Thesis (MPhil (Visual Arts. Illustration))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / When dealing with emergent literacy in South Africa, the didactic aspects of picture books are often privileged over their aesthetic quality and the idea of reading for pleasure. The themes of the books are not always locally relevant and for economic reasons, they often fail to reach the communities that need them the most. By looking at the history of relief printing within a community environment, I hope to highlight how communities themselves may be able to develop locally relevant children’s picture books, instituting a ‘grassroots’ approach rather than the paternalistic ‘top down’ approach of the past. I will also be looking at the narrative and stylistic elements of relief printing that are complimentary to the picture book genre and how these can be utilised for a pleasurable rather than didactic approach to the narratives.

Thesis (MA (VA)(Visual Arts))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / The purpose of this study was to develop an academic approach towards my own work. The main objective was to determine my position as the subject in the art-making process and, in doing so, to find a way in which to discuss my own work more readily. My underlying assumption was that identity is formed through a visual rather than a verbal process. I realised however that language played an important role, especially since the metonymic and metaphoric characteristics of my art flow from language. The study therefore focuses on the forming of identity, on the road to self-identity, but takes this factor into consideration. Lacan’s theory on the mirror phase offered me the opportunity to investigate the inseparable relationship between subjectivity and visuality. His work on the intrinsic interaction between image and language, the conscious and the unconscious, being human as a “lack of being” and the endeavour towards completion in a broken world, culminates in the construction that language originates from the moment at which the conscious makes an appearance at the end of the mirror phase and that the unconscious is structured like a language. For Lacan the subject is not mono-dimensional, but occupies two positions, one in the imaginary, known as the moi, and the other in the symbolic, known as the je. Based on this view, Lacan demonstrates that the symbols artists use should not only be understood as icons, but should be seen as signifiers in which the subject comes to the fore. What I have drawn from the theoretical part of my research is the fact that the composition of factors that determine the meeting of subjects in the viewing process are extremely complex. The core of the gaze is however that the gazing subject always experiences something of itself in the gaze. This insight not only helped me to describe some of the work of my favourite artists better, but to identify myself in my work. The experience of unravelling and restructuring my thoughts in the writing process was most liberating.

Thesis (MA (VA)(Visual Arts))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / This thesis consists of a study that identifies and analyses the origins, nature, and spectrum of different stereotypes of Africans in popular texts. The past can only be explored through texts, which are unavoidably mediated, re-interpreted, fictional and temporary. No text can be read in isolation – it is imperative to gain knowledge about the social and ideological context in the analysis of any historical text. History shows that racism is a constructed concept, and the roots of stereotypical perceptions of the ‘Other’ can be found in antiquity – in Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece and the Jewish Torah, as well as during the Middle Ages. A historical synopsis is given of the conception and development of racial stereotyping through the ages until the present. The study demonstrates how stereotypes gradually adapt with history, politics, and ideology. Stereotypes are in my opinion not necessarily constructed on purpose. Stereotypes are developed and based on historical events, but are transformed in time to fulfil new purposes. My conclusion is that racist stereotypes of Africans are created in the West, by the West, for the West. In many ways, the adaptation of the stereotypes of Africans act as a timeline for Western involvement on the continent. The stereotypical portrayal of Africa as the Dark Continent, “White Man’s Burden” and Godforsaken Continent will firstly be studied. Secondly, the depiction of African-Americans, especially in American popular culture, is discussed through stereotypes like Mammy, Uncle Tom, Jezebel, and Buck. The theme of my practical component, a two part series about the Cape Carnival, discusses the stereotype of the “Jolly Hotnot” or “Coon” and examines the portrayal of Africans as comical. The study shows the important role popular media plays in spreading and reaffirming stereotypes. Stereotypes are often used as a survival method to make the multiplicity of reality manageable, recognisable, and understandable. Stereotyping becomes problematic if the stereotypes are used as generalisations to marginalise a group in terms of features such as skin colour. A type of “cultural decolonisation” would be necessary to counteract this marginalisation, through popular culture created by in Africa, by Africans, for Africans and international popular culture.