Exhibition Catalogue with an essay by Dr Karen von Veh, "Vindicating the Vilified: Majak Bredell'... more Exhibition Catalogue with an essay by Dr Karen von Veh, "Vindicating the Vilified: Majak Bredell's celebration of lost lives", and an essay by Dr Sarah Sik, "'What Dreams May Come': Envisioning the Witch's Body"
The importance of Diane Victor's impressive body of drawings and prints lies not only in its... more The importance of Diane Victor's impressive body of drawings and prints lies not only in its biting social commentary and the sometimes macabre quality of her images, but also in the interplay between the tough and the fragile in her work, between the difficult subject matter of her visual narratives and the delicate mark-making and fragility of her preferred media. Victor's steady output over two decades, her dedication to technique and form, and her courageous and often humorous representation of the world around her have made her one of the most important contemporary South African artists.
Art that was produced in South Africa from the 1960’s until the end of apartheid was largely poli... more Art that was produced in South Africa from the 1960’s until the end of apartheid was largely politicised. Much of it was aimed at protesting against the injustices of apartheid or commenting on social inequalities and problematising the status quo. The Christian message of suffering and martyrdom became a particularly useful metaphor for the suffering of black people during this time and Christian imagery was employed by many artists to this end. During apartheid co-option of such imagery reinforced the underlying Christian message of sacrifice and blamelessness, as these accepted traditional connotations were necessary for a suitable reading of Christian imagery in a political sense. When looking at the re-use of Christian iconography in post-apartheid art works, however, the emphasis shifts dramatically. More recent works tend to employ such imagery in a subversive way, to question its source and to deconstruct certain ‘truths’ and expectations that are promoted by religion. Conte...
This article considers selected works by Conrad Botes and Lawrence Lemaoana, who both engage with... more This article considers selected works by Conrad Botes and Lawrence Lemaoana, who both engage with the notion of masculinity in contemporary South Africa through parodic revisions of Christian iconography. Christianity has a history of underpinning state politics and providing role models for social behaviour, the imagery has therefore permeated Western civilisation and is not only familiar, but is often revered. Transgressive parodies of such imagery, therefore, can be disturbing and are generally aimed at preventing complacent viewing as they encourage viewers to question the norms and controls promoted by the original images. Lahoucine Ouzgane and Robert Morrell (2005, 4), in their introduction to African masculinities, point out that the study of contemporary masculinities emphasises the anti-essential nature of masculine experience – a fact that is particularly pertinent in South Africa. Botes is white and was brought up in a traditional (nationalist) Afrikaans home, whereas Lem...
ABSTRACT This article considers selected works by Conrad Botes and Lawrence Lemaoana, who both en... more ABSTRACT This article considers selected works by Conrad Botes and Lawrence Lemaoana, who both engage with the notion of masculinity in contemporary South Africa through parodic revisions of Christian iconography. Christianity has a history of underpinning state politics and providing role models for social behaviour, the imagery has therefore permeated Western civilisation and is not only familiar, but is often revered. Transgressive parodies of such imagery, therefore, can be disturbing and are generally aimed at preventing complacent viewing as they encourage viewers to question the norms and controls promoted by the original images. Lahoucine Ouzgane and Robert Morrell (2005, 4), in their introduction to African masculinities, point out that the study of contemporary masculinities emphasises the anti-essential nature of masculine experience – a fact that is particularly pertinent in South Africa. Botes is white and was brought up in a traditional (nationalist) Afrikaans home, whereas Lemaoana is young, black, and part of the post-apartheid generation. Their approach to both masculinity and Christianity addresses the individual difficulties and challenges arising from their respective backgrounds. The author suggests, therefore, that their parodic reinvention of images of Christ questions the notion of ideal masculinity that He personifies and problematises its relevance for the production of masculinity in a post-apartheid, post-colonial and constantly evolving South African society.
The Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Johannesburg has diverse departm... more The Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Johannesburg has diverse departments ranging from Architecture, Fine Arts and Multimedia to five different design disciplines. After years of being housed in geographically dispersed locations the faculty has recently moved into one building, and is in the process of consolidating and rationalizing the teaching programmes. One area of rationalization has been identified as the theory programme, and we have been assigned the task of identifying theoretical material and drawing up a single teaching programme that most departments could subscribe to.
