Art Q5

Question 1

Mary sibande

Answer 1

-She came from a line of domestic workers and was the first person to go to university in her family
-She explores identity in post-Apartheid South Africa
-She breaks the stereotypes of black female body/race/gender

Question 2

The reign

Answer 2

-sculpture of Sophie in a blue dress, riding horse
-ARTWORK: equestrian statue usually of men
Women above the ground at hero status = celebrates SA women who have been affected by
apartheid
Purple trade mark under dress -> 1980: protestors sprayed with purple dye by police to identify anti- apartheid activists -> role colour played in history of country,royalty -> expensive dye (only rich can afford)
-STEROTYPES TO DEAL WITH UNIFORMS: Sophie represents a group in a general way
Make people invisible through generalisation
‘servant = invisible, sightless, deaf and mute to those who serve
No individuality, covers personal clothes

Question 3

Transcend series

Answer 3

-A series created from book ashes showing 6 life sized elderly people
Usual cliché: old people only shown healthy, active, fulfilled, retirement Victor’s take: stripped of clothes and context -> no family, friends, identity
gracefully
-DEATH: people want to remove image of aging on a superficial level -> age invisibly.
-BACKGROUND: used images of six old people from frail care facility in Johannesburg
waiting lists are very long to get in because after the end of the National party rule white males became redundant and had to retire early
Wants to explode a number of stereotypes which society has deemed fitting for elderly
-MATERIAL: ashes of books that had personal significance -> both bodies and books contain history
Western literature is used to show that it is colonial and black people can’t afford
Ash at Harkle changes the meaning of whiteness
What is no longer status privilege and power since the removal of control 1994
European culture in South Africa is rapidly changing
-TRANSCEND LIZ: Tipton burnt feet = balance between life and death
Confident facial expression = no shame or embarrassment
Scar (removal of breast) = previous brush with death
Made from ash = flesh will return to that soon
Knees and ancles bound but no hospital attire = wrapping body in white sheet has even
begun before death

Question 4

Clive van den berg

Answer 4

Examines landscapes of SA (mine dumps)
Speaks about anxiety is contained in both personal and political
Body and landscapes = memories and scars
-LAND: the western view is that land is possessed by recordine surface image confronts the traditions in art by peeling ‘the surfac possessed by recording unte cendscape is porous
Allegory (hidden meaning, usually practical) + abstraction
Colonial control of land

Question 5

African landscape 13

Answer 5

-an oil painting on four canvases showing numerous small figures using no defying horizontal lines
-SMALL FIGURES: distant perspective, agitated but unclear
-PAST AND PRESENT: lower canvas = landscape underground created by mining
yellow canvas = gold (NB reference to Joburg)
chaotic landscape = mine shafts
-LIGHT: work shows power -> uses to show what is body and what is landscape

Question 6

Walter oltman

Answer 6

-Main medium = wire
-Works explore archaeological images + concept of time, change, evolution

Question 7

Mother and child

Answer 7

(A 3D drawing using wires of a skeleton with a foetus that hangs on a wall)
Looks like it has been emerged in soil -> African traditions
Archaeological image - time, change, evolution
Correlation between fossils and woven form of classic Oltman
Skull = fragility of life + transience
Paradox between vulnerability and monstrous
-OVERALL MESSAGE: Relationship with mother and child -> tragic loss of tender bond
usually a nurturing and serene scene now = disturbing catastrophe
Link to mother passing HIV to find

Question 8

Usha seerjamin

Answer 8

-Work shows grit of everyday life -> challenges patriarchal structures with elegance

Question 9

Her latent powers lie dormant

Answer 9

-sculpture using the everyday item of broom heads, wires and a hard plastic base

-BROOMS: give the sculpture an organic earthiness > dried earth spell
Brooms made from straw by hand > essential for sweeping dirt -7 grit and grind of everyday woman stereotypical view of female: have to keep the house, mother hood
Gets rid of unnecessary things: sweeps away illusions + attachment of clutter to subconscious
-transform spaces: clean, stir dust away
-BROOM HEADS: phantom of witch -> sorcery, magic, sexual lust (women who want power)
-METAPHOR: shows power of women to ignite and defy orthodox way of things
Set hearts and minds of flame with dangerous ideas of freedom
Broom heads have an open mouth = women have a voice and speech