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis comprises a critical analysis of the relationship between form and function in contemporary iconography that contains religious themes. From the theoretical stance of Visual Culture iconography can be defined as ‘context-specific visual language’. I suggest that meaning is created not only through material usage but also through the hermeneutic content of images. By means of a comparison between an example of what I deem literal iconography and another of figurative iconography, I explore two divergent methods through which religiously-inspired iconography can be employed in the construction of visual texts. The two examples comprise of the evangelical poster Die Smal en Breë Weg (The Broad and Narrow Way) and Willem Boshoff’s Bread-and-Pebble Road Map (2004). / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie skripsie omvat ‘n kritiese analise van die verhouding tussen die aard en die funksionering van kontemporêre ikonografie wat religieuse temas bevat. Vanuit die teoretiese hoek van Visuele Kultuur kan ikonografie gedefinieer word as ‘konteks-spesifieke visuele taal’. Ek stel voor dat betekenis nie alleen gegenereer word deur die materiële gebruik van beeldmateriaal nie, maar ook deur die hermeneutiese inhoud daarvan. Deur ‘n vergelykende analise tussen ‘n voorbeeld van wat ek as letterlike ikonografie beskou en ‘n voorbeeld van figuurlike ikonografie, ondersoek ek twee uiteenlopende metodes waardeur religieus-geïnspireerde ikonografie werksaam kan wees in die konstruksie van visuele tekste. Die twee voorbeelde bestaan uit die evangeliese plakkaat Die Smal en Breë Weg en Willem Boshoff se Bread-and-Pebble Road Map (2004).

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis presents an analysis of ‘township typography’ as a complex visual dialect generated by various economic and historical factors within the South African social landscape. A combination of specific tools, skills-sets and applications has produced a body of typographic letterforms that can be visually distinguished from standardised letterforms found in mainstream typography. Due to the origin of these letterforms, as well as their distinct appearance, ‘township typography’ has the capacity to evoke specific social, cultural or demographic structures in systems of communication. This study reveals that typographic features from ‘township typography’ are drawn into mainstream cultural production, particularly in the field of local advertising, as the result of a complex process of incorporation and institutional consecration. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis bied ‘n analise van ‘township tipografie’ as ‘n komplekse visuele dialek wat gegenereer word deur verskeie ekonomiese en historiese faktore eie aan die Suid- Afrikaanse sosiale landskap. Die spesifieke kombinasie van gereedskap, vaardighede en aanwendings lei tot ‘n liggaam van lettertipes wat visueel onderskei kan word van die standaard wat in hoofstroom tipografie voorkom. Vanweë hierdie dialek se oorsprong, asook die kenmerkende voorkoms daarvan, het ‘township tipografie’ die vermoë om spesifieke sosiale, kulturele en demografiese strukture in kommunikasie op te roep. Hierdie studie toon hoe eienskappe eie aan ‘township tipografie’ weens ‘n komplekse proses van inkorporasie en institusionele inseëning in hoofstroom kulturele produksie opgeneem word, veral op die gebied van plaaslike advertensiewese.

Thesis (MA (VA)(Visual Arts))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / This thesis considers radical and reactionary political strategies for questioning systems of gender/sexuality categorisation and finds both wanting in terms of the cultural insularity and mainstream assimilation each respectively engenders. An alternative is posited in the form of radical assimilation, a theory borrowing the best elements from both approaches. The remainder of the study is focussed on the search for personal and iconographic strategies to pursue a politic of radical assimilation in my creative production. These strategies are finally exemplified and manifested via discussions of the practical corpus of artworks that aided in the formation of this politic. The discursive framework in which this theorization occurs includes considerations of queer theory and photography (especially domestic photography and portraiture) and subjective contextualization (invoking the domestic uses of images), and all should be seen as constituting a personal discursive framework: an attempt to counter the reductive scope an uncontextualised analysis of my work allows. This study is accordingly an explication of the processes that turn the personal into the political; a critical affirmation of difference; and an attempt to narrow the distances between us.