 21st century -- Chinese influences , China -- Relations -- Zambia , China -- Relations -- Zimbabwe , Art and society -- Zambia , Social practice (Art) -- Zambia , Art and globalization -- Zambia , Art and society -- Zimbabwe , Social practice (Art) -- Zimbabwe , Art and globalization -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146618 , vital:38542
- Description: With the revival and rapid growth of relations between China and African countries in the present century, the “China-Africa relationship” has become a topic of close attention globally and the media and politicians have been dominating the mainstream discourses with dichotomised narratives. China-Africa engagement has also spurred academic research, most of which is oriented toward large-scale economic, political, and strategic concerns. In this context, it is significant to conduct in-depth research exploring specific engagement between Chinese and African people on the ground. Contemporary artists based in Africa have started to represent, through artworks and performances, their experiences and expressions of relations between China and various African countries. However, an examination of twenty-first century connections between Africa and China in relation to the contemporary visual arts is a new area of study and only a limited number of scholarly works exist. To contribute to the research in this area, this thesis explores the ways in which artists engage with specific realities and lived-experiences of Chinese presence through their artistic practices, with a focus on a selection of artists from Zambia and Zimbabwe. Through visual analysis, interviews and field work, this thesis provides a systematic investigation of contemporary arts of Zambia and Zimbabwe in relation to Africa- China encounters, engaging with four aspects: the discursive field, the material presence, individual experiences of encounters, and the broader relational connections within the arts. This thesis argues that, motivated by the histories and realities of African societies, artists from Zambia and Zimbabwe, through their artistic practices, form part of the Africa-China engagement and insert their agencies in the south-south relations between Africans and Chinese. Therefore, this thesis demonstrates the value in approaching the broader discussion on Africa-China engagements from the perspective of contemporary art, arguing that, with the social concerns of the artists and the expressive capacity of creative forms, visual arts are able to embrace diversity, dynamics, complexities and contradictions, and, therefore, can develop the topic beyond the stereotypical narratives about Africa-China relations to a more nuanced understanding of African-Chinese encounters in specific contexts.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
A counter-narrative analysis of psychological riot in contemporary painting
- Authors: Ng’ok, Ivy Chemutai
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Painting -- South Africa , Painting -- Psychological aspects , Distress (Psychology) in art , Imperialism in art , Violence in art , Patriarchy in art Political art
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60458 , vital:27782
- Description: I am rioting against a system of my own beliefs about the world. In my mind, I struggle to overcome these beliefs, hence, I construct the psychological riot as ‘the disturbance of the mind’. In this mini-thesis, I argue that it exists in the psyche too. This definition of psyche becomes painterly. My psychological riot is difficult to trace, let alone paint. The beliefs that I target are patriarchy within a post-colonial context. I use theories that are simultaneously psychological and corporeal. They address violence colonialist system. The psychological riot is an practical submission.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Ng’ok, Ivy Chemutai
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Painting -- South Africa , Painting -- Psychological aspects , Distress (Psychology) in art , Imperialism in art , Violence in art , Patriarchy in art Political art
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/60458 , vital:27782
- Description: I am rioting against a system of my own beliefs about the world. In my mind, I struggle to overcome these beliefs, hence, I construct the psychological riot as ‘the disturbance of the mind’. In this mini-thesis, I argue that it exists in the psyche too. This definition of psyche becomes painterly. My psychological riot is difficult to trace, let alone paint. The beliefs that I target are patriarchy within a post-colonial context. I use theories that are simultaneously psychological and corporeal. They address violence colonialist system. The psychological riot is an practical submission.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
(Un)stable architecture as deconstructed meaning
- Authors: Lombard, Lindi
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Art and architecture , Architecture in art , Proportion (Art) , Vertigo in art , Deconstructivism (Architecture)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/5825 , vital:20980