"The works by Victor that will be discussed in this paper were made for the exhibition Perso... more "The works by Victor that will be discussed in this paper were made for the exhibition Personal Affects: Power and Poetics in Contemporary South African Art which was held in New York in 2004. The allocated theme for the exhibition was ‘performative identity’, and Victor uses her own body and face as raw material to re-interpret the roles that females have been allocated within Christianity. I would argue that in this so called ‘post-feminist’ era Victor’s representations profitably employ the strategies of feminist art making to expose ongoing mechanisms of control over women, and to transform these religious icons into vehicles for deconstructing continuing stereotypes of women. The venue for the exhibition of The Eight Marys was the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, which had a bearing on Victor’s choice of religious protagonists for this commission, and provided a sacred setting for these decidedly irreverent images. Her iconoclastic interpretations are a distanciating technique, used to push the boundaries of viewer expectation enough to provoke a re-evaluation of the traditional images of Mary and female saints and their implications for women. By re-inventing Mary, Victor is engaging with the patriarchal Catholic myth of the ‘one perfect woman’ and thoroughly demythologizing her, ironically from within the institutional framework of the mythologisers themselves. Similarly, the images of saints are sufficiently transformed in such a way as to reveal the devices and conventions that have worked to structure and manage the female body and its representation in western societies, and simultaneously reveals the controlling medium of patriarchally structured western religious parameters. "
Religious imagery found in Western Christianity has been largely responsible for presenting an im... more Religious imagery found in Western Christianity has been largely responsible for presenting an image of women that is subservient to the dominant patriarchal hegemony in church politics. Images of female saints, or of the Virgin Mary in traditional art, usually present serene, modest and beautiful women, untouched by time to emphasise their spirituality and their tenuous connection with the transient world. Renaissance illustrations of female saints appear to favour those women who died or suffered to protect their ‘purity’. In this paper I show how the re-presentation of religious icons in a subversive context can function as a ‘distanciation’ technique. They disturb complacent viewing and encourage viewers to re-evaluate their preconceptions. Such a strategy has been employed by both Tracey Rose and Diane Victor to engage with and subvert ecclesiastical power structures and the stereotypes or ‘norms’ that they engender. Through their parody of religious iconography their works unpack gendered myths inspired to control women and suppress sexuality, and they raise awareness of the continued need for women to embrace self determination and personal freedom.
The Stunt Girl Stills series by Philippa Hobbs are works that are layered with symbolism and rich... more The Stunt Girl Stills series by Philippa Hobbs are works that are layered with symbolism and rich in meaning both iconographically and within a feminist theoretical framework. The series has been discussed briefly by Wilma Cruise [1] in her essay for the Artists in Residence ...
Majak Bredell CODEX MAGDALENE +
Towards a new iconography and re-imaging the mythology and legen... more Majak Bredell CODEX MAGDALENE + Towards a new iconography and re-imaging the mythology and legends of Mary Magdalene
Exhibition Catalogue with an essay by Dr Karen von Veh, "Vindicating the Vilified: Majak Bredell'... more Exhibition Catalogue with an essay by Dr Karen von Veh, "Vindicating the Vilified: Majak Bredell's celebration of lost lives", and an essay by Dr Sarah Sik, "'What Dreams May Come': Envisioning the Witch's Body"
The importance of Diane Victor's impressive body of drawings and prints lies not only in its... more The importance of Diane Victor's impressive body of drawings and prints lies not only in its biting social commentary and the sometimes macabre quality of her images, but also in the interplay between the tough and the fragile in her work, between the difficult subject matter of her visual narratives and the delicate mark-making and fragility of her preferred media. Victor's steady output over two decades, her dedication to technique and form, and her courageous and often humorous representation of the world around her have made her one of the most important contemporary South African artists.
Art that was produced in South Africa from the 1960’s until the end of apartheid was largely poli... more Art that was produced in South Africa from the 1960’s until the end of apartheid was largely politicised. Much of it was aimed at protesting against the injustices of apartheid or commenting on social inequalities and problematising the status quo. The Christian message of suffering and martyrdom became a particularly useful metaphor for the suffering of black people during this time and Christian imagery was employed by many artists to this end. During apartheid co-option of such imagery reinforced the underlying Christian message of sacrifice and blamelessness, as these accepted traditional connotations were necessary for a suitable reading of Christian imagery in a political sense. When looking at the re-use of Christian iconography in post-apartheid art works, however, the emphasis shifts dramatically. More recent works tend to employ such imagery in a subversive way, to question its source and to deconstruct certain ‘truths’ and expectations that are promoted by religion. Conte...
This article considers selected works by Conrad Botes and Lawrence Lemaoana, who both engage with... more This article considers selected works by Conrad Botes and Lawrence Lemaoana, who both engage with the notion of masculinity in contemporary South Africa through parodic revisions of Christian iconography. Christianity has a history of underpinning state politics and providing role models for social behaviour, the imagery has therefore permeated Western civilisation and is not only familiar, but is often revered. Transgressive parodies of such imagery, therefore, can be disturbing and are generally aimed at preventing complacent viewing as they encourage viewers to question the norms and controls promoted by the original images. Lahoucine Ouzgane and Robert Morrell (2005, 4), in their introduction to African masculinities, point out that the study of contemporary masculinities emphasises the anti-essential nature of masculine experience – a fact that is particularly pertinent in South Africa. Botes is white and was brought up in a traditional (nationalist) Afrikaans home, whereas Lem...