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores the role played by drawings in the creation of knowledge. The study specifically focuses on drawings of the South African landscape and how it led to knowledge of our country. The Western perception of the concept of nature in relation to culture or civilisation is investigated by brief reference to a few periods in Western history. It is argued that man and nature was separated in Western thought by the establishment of rational thinking. This concept led to man's exploitation of nature to his own advantage. The division between man and nature was broadened in the quest for technological advancement. The first European travellers came to South Africa with a Western mind set, hoping for better economical conditions. The illustrated traveller's report reflects the verbal and visual capturing and exploitation of the South African landscape. It is further argued that European travellers tried to structure the landscape according to Western aesthetical traditions. Drawings appear to be picturesque but have radical political, economical and social implications. Colonial depictions created knowledge, but in fact symbolically legitimise the expansion of power. Until the middle of the twentieth century Western aesthetic traditions were applied to visual depictions of the South African landscape. During this period, artists were uncritical of the oppressive political system and in doing so gave their tacit consent. Ever since the middle of the twentieth century, several artists voiced their opinions against the unfair policy of the ruling political party. Visual images asked subtle questions and gave radical judgements; thus knowledge was created and a contribution made to the freedom of all South Africans. My drawings of South African landscapes are to be understood against this theoretical background. I use drawings to ask questions about the relationship between the visual image and the establishment of knowledge. I also refer to the relationship between the original and the copy, reality, the photo and the drawing. I conclude the following: drawings lead to the creation of knowledge and landscape depictions have implications of power. The solution to this problem lies, in the end, once more III drawings.My depictions of South African landscapes are given as an answer. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis is 'n ondersoek na die rol wat visuele beelde kan speel in die oordrag van idees. Daar word spesifiek gekyk na hoe tekeninge van die Suid-Afrikaanse landskap gelei het tot die totstandkoming van kennis oor ons land. Die Westerse verstaan van die begrip natuur in verhouding tot kultuur of beskawing word ondersoek deur kortliks te verwys na 'n paar periodes gedurende die Westerse geskiedenis. Daar word aangevoer dat Westerse denke die mens en die natuur van mekaar geskei het deur die instelling van rasionele denke. So het daar 'n geloof in menslike rede ontstaan. Dié beskouing het daartoe gelei dat die mens die natuur begin uitbuit het tot eie voordeel. Die kloof tussen mens en natuur het al hoe dieper geword in 'n strewe na tegnologiese vooruitgang. Die eerste Europese reisigers het vanuit 'n Westerse verwysingsraamwerk na Suid-Afrika gekom met die hoop op beter ekonomiese vooruitsigte. Die geïllustreerde reisverslag weerspieël die inneming en uitbuiting van die Suid-Afrikaanse landskap visueel en verbaal. Daar word aangevoer dat Europese reisigers die landskap deur middel van tekeninge, uitgevoer volgens Westerse estetiese tradisies, probeer struktureer het. Tekeninge kom skilderagtig voor, maar het radikale politiese, ekonomiese en sosiale implikasies. Koloniale tekeninge het kennis geskep en in werklikheid magsuitbreiding simbolies gelegitimeer. Westerse estetiese tradisies is tot die middel van die twintigste eeu toegepas op visuele uitbeeldings van die Suid-Afrikaanse landskap. Gedurende dié tydperk het kunstenaars die onderdrukkende, heersende politieke stelsel in werklikheid ondersteun deur totaalonkrities daarteenoor te staan. Teen die middel van die twintigste eeu het verskillende kunstenaars in opstand gekom teen die onregverdige beleid van die regerende party. Visuele beelde is gebruik om subtiele vrae te stel sowel as radikale uitsprake te lewer en het so kennis geskep en bygedra tot die bevryding van alle Suid- Afrikaners. My tekeninge van Suid-Afrikaanse landskappe moet teen dié teoretiese agtergrond gelees word. Ek gebruik teken om vrae steloor die verhouding tussen die visuele beeld en kennis wat so tot stand kom. Daar word verwys na die verhouding tussen oorspronklike en kopie, werklikheid, foto en tekening. Die gevolgtrekking is dat tekeninge kan lei tot die totstandkoming van kennis en dat uitbeeldings van landskappe magsimplikasies kan hê. Die oplossing vir hierdie probleem lê uiteindelik weer in tekeninge. My uitbeeldings van Suid-Afrikaanse landskappe word as antwoord gebied.