- Description: How often do we notice the buildings that we work in, play in and live in? The architecture that we construct is specially geared to our human proportions, and shelters and accommodates us. It can be seen as a metaphor for the body, the self, and systems of social control that we have created. When the structure of this architecture is compromised, either literally or metaphorically, we experience instability and vertigo. My practical submission, Vertigo is concerned with architecture, perspective, deconstruction, instability, vertigo, scale and the body. Vertigo consists of paintings, ranging in scale from the size of a brick to the height of a single storey house. Utilizing a highly representational style as well as working with abstract sign systems and technical plan drawings, I destabilize firstly, our sense of certainty in the architecture that surrounds us, and secondly, prompts us to question the assumed fixity of ourselves and our social systems, through the convergence and collision of architecture and painting. This supporting document, (Un)stable Architecture as Deconstructed Meaning, considers the key conceptual concerns informing my practical submission. In chapter one of this mini-thesis: Deconstructivist Architecture, Instability and Impermanence I look at Deconstructivist Architecture which challenges traditional values of order, stability, harmony and unity of architecture. I position my work in relation to architecture projects on the Deconstructivist Architecture show in relation to their intent of undoing, shifting and destabilizing structure and what architecture is traditionally valued for. I also look at the shifting meaning and symbolism of architecture and skyscrapers. In the second chapter: Vertiginous Point of View and Shifted Perspectives I engage with vertigo, perspective, scale and the bodily analogy in architecture. I look at how Julie Mehretu destabilises built space and architecture in a painterly way, depicting multiple perspectives which are subjected to multiple interpretations. In chapter Three: Painting a Building and Building a Painting: Process, Scale and the Body, I discuss and engage with my practical submission, Vertigo, in relation to my process, scale, the body, vertigo, deconstruction, instability and perspective.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Lombard, Lindi
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Art and architecture , Architecture in art , Proportion (Art) , Vertigo in art , Deconstructivism (Architecture)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/5825 , vital:20980
- Description: How often do we notice the buildings that we work in, play in and live in? The architecture that we construct is specially geared to our human proportions, and shelters and accommodates us. It can be seen as a metaphor for the body, the self, and systems of social control that we have created. When the structure of this architecture is compromised, either literally or metaphorically, we experience instability and vertigo. My practical submission, Vertigo is concerned with architecture, perspective, deconstruction, instability, vertigo, scale and the body. Vertigo consists of paintings, ranging in scale from the size of a brick to the height of a single storey house. Utilizing a highly representational style as well as working with abstract sign systems and technical plan drawings, I destabilize firstly, our sense of certainty in the architecture that surrounds us, and secondly, prompts us to question the assumed fixity of ourselves and our social systems, through the convergence and collision of architecture and painting. This supporting document, (Un)stable Architecture as Deconstructed Meaning, considers the key conceptual concerns informing my practical submission. In chapter one of this mini-thesis: Deconstructivist Architecture, Instability and Impermanence I look at Deconstructivist Architecture which challenges traditional values of order, stability, harmony and unity of architecture. I position my work in relation to architecture projects on the Deconstructivist Architecture show in relation to their intent of undoing, shifting and destabilizing structure and what architecture is traditionally valued for. I also look at the shifting meaning and symbolism of architecture and skyscrapers. In the second chapter: Vertiginous Point of View and Shifted Perspectives I engage with vertigo, perspective, scale and the bodily analogy in architecture. I look at how Julie Mehretu destabilises built space and architecture in a painterly way, depicting multiple perspectives which are subjected to multiple interpretations. In chapter Three: Painting a Building and Building a Painting: Process, Scale and the Body, I discuss and engage with my practical submission, Vertigo, in relation to my process, scale, the body, vertigo, deconstruction, instability and perspective.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Imagine/nation : mediating 'xenophobia' through visual and performance art
- Machona, Gerald Ralph Tawanda
- Authors: Machona, Gerald Ralph Tawanda
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Xenophobia -- South Africa , Xenophobia in mass media , Performance art , Immigrants in art , Violence in art , Race in art
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:2480 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011106 , Xenophobia -- South Africa , Xenophobia in mass media , Performance art , Immigrants in art , Violence in art , Race in art
