A Research Report submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History of Art to the Faculty of Humanities at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016 / In this research, I study the work by contemporary South African artist, Johannes Phokela, in relation to the Western art historical canon. I undertake a close analysis of his painting Candle Bathing (1997) that quotes Samson and Delilah (1609-1610) by the seventeenth century Flemish Baroque painter, Peter Paul Rubens. Through a comparative analysis and close looking I read Candle Bathing’s ‘visual argument’ within a postcolonial context. To argue that Candle Bathing is not a mere ‘quotation’ I look closely from multiple angles. To deal with the complexity of a quotation that crosses socio-political time and space, I interpret the painting from various theoretical frameworks: poststructuralism (semiotics), postmodernism (irony); and postcolonial theory to situate my contextual analysis. I am interested in how we can read beyond the literal and how a close reading of this ironic quotation can surface the complexities of contemporary South African art in relation to the art historical canon and colonialism. Through close looking I read Candle Bathing as addressing the art canon, colonialism, critiquing issues of race, and marginalisation. This research contributes to filling a knowledge based gap by researching a previously marginalised artist and a close engagement with Candle Bathing. In addition, this research offers a way of looking and a method on how to begin looking closely at contemporary African art quoting canonical works. I illustrate the value of close looking to read multifaceted and layered interpretations. / MT2017

History of Art Masters of Art by Course Work and Research Report / No abstract

A Research Report to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Arts (Fine Art), 2016 / The core of the study for this MA examines expressions and understandings of human dignity/seriti, in the work of Gerard Sekoto (1913-1993), Nhlanhla Xaba (1960-2003), Zwelethu Mthethwa (b.1960) and in my own paintings. As such, the study probes, analyses and questions the intentions, writings on and readings of these artists’ work, as well as appropriate and build on their visual and representational languages. Underlying the research is the idea of black consciousness, and quest for an ideology of a more human and equal South Africa. The subject of my paintings evolves around seriti in Sofaya, an informal settlement in the northeast of Johannesburg, which is not located on official maps of the city. I set out this study with the argument, that all human beings retain seriti as a quality that bestows respectability and equality to them. The practical component is comprised of paintings in oil. The work tries to capture a personal and spiritual quality that I call seriti through explorations of colour, paint mark, and texture. I am curious about the concept of seriti as seen through everyday experiences. I am moved by the imaginative ability of both Sekoto and Xaba’s images that weave communal and socio-political narratives to portray, positively, people’s capacity to outlive harsh and conflicting living conditions. As a result of these influences, I employ dynamic brushwork, poetic colours, and expressive forms in an attempt to portray the realities, agency, and the place of Sofaya. / MT2017

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Fine Art (Sculpture), Durban Institute of Technology, 2003. / This dissertation examines the influences and interventions affecting five selected woodcarvers working in the Northern Province over a period of fifteen years. Chapter Orneis divided into three sections. The first section explores the emergence of the woodcarving tradition through the watershed exhibition of Tributaries (1985), which claimed the 'discovery' of the master woodcarvers from the region. Shortly following on from this was the Neglected TradihmD exhibition (1988) whose role defined a turning point in the exhibiting and documentation of black artists within a changing art historical perspective. / M

This study is a consideration of the notion of the artist as a visionary. This perception of the artist is explored in relation to the work and ideas of three twentieth century artists; the American painter Jackson Pollock (1912-1952), the German artist Joseph Beuys (1921-1983) and the South African artist Jackson Hlungwani (1918 -). The work and ideas of these artists is discussed primarily in terms of the similarities and differences between their art and ideas and those encountered in traditional shamanism and the visionary aspects of Romantic and Gothic art and culture as represented by the work and ideas of eighteenth century English poet and painter William Blake (1757-1827). Each of the twentieth century artists who are considered represents a different strain of the idea of the artist as a visionary. Pollock is discussed in terms of his implicit identification with the artist-shaman. This identification is revealed by the influence Jung's writings and Native American (Indian) art and culture had on his work. Beuys is considered in relation to his explicit adoption of a shaman-like persona. Hlungwani is a practising healer in a traditional community whose art explores an apocalyptic vision of redemption. The comparisons between the artists under investigation and the visionary aspects of traditional shamanism and Gothic and Romantic culture entail an analysis of pictorial elements, subject matter and content in the work of these artists. The intention was to explore those properties in the work and ideas of these artists which correspond to the notion of the artist as a visionary. / Thesis (M.A.F.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1996.

D. Tech. (Department of Visual Arts and Design: Fine Art, Faculty of Human Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / Studies on art made by women have been deprived of their place in the history of art, globally, however, within the South African context, white women were placed firmly within the arts while black women were marginalised. This study makes two assertions, that culture was used as a weapon during apartheid in the 1980s, and that black women, as artists, contributed to South African art history through conferences and exhibitions. The process adopted in securing these two stated positions was to use the frameworks of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and grounded theory as methods to elicit personal experiences through interviews with six women involved in the arts and who contributed to the apartheid struggle during the 1980s. The process used to structure the research and collect data, was an argumentative review of selective literature. Exhibition reviews, conference presentations and proceedings, as well as journal publications between 1982 and 1990. The review concentrated on ‘what’ and ‘how’ statements made on black artists, specifically black women, to understand the reasons for the neglecting of black women artists in the construction of South African art history in the 1980s. Culture as a weapon of the struggle constructed a substantial part of this research as the study considered aspects that constituted struggle culture during the 1980s and the role of black women within this culture. Important to the role of black women as cultural activists was the inclusion of the oppressive nature of class, gender and race as experienced by black women during apartheid to expose the complexities that impacted black women’s roles as activists. A discussion of conferences, and festivals (with accompanying exhibitions), and the cultural boycott against South Africa, the official adoption of culture as a weapon of the struggle, and the resolutions taken at these conferences is investigated. Also of importance was the inclusion of women as a point of discussion at these conferences: their poor position in society, and support for the inclusion of more women into the visual arts. In support of black women’s contribution to South African art history, a discussion on black women as cultural activists is included. This includes interviews with six activists who were part of the liberation struggle during the 1980s who shared their experiences. The study asserts that black artists, specifically black women artists, were prejudiced during the 1980s. This did not however serve as a deterrent to their contribution to a South African art history. Anti-apartheid movements such as the African National Congress (ANC) and the anti-apartheid movement (AABN), Amsterdam, played an integral role in creating alternative cultural platforms that supported a ‘people’s culture’, that enabled the use of culture as a ‘weapon of the struggle’ against apartheid.