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is an investigation into the relationship between photorealistic painting and specific devices used to aid the artist in mediating the real. The term 'reality' is negotiated and a hybrid theoretical approach to photorealism, including mimesis and semiotics, is suggested. Through careful analysis of Vermeer's suspected use of the camera obscura, I argue that camera vision already started in the 17th century, thus signalling the dramatic shift from the classical Cartesian perspective scopic regime to the model of vision offered by the camera long before the advent of photography. I suggest that contemporary photorealist painters do not just merely and objectively copy, but use photographic source material with a sophisticated awareness in response to a rapidly changing world. Through an examination of the way in which the camera obscura and photographic camera are used in the works of four artists, I suggest that a symbiotic relationship of subtle tensions between painting and photographic technology emerges. This results in visions of the painted real that may be meaningful to contemporary society and have the ability to emotionally affect the viewer. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek die verhouding tussen fotorealistiese skilderkuns en die spesifieke metodes wat die kunstenaar se vertolking van die werklikheid vergemaklik. Die term, 'realiteit' word krities oorweeg te midde van 'n saamgestelde teoretiese aanslag tot fotorealisme wat mimesis en semiotiek insluit. Deur 'n noukeurige analise van Vermeer se oënskynlike gebruik van die camera obscura, hou ek voor dat fotografiese sig reeds sedert die 17e eeu teenwoordig is. Hierdie gewaarwording dui op 'n dramatiese skuif vanaf 'n klassieke, Kartesiaanse perspektief en skopiese regime tot die model van visie gebied deur die kamera, lank voor die ontwikkeling van fotografie. Ek stel voor dat kontemporêre fotorealistiese skilders nie bloot objektief kopieër nie, maar fotografiese verwysings met 'n gesofistikeerde bewussyn in reaksie tot 'n vinnigveranderende wêreld gebruik. Deur 'n ondersoek na die wyse waarop die camera obscura en fotografiese kamera in die werke van vier kunstenaars gebruik word, stel ek voor dat 'n simbiotiese verhouding die subtiele spanning tussen skilderkuns en fotografiese tegnologie meemaak. Dit lei tot visionêre weergawes van 'n geskilderde realiteit wat 'n betekenisvolle posisie in die kontemporêre samelewing beklee en die moontlikheid besit om die toeskouer op 'n emosionele vlak te affekteer.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / Please refer to full text for abstract.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / 214 Leaves printed on single pages, preliminary pages i- xvi and numbered pages 1-191. Includes bibliography and illustrations. / Digitized at 600 dpi grayscale to pdf format (OCR), using a Bizhub 250 Konica Minolta Scanner. Digitized by Ivan Jacobs on request of Niel Hendrickz, 15 April 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This investigation is informed by the assumption that language, as representation and as image, is positioned in a metaphorical relationship to reality. Language, as a structure of representation, is the way in which we represent reality to ourselves and to others and recreate the past, as well as the way in which we invest our lives with meaning, significance and experience. Language includes visual and verbal representation, and this investigation shows how image and text create a variety of multiple meanings through playful and interactive reciprocation. Following from the assumption that language comprises temporal and spatial qualities, it is also the terrain that enables us to know and understand reality, ourselves, and others. This emphasizes the material nature of language, which is also connected with social and cultural practices and, as such, involves reciprocation and interaction between divergences. Language is therefore a mode of action that makes the bridging of divisions possible. Language is proposed as a medium through which the monolithic hegemony of the apartheid past may be confronted within a multicultural South Africa. The aim of representing this past in my work is not to recall it as it was or to discover etemal, inheritable qualities, but rather to bring about re-demption (healing) through re-presentation. Re-demption and re-presentation is a textual practice that involves a re-script of the past. With the understanding that history and culture are regarded as text, re-writing the past does not involve representation as mimesis, but as production. This investigation recognizes the role of the subconscious as the other or the alterity in all language constructs that makes it possible