- Description: This half-thesis has developed as a supporting document to an exhibition titled Vabvakure, people from far away, which responds to the growing trends of violence perpetrated against African foreign nationals living in South Africa. This violence which has generally been termed as 'xenophobia' has been framed within this discourse as 'afrophobia', as it is fraught with complexities of race, ethnicity and class. Evidently, not all foreign nationals are at risk but selective targeting of working class black African foreign nationals seems to be the modus operandi. Fanning these flames of prejudice are stereotypes and negative perceptions of Africa and African immigrants that have permeated into the national consciousness of South Africa, which the mainstream media has been complicit in cultivating. My practice is concerned with challenging this politic of representation in relation to the image of the African foreign national within South African society, who have been presented negatively and labelled as the 'Makwerekwere', the 'bogeymen' that have been blamed for the country’s current woes. In response to this, my research adopts the premise that forms of cultural mediation such as visual and performance art can offer further insights and possibly yield solutions that can be used to address these sentiments. As globalisation and neoliberal ideologies reshape the world, there is a growing need in the post-colonial state to revisit and re-construct notions of individual and collective identity, especially that of the nation. Nations, nationalisms and citizenry can no longer be defined solely through indigeneity, for as a result of radical shifts in the flow of migration and immigration policies that allow for naturalisation of aliens and foreign nationals, we are now faced with burgeoning levels of social diversity to the extent that constructions of nationhood that are based on the concept of autochthony have resulted in the persecution of the ‘other’.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Machona, Gerald Ralph Tawanda
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Xenophobia -- South Africa , Xenophobia in mass media , Performance art , Immigrants in art , Violence in art , Race in art
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:2480 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011106 , Xenophobia -- South Africa , Xenophobia in mass media , Performance art , Immigrants in art , Violence in art , Race in art
- Description: This half-thesis has developed as a supporting document to an exhibition titled Vabvakure, people from far away, which responds to the growing trends of violence perpetrated against African foreign nationals living in South Africa. This violence which has generally been termed as 'xenophobia' has been framed within this discourse as 'afrophobia', as it is fraught with complexities of race, ethnicity and class. Evidently, not all foreign nationals are at risk but selective targeting of working class black African foreign nationals seems to be the modus operandi. Fanning these flames of prejudice are stereotypes and negative perceptions of Africa and African immigrants that have permeated into the national consciousness of South Africa, which the mainstream media has been complicit in cultivating. My practice is concerned with challenging this politic of representation in relation to the image of the African foreign national within South African society, who have been presented negatively and labelled as the 'Makwerekwere', the 'bogeymen' that have been blamed for the country’s current woes. In response to this, my research adopts the premise that forms of cultural mediation such as visual and performance art can offer further insights and possibly yield solutions that can be used to address these sentiments. As globalisation and neoliberal ideologies reshape the world, there is a growing need in the post-colonial state to revisit and re-construct notions of individual and collective identity, especially that of the nation. Nations, nationalisms and citizenry can no longer be defined solely through indigeneity, for as a result of radical shifts in the flow of migration and immigration policies that allow for naturalisation of aliens and foreign nationals, we are now faced with burgeoning levels of social diversity to the extent that constructions of nationhood that are based on the concept of autochthony have resulted in the persecution of the ‘other’.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
The fantastic subject: a visio-cultural study of Nollywood video-film
- Authors: Makhubu, Nomusa Mary
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Motion picture industry -- Nigeria , Motion pictures -- Nigeria , Supernatural in motion pictures , Art and popular culture -- Nigeria , Fantasy in motion pictures , Fantasy in art
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2516 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021166
