UP Journals (Univ. of Pretoria)
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Word and image in dialogue: Peter Clarke’s collages and Fan series
Full text linkBoth a writer and an artist, Peter Clarke (born 1929) tended to follow his chosen careers separately, but he has, since the end of the 1970s, begun introducing texts systematically into his artworks. Initially words appeared as seemingly randomly placed, usually collaged elements in paintings, often taking the form of graffiti on the surface of increasingly abstract images of walls. These works provide insight into Clarke’s interaction with the pictorial tropes of Modernism and also reveal a political content in his works, which were previously considered chiefly as unmediated, naturalistic renderings of Cape people. More recently, in Clarke’s Fan series, the words make up authored texts which are equal partners with images created on semi-circular fan-shaped formats, now exceeding 150 independent works. Each represents an individual from history, literature or Clarke’s South African environment, and the texts are written as monologues, or dialogues between the author-artist and the subject, who is also referenced visually in the imagery of the fan. This article documents the diverse range of subjects and global scope of his references, whether textual or pictorial, which not only provide an enlightening glimpse into the versatile imagination of the artist, but challenge stereotyped views of the contributions of black artists of his generation
Finding the mother in the mother city: reclaiming Cape Town through design
Full text linkThe current macro-trend of unprecedented population growth in developing countries, specifically in the global South, calls for an increased focus on urban planning and development. To this end, many discussions in urban planning and design acknowledge the need for cities to be managed creatively in a way that empowers their inhabitants and creates better living conditions for them. In its successful bid to be the World Design Capital in 2014, Cape Town, South Africa’s mother city, has embraced the idea of being a creative city, with a specific mission to improve community cohesion to rebuild the city, to reconnect communities by means of infrastructural enhancement and to reposition the city for the knowledge economy. By drawing specifically on the writings of Henri Lefebvre, this paper aligns the Cape Town World Design Capital bid and subsequent designation with the concept of the right to the city. One characteristic of Lefebvre’s notion of the right to the city is not about being nostalgic for the past but rather, like the theme of Cape Town’s bid, to Live Design. Transform Life, is anticipatory of a better urban situation. Following from this, the article explores the way in which design may serve as a driver to facilitate Lefebvre’s notion of the right to the city in Cape Town and it also considers the implications of a design capital city within the context of an African creative economy.
Promoting and popularising the asylum: photography and asylum image-making at the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum, 1890-1907
Full text linkStudying the history of the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum under the medical superintendency of Dr Thomas Duncan Greenlees (1890-1907), the nature of imaging the institution emerged as a point of interest. This article specifically explores how Greenlees promoted and popularised the asylum in order to gain custom from private patients. I argue that one way in which Greenlees created patronage was through the cultivation of a public image of the asylum as ideally suited to the care of middle class patients, as well as promising restoration and recuperation from insanity. In this manner, the image-making of the asylum provided a vital tool to counter public fears and stigma. Furthermore, Greenlees’s image-making acted as a form of public relations with the broader community to initiate public confidence in the establishment.
“Not a straight line by a spiral”: charting continuity and change in textiles informed by feminism
Full text linkIn response to Rozsika Parker’s (2010:xi-xxii) preoccupation with charting continuity and change in both the gendered meanings of craft and the work of women artists employing craft techniques and materials, in this article, I reflect on my experience of curating a retrospective exhibition of crochet and mixed media works by Su Richardson, a participant in the collaborative mail art (1975-1977) and installation project Feministo (various venues, including the ICA, 1977). Superficially, Richardson’s domestic iconography has grown in mainstream popularity, as has the use of craft, yet the political, aesthetic and historical specificity of her oeuvre should not be misrecognised: these self-reflectively home-made objects stir the unconscious of domesticity, femininity and their mutual implication from decidedly feminist perspectives. Following Parker (2010:xxi), I argue that threads of influence and dialogue in textiles informed by feminism are often oblique, broken and unexpectedly tangled. If Richardson’s retrospective aimed to forge links not only between past and contemporary feminisms but also with current DIY aesthetics and countercultural practices, contemporary artists working with textiles mine a wealth of cultural and artistic references, suggesting complex and transgressive webs of kinship. Bronwyn Platten’s quilted homage to Mike Kelley, For more and more love hours (R.I.P. Mike Kelley 1954-2012) (1973-2013), is an example of a work in which such cultural and artistic references are brought to the fore. In it, Platten questions Faith Wilding’s dismissal of his work as an abject reification of ‘bad boy masculinity’ (Wilding 2000:94), to propose feminist and gender-critical alliances across genders and generations.
Scars, beads, bodies: pointure and punctum in nineteenth-century “Zulu” beadwork and its photographic imaging
Full text linkIn the nineteenth century, two imports to South Africa, beadwork and photography, were to impact on the ways in which people presented themselves to the gaze of others. Both required some forms of pointing and stitching, both within the things they constructed, and between the things they constructed and the bodies of those they made visible. Both were imported via colonial intrusion and were used to control the local population by visibly binding them to particular identities. At the same time local populations used these imports to reinforce their own identities and to speak back to the power of the colonists.
The first import, of glass beads to the east coast, resulted in a tradition of beadwork in a multitude of styles. I examine the ways in which beadwork can to be linked to isiZulu-speakers’ scarification in the way it is tied to the body, worn and sometimes even stitched into the hair. I argue that these praxes talk of beadwork as a creation of a second level of skin and of a combined, layered set of meanings and identities.