to circumvent the logic of binary oppositions; entertain alternatives simultaneously; erase boundaries; share spaces, and discover the other in the self. This unconscious language of the other, as a strange doubling and interplay between near and far, gives rise to poies/s. The creation of multi-dimensional spaces that draw the poetical and the everyday into an imaginative and directed conceptual interplay as well as provoke dialogue between differences and diversities, engenders a desire for the complexity of the other. The interplay and recurrent movement across divisions and between paradoxes create a new and changed interspace, characterized by difference, plurality, and contradiction. Intertextual spaces allow relationships between differences and exist precisely as a result of dialogicity between diversities. In this way it is possible to establish, by virtue of difference, a mutual, interdependent relationship with the other. Metaphorical language requires an allegorical reading that places divergences in relation to one another, thereby causing a mythic animation of signification that moves from one level to another. Mytho-poeisis, as an allegorical structure, is proposed as a model by means of which symbolic transformation and redemption of the personal and collective psyche may occur. Poetic re-imagining as re-presentation impels change and transformation and points to other possible forms of social and ethical experiences. This impulse, to reconcile the social and the aesthetic, or the cultural with symbolic form, is based on the principle of reconciliation between art and life. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie ondersoek handhaaf die veronderstelling dat taal in 'n metaforiese verhouding tot die werklikheid staan as voorstelling en as beeld. Taal, as 'n struktuur van voorstelling, is die wyse waarop ons die werklikheid aan onsself en ander voorstel en die verlede herskep, asook die wyse waarop ons sin, betekenis en ervaring aan ons lewens verskaf. Taal sluit visuele en verbale voorstellings in en hierdie ondersoek toon op watter wyse beeld en teks in speelse en interaktiewe wisselwerking 'n verskeidenheid meersinnige betekenisse skep. Uitgaande van die veronderstelling dat taal temporele en ruimtelike kwaliteite betrek, is dit ook die terrein wat ons in staat stel om die werklikheid, onsself en ander te ken en verstaan. Dit beklemtoon die materiele aard van taal, wat ook met sosiale en kulturele praktyke verbind is en sodanig wisselwerking en interaksie tussen uiteenlopendhede betrek. Taal is dus 'n modus van doen, wat oorbrugging van skeidings moontlik maak. Taal word as 'n medium voorgestel waardeur die monolitiese hegemonie van die apartheidsverlede binne 'n multikulturele Suid-Afrika gekonfronteer word. Voorstelling van hierdie verlede in my werk is nie met die doel om dit te herroep soos dit was, of ewige, erfbare eienskappe te ontdek nie, maar eerder om herstel deur her-voorstelling te bewerkstellig. Her-stel en her-voorstelling is 'n tekstuele praktyk wat 'n re-skripsie van die verlede behels. Met begrip dat geskiedenis en kultuur as teks beskou word, behels die her-skryf van die verlede nie voorstelling as mimesis nie, maar as produksie. Hierdie ondersoek erken die rol van die onderbewussyn as die ander of die alteriteit (alterity) in alle taalvoorstellings wat dit moontlik maak om die logika van binere oposisies te omseil; alternatiewe gelyktydig in ag te neem; grense uit te wis, ruimtes te deel en die ander in die self te ontdek. Hierdie onbewuste taal van die ander, as 'n vreemde verdubbeling en spel tussen naby en ver, gee aanleiding tot poesis (poiesis). Die skep van multidimensionele ruimtes wat die poetiese en die alledaagse in 'n verbeeldingryke en gerigte konseptuele wisselspel betrek, asook dialoog tussen verskille en diversiteite bewerkstellig, skep 'n aandrang vir die kompleksiteit van die ander. Die interspel en ewigdurende beweging oor skeidings en tussen paradokse skep 'n nuwe en veranderde interruimte, wat gekenmerk word deur verskil, pluraliteit en kontradiksie. Intertekstuele ruimtes laat verskilsverhoudings toe en bestaan juis as gevolg van dialogisiteit tussen diversiteite. Op hierdie wyse is dit moontlik om op grond van verskil 'n wedersydse en interafhanklike verhouding met die ander aan te knoop. Metaforiese taalgebruik verg 'n allegoriese lees wat uiteenlopendhede in verhouding tot mekaar plaas sodat dit 'n mitiese animasie van betekening bewerkstellig wat vanaf een vlak na 'n ander vlak beweeg. Mito-poesis, as 'n allegoriese struktuur, word voorgestel as model waarvolgens simboliese transformasie en herstel van die persoonlike en kollektiewe psige kan geskied. Poetiese her-verbeelding as her-voorstelling motiveer verandering en transformasie en dui op ander moontlike vorms van sosiale en etiese ervarings. Hierdie impuls, om die sosiale en die estetiese, of om die kulturele met simboliese vorm te vereenselwig, berus op die beginsel van versoening tussen kuns en lewe.