- Description: The increasing popularity of Nigerian video-film, defined as the ‘Nollywood phenomenon’ (Barrot 2008, Haynes 2010, Adesokan 2011), has attracted recent interdisciplinary academic attention, now known as ‘Nollywood Studies’. The aesthetics and ideological approach of Nollywood video-film are often differentiated from those of the long-established and illustrious African Cinema. Films of Africa are, however, generally characterised by seemingly unique forms of the fantastic – an uneasy theme in scholarship on Nollywood. Although Nollywood video-film is commended by some scholars, its representation of the supernatural and the fantastic is often perceived to be demeaning. Considering the complexity of fantastic themes in creative arts of Africa, this study contributes to this field of study by positioning Nollywood as an interventionist artistic practice that subverts the division between art and popular culture. Further, it considers how this positioning could shift our thinking about what constitutes art and creative practice in Africa. The distinctions between art and popular culture have been inherited from particularly Western disciplines. A critical analysis of the fantastic in Nollywood could expand interpretations of the broader uses of new media and appropriation and develop the discourse on contemporary creative practices of Africa and the parameters of the art history discipline. I interrogate the visual language of the video-film medium through a discussion of other forms of artistic media such as photography, video art, and performance art. The fantastic themes, such as ‘magic’, ‘fetishism’ and violence, conveyed through new media open up a field of questions regarding contemporary social-political dynamics. The cultural value of Nollywood video-film is often based on who makes it. As a proletarian product, Nollywood has been underestimated as a ‘low’ form of culture. Its use of appropriated material connotes the complex dialectics that formulate class difference. I consider how a positioning of video-film as a creative practice could be complicated by the fact that it also operates as a theocentric implement that is used by churches to evangelise. Moreover, I examine how ‘epic’ films construct idyllic notions of ‘ethnicity’ based on dialectics of rational/irrational or real/fantastic. Nollywood video-film also creates images of fantastic spaces. In this thesis, I address concepts of space in Nollywood from which fantastic desire is constructed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Makhubu, Nomusa Mary
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Motion picture industry -- Nigeria , Motion pictures -- Nigeria , Supernatural in motion pictures , Art and popular culture -- Nigeria , Fantasy in motion pictures , Fantasy in art
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:2516 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1021166
- Description: The increasing popularity of Nigerian video-film, defined as the ‘Nollywood phenomenon’ (Barrot 2008, Haynes 2010, Adesokan 2011), has attracted recent interdisciplinary academic attention, now known as ‘Nollywood Studies’. The aesthetics and ideological approach of Nollywood video-film are often differentiated from those of the long-established and illustrious African Cinema. Films of Africa are, however, generally characterised by seemingly unique forms of the fantastic – an uneasy theme in scholarship on Nollywood. Although Nollywood video-film is commended by some scholars, its representation of the supernatural and the fantastic is often perceived to be demeaning. Considering the complexity of fantastic themes in creative arts of Africa, this study contributes to this field of study by positioning Nollywood as an interventionist artistic practice that subverts the division between art and popular culture. Further, it considers how this positioning could shift our thinking about what constitutes art and creative practice in Africa. The distinctions between art and popular culture have been inherited from particularly Western disciplines. A critical analysis of the fantastic in Nollywood could expand interpretations of the broader uses of new media and appropriation and develop the discourse on contemporary creative practices of Africa and the parameters of the art history discipline. I interrogate the visual language of the video-film medium through a discussion of other forms of artistic media such as photography, video art, and performance art. The fantastic themes, such as ‘magic’, ‘fetishism’ and violence, conveyed through new media open up a field of questions regarding contemporary social-political dynamics. The cultural value of Nollywood video-film is often based on who makes it. As a proletarian product, Nollywood has been underestimated as a ‘low’ form of culture. Its use of appropriated material connotes the complex dialectics that formulate class difference. I consider how a positioning of video-film as a creative practice could be complicated by the fact that it also operates as a theocentric implement that is used by churches to evangelise. Moreover, I examine how ‘epic’ films construct idyllic notions of ‘ethnicity’ based on dialectics of rational/irrational or real/fantastic. Nollywood video-film also creates images of fantastic spaces. In this thesis, I address concepts of space in Nollywood from which fantastic desire is constructed.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
The eyes of the wall : space, narrative and perspective
- Authors: Baasch, Rachel Mary
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Installations (Art) , Frames (Sociology) , Architecture, Domestic, in art , Narrative art
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2388 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001578
