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.

Hierdie proefskrif bied ʼn nie-empiriese ondersoek en ʼn konseptuele analise van die verhouding tussen ruimte en identiteit in Eben Venter (1954-) se oeuvre binne die konteks van ballingskapliteratuur die postkoloniale diskoers. Die manifestasie van die ruimte- identiteitdialektiek, soos wat dit uitgebeeld word in Venter se skryfkuns, word beskryf aan die hand van postkoloniale teorieë en insigte wat verband hou met aspekte soos ruimte, plek, ballingskap, diaspora, ruimtelike verplasing, seksuele migrasie, intra-nasionale migrasie, internasionale migrasie, empiriese en kulturele landskappe, identiteit as sosio-kulturele konstruksie en Suid-Afrikaanse outobiografieë. Vir die doel van hierdie ondersoek is die volgende vertellings geselekteer: Ek stamel ek sterwe (1996), Twaalf (2000), Horrelpoot(2006) en Brouhaha (2010). In ʼn tydsgewrig van grootskaalse migrasie, globale onsekerheid, transnasionale kapitalisme en radikale dekolonisering in die vorm van geweldsmisdaad, gewelddadige betogings by universiteite, plaasmoorde, grondhervorming, haatspraak, arbeidsonrus, xenofobie en die aftakeling van minderheidsregte, sny Venter in sy verhale en outobiografie ʼn verskeidenheid van kwessies aan. Dit sluit in: die naweë van apartheid, die Afrikaner-diaspora, grondeienaarskap, die ideologiese toeëiening van grond, rassisme, homofobie, queer-migrasie, die haalbaarheid van ʼn inklusiewe Afrika-identiteit en die veranderde rol, plek en identiteit van Afrikaners sedert 1994. Die outobiografiese inslag van Venter se skryfkuns is opvallend en word bespreek deur te verwys na die verhouding tussen fiksionele en reële ruimtes en na outobiografie as hibridiese genre en kreatiewe projek. Hierdie studie bied ook ʼn krities-analitiese besinning van Venter se bemoeienis met skryftemas soos selfopgelegde ballingskap, die vervreemding tussen plek en self, globale plekloosheid en “exile as a discontinous state of being” (Said 2000: 177). Een van die belangrikste insigte wat Venter in sy skryfkuns demonstreer, is dat ruimte, soos identiteit, nie ʼn essensialistiese konsep is nie, maar ’n onvoltooide en vloeibare konstruksie wat voortdurend verander na gelang van sosio-politieke ingrepe, internasionale migrasiepatrone en die individu se subjektiewe gewaarwording van plekke, / This dissertation presents a non-empirical and a conceptual analysis of the relationship between space and identity in the works of prose of Eben Venter (1954) within the context of the postcolonial discourse and exile literature. The manifestation of the space-identity dialectic, as portrayed in Venter’s writing, is described on the basis of postcolonial theories and insights related to terms and concepts like space, place, exile, diaspora, spatial displacement, sexual migration, intra-national migration, international migration, empirical and cultural landscapes and identity as a social-cultural construction. For the purpose of this study the following narratives were selected: Ek stamel ek sterwe (1996), Twaalf (2000), Horrelpoot en Brouhaha (2010). At a juncture of mass migration, global uncertainty, transnational capitalism and radical decolonization in the form of violent crime, violent protests at universities, hate speech, farm murders, land reform, labour unrest, xenophobia and the dismantling of minority rights, Venter addresses an assortment of social issues. This include: the aftermath of apartheid, the Afrikaner-diaspora, landownership, the ideological appropriation of land, racism, homophobia, queer-migration, the viability of an inclusive African-identity and the altered role, place and identity of Afrikaners since 1994. The autobiographical element is evident in Venter’s writing and is discussed by referring to the relationship between fictional and real spaces and to autobiography as a hybrid genre and creative project. This study also presents a critical-analytical reflection of Venter’s involvement with writing topics such as self-imposed exile, estrangement between place and self, global displacement/non-belongingness and “exile as a discontinuous state of being” (Said: 2000: 177). One of the key insights Venter demonstrates in his writing, is that space, like identity, is not an essentialist concept, but an incomplete and diffuse construction that is constantly changing depending on socio-political interventions, international migration patterns and the individual's subjective perception of places. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / D. Litt. et Phil. (Afrikaans)