The second import, photography, allowed the different manners of scarring and of wearing beadwork to be recorded over a long time span. By bringing together the indexical function of photography (via Barthes) to record identities, the pointing of the camera at the object to be fixed, the bodies, the scars and the beadwork and, I argue, following Jacques Derrida’s (2009 [1978]) notion of "pointure", that the photographs have been laced onto, and entangle irretrievably with, that which they supposedly “represent”
Examining the legal attribution of transgender parenthood in England and Wales: R (Mcconnell) v Registrar General for England and Wales [2020] EWCA CIV 559
Full text linkThis note comments on the decision of the England and Wales Court of Appeal in R (on the application of McConnell) v Registrar General for England and Wales [2020] EWCA Civ 559. Freddy McConnell was registered as female at birth but transitioned at age 22 to live as a male. Mr McConnell was issued a certificate on 11 April 2017, confirming his gender as male. On 21 April 2017, Mr McConnell commenced fertility treatment. Upon giving birth to a son, Mr McConnell sought to register the birth of his son with the Registry Office. In a decision in January 2019, he was informed that he would have to be registered as the child’s ‘mother’. In this judgement, the Court of Appeal rejected McConnell’s contention that he should be registered as either the ‘father’ or ‘gestational parent’ as a matter of domestic law. Secondarily, it also held that this interpretation was not incompatible with articles 8 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Artificial Intelligence: A New Global System, a Genocidal Project or the revival of the tokoloshe culture?
No full textIn the context of inclusive innovation, artificial intelligence (AI), presents opportunities to address inequality and social exclusion by integrating fairness, inclusivity, and representation. Despite AI\u27s advantages, such as being a transformative force in the global landscape, affecting our traditional labour systems, and becoming a part of our daily lives. It is important to consider the potential downsides, including deepening inequalities and enhancing the digital divide. This article explores the multifaceted nature of AI, examining whether it implies developing a new global system, risks becoming a “genocidal project”, or challenging traditional African ways of being. We illustrate this by comparing AI usage and African Epistemologies to understand how both have a dual nature in their adaptability and versatility in shaping our everyday lives. Using the African Epistemological lenses of ubuntu and African folklore of the tokoloshe, we incorporate evidence from academic sources and policy, we argue that AI\u27s replacement of human labour is a form of economic genocide, mainly impacting less advantaged people by intensifying inequalities and unemployment. This paper aims to contribute to the growing study of Inclusive Innovation by incorporating AI and African experiences; emphasising the philosophy of ubuntu by bringing to the fore humanness in the development of AI in Southern Africa. We offer policy recommendations for policy development that emphasise the challenges and influence of AI’s potential for inclusive innovation. These recommendations promote equitable access to technology and prioritise ethical considerations to avoid harm and marginalisation
The Protection, Preservation and Repatriation of Marine and Underwater Cultural Heritage: Lessons and Opportunities for Africa
No full textMarine and Underwater Cultural Heritage (MUCH) is potentially an integral part of the cultural heritage of humanity. Protecting MUCH is, therefore, crucial for preserving and enriching one’s understanding of history and safeguarding knowledge for future generations. However, despite the existence of international legal frameworks, namely the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and UNESCO’s Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage (CPUCH), there remain several challenges surrounding the preservation and ownership of marine and underwater cultural heritage sites and artefacts. This article argues that issues related to the ownership and management of MUCH remain highly contested, particularly in the context of the evolving dynamics between European and African countries. It frames MUCH as a ‘frontier’ which manifests in three dimensions: a spatial frontier reflecting emerging disputes over marine resource management; a knowledge frontier highlighting the role of maritime archaeology and an ocean governance frontier influencing international legislation and economic activities. By critically evaluating the international legal regimes’ responses to MUCH, this article underscores the importance of African involvement in safeguarding its own underwater cultural heritage
Artistic conversation: Louisemarié Combrink in conversation with Jan van der Merwe: Stairways and Ruins
No full textThis contribution presents a textual version of an artistic conversation between Louisemarié Combrink and the artist Jan van der Merwe, in which the latter gives an account of his five-phased approach to creative work. This is done with specific reference to his work Speelgrond/Playground of 2023, made for the Stairways and Ruins exhibition.1 The significance of this approach is that Van der Merwe applies this mode of work to his oeuvre as well as to his teaching more generally. This approach comprises of considerations pertaining to (1) conceptualising; (2) processes, (3) materials, (4) techniques, and (5) presentation. As a focused approach to the mindful production of creative outputs, the insights gleaned from this conversation are presented as useful for professional artists, as well as teachers and students of creative disciplines
Rediscovering the South African Games: A Neglected Chapter in South African Sports Historiography
No full textBy the early 1960s, South Africa faced increasing international pressure due to its policy of apartheid. This pressure took many forms, among them a sports boycott of racially segregated sports during the apartheid era. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was one sporting body who issued an ultimatum to the South African National Olympic Committee (SANOC) to abandon racial discrimination in sport or face possible exclusion from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. This set in motion a ‘counter-offensive’ by the South African government to stage the first in a number of organised sports meetings they called the \u27SA Games\u27; a model of the Olympic Games presented in South Africa. Although the international sports boycott on South Africa has received adequate attention from academics – some of whom have traced and analysed its origins and, in certain instances, focused on its impact on specific sporting codes – the response to these boycotts at home, and in particular, the staging of an apartheid version of the Olympics, has not been researched adequately. This paper addresses that lacuna and studies the staging of various sports meetings known as the SA Games, a largely forgotten episode of South African sports history.