- Description: The Eyes of the Wall and Other Short Stories is concerned with dialectics of seeing and perceiving as they pertain directly to a corporal understanding of interiority and exteriority, architectural framing and notions of dislocation in relation to place. This practical submission is a site-specific installation that engages in a reciprocal dialogue with its environment. The individual sculptural works which demarcate the parameters of the installation are hybrids of domestic architectural forms, (namely the wall, the window and the door) and internal furnishings such as the curtain and the bed. These hybridised metal and resin constructions frame the interior of a site, a tennis court located within my immediate Grahamstown environment. The placement of familiar objects generally associated with the home and notions of security and privacy, within the open, exposed and permeable enclosure of the tennis court evoke a sense of displacement within the viewer. This supporting document, The Eyes of the Wall: Space, Narrative and Perspective, considers the key conceptual concerns informing my installation. In this mini-thesis I address the relationship between domestic architecture and the body, examining the notion of framing as fundamental to the individual comprehension of space. I position my work in relation to that of Mona Hatoum drawing on the similarities that exist between her practice and my own. In the first chapter of this paper: My House/Your House: Walls, Windows, Doors and Skins I address the relationship between domestic architecture, framing and the body, and ‘contamination’. Within Chapter Two: Narratives of Division I engage with the idea of multiple ‘short stories’—personal and collective narratives—and their connection to issues of division and dislocation. Chapter Three: Seeing Blindness discusses the possibility that perspective, or at least one potential approach to perspective is concerned with that which one cannot see, an acknowledgment of the implicit relationship between seeing and not-seeing. Each of the three core concerns expressed in the title of this mini-thesis, The Eyes of The Wall: Space, Narrative and Perspective intersect within the site of The Eyes of The Wall and Other Short Stories. It is at this intersection that the shadows of stories within stories within stories insert themselves, like phantom limbs into the gaps and tensions framed by the forms of the installation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Baasch, Rachel Mary
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Installations (Art) , Frames (Sociology) , Architecture, Domestic, in art , Narrative art
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2388 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001578
- Description: The Eyes of the Wall and Other Short Stories is concerned with dialectics of seeing and perceiving as they pertain directly to a corporal understanding of interiority and exteriority, architectural framing and notions of dislocation in relation to place. This practical submission is a site-specific installation that engages in a reciprocal dialogue with its environment. The individual sculptural works which demarcate the parameters of the installation are hybrids of domestic architectural forms, (namely the wall, the window and the door) and internal furnishings such as the curtain and the bed. These hybridised metal and resin constructions frame the interior of a site, a tennis court located within my immediate Grahamstown environment. The placement of familiar objects generally associated with the home and notions of security and privacy, within the open, exposed and permeable enclosure of the tennis court evoke a sense of displacement within the viewer. This supporting document, The Eyes of the Wall: Space, Narrative and Perspective, considers the key conceptual concerns informing my installation. In this mini-thesis I address the relationship between domestic architecture and the body, examining the notion of framing as fundamental to the individual comprehension of space. I position my work in relation to that of Mona Hatoum drawing on the similarities that exist between her practice and my own. In the first chapter of this paper: My House/Your House: Walls, Windows, Doors and Skins I address the relationship between domestic architecture, framing and the body, and ‘contamination’. Within Chapter Two: Narratives of Division I engage with the idea of multiple ‘short stories’—personal and collective narratives—and their connection to issues of division and dislocation. Chapter Three: Seeing Blindness discusses the possibility that perspective, or at least one potential approach to perspective is concerned with that which one cannot see, an acknowledgment of the implicit relationship between seeing and not-seeing. Each of the three core concerns expressed in the title of this mini-thesis, The Eyes of The Wall: Space, Narrative and Perspective intersect within the site of The Eyes of The Wall and Other Short Stories. It is at this intersection that the shadows of stories within stories within stories insert themselves, like phantom limbs into the gaps and tensions framed by the forms of the installation.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
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