ABSTRACT This article considers selected works by Conrad Botes and Lawrence Lemaoana, who both en... more ABSTRACT This article considers selected works by Conrad Botes and Lawrence Lemaoana, who both engage with the notion of masculinity in contemporary South Africa through parodic revisions of Christian iconography. Christianity has a history of underpinning state politics and providing role models for social behaviour, the imagery has therefore permeated Western civilisation and is not only familiar, but is often revered. Transgressive parodies of such imagery, therefore, can be disturbing and are generally aimed at preventing complacent viewing as they encourage viewers to question the norms and controls promoted by the original images. Lahoucine Ouzgane and Robert Morrell (2005, 4), in their introduction to African masculinities, point out that the study of contemporary masculinities emphasises the anti-essential nature of masculine experience – a fact that is particularly pertinent in South Africa. Botes is white and was brought up in a traditional (nationalist) Afrikaans home, whereas Lemaoana is young, black, and part of the post-apartheid generation. Their approach to both masculinity and Christianity addresses the individual difficulties and challenges arising from their respective backgrounds. The author suggests, therefore, that their parodic reinvention of images of Christ questions the notion of ideal masculinity that He personifies and problematises its relevance for the production of masculinity in a post-apartheid, post-colonial and constantly evolving South African society.
The Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Johannesburg has diverse departm... more The Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Johannesburg has diverse departments ranging from Architecture, Fine Arts and Multimedia to five different design disciplines. After years of being housed in geographically dispersed locations the faculty has recently moved into one building, and is in the process of consolidating and rationalizing the teaching programmes. One area of rationalization has been identified as the theory programme, and we have been assigned the task of identifying theoretical material and drawing up a single teaching programme that most departments could subscribe to.
"The works by Victor that will be discussed in this paper were made for the exhibition Perso... more "The works by Victor that will be discussed in this paper were made for the exhibition Personal Affects: Power and Poetics in Contemporary South African Art which was held in New York in 2004. The allocated theme for the exhibition was ‘performative identity’, and Victor uses her own body and face as raw material to re-interpret the roles that females have been allocated within Christianity. I would argue that in this so called ‘post-feminist’ era Victor’s representations profitably employ the strategies of feminist art making to expose ongoing mechanisms of control over women, and to transform these religious icons into vehicles for deconstructing continuing stereotypes of women. The venue for the exhibition of The Eight Marys was the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, which had a bearing on Victor’s choice of religious protagonists for this commission, and provided a sacred setting for these decidedly irreverent images. Her iconoclastic interpretations are a distanciating technique, used to push the boundaries of viewer expectation enough to provoke a re-evaluation of the traditional images of Mary and female saints and their implications for women. By re-inventing Mary, Victor is engaging with the patriarchal Catholic myth of the ‘one perfect woman’ and thoroughly demythologizing her, ironically from within the institutional framework of the mythologisers themselves. Similarly, the images of saints are sufficiently transformed in such a way as to reveal the devices and conventions that have worked to structure and manage the female body and its representation in western societies, and simultaneously reveals the controlling medium of patriarchally structured western religious parameters. "
Religious imagery found in Western Christianity has been largely responsible for presenting an im... more Religious imagery found in Western Christianity has been largely responsible for presenting an image of women that is subservient to the dominant patriarchal hegemony in church politics. Images of female saints, or of the Virgin Mary in traditional art, usually present serene, modest and beautiful women, untouched by time to emphasise their spirituality and their tenuous connection with the transient world. Renaissance illustrations of female saints appear to favour those women who died or suffered to protect their ‘purity’. In this paper I show how the re-presentation of religious icons in a subversive context can function as a ‘distanciation’ technique. They disturb complacent viewing and encourage viewers to re-evaluate their preconceptions. Such a strategy has been employed by both Tracey Rose and Diane Victor to engage with and subvert ecclesiastical power structures and the stereotypes or ‘norms’ that they engender. Through their parody of religious iconography their works unpack gendered myths inspired to control women and suppress sexuality, and they raise awareness of the continued need for women to embrace self determination and personal freedom.
The Stunt Girl Stills series by Philippa Hobbs are works that are layered with symbolism and rich... more The Stunt Girl Stills series by Philippa Hobbs are works that are layered with symbolism and rich in meaning both iconographically and within a feminist theoretical framework. The series has been discussed briefly by Wilma Cruise [1] in her essay for the Artists in Residence ...
Majak Bredell CODEX MAGDALENE +
Towards a new iconography and re-imaging the mythology and legen... more Majak Bredell CODEX MAGDALENE + Towards a new iconography and re-imaging the mythology and legends of Mary Magdalene
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Towards a new iconography and re-imaging the mythology and legends of Mary Magdalene
Towards a new iconography and re-imaging the mythology and legends of Mary Magdalene