Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study considers the dynamics and nature of neo-avant-garde jewellery with specific reference to contemporary South African (neoavant- garde) jewellery. In Chapter One defensible working descriptions of the terms "avant-garde" and "neo-avant-garde" are established in order to establish some manageable conclusions regarding their application to jewellery design. These descriptions are derived from a consideration of the concepts in contemporary aesthetic discourse. Chapter Two considers the role, justifications and implications of adornment with a view to isolating the development, influences and nature of neo-avant-garde jewellery. A distinction is drawn between the aesthetics, ontology and art-relevant status of such jewellery and commercial or mainstream jewellery. Chapter Three analyses specific examples of contemporary South African avant-garde jewellery in the light of the above-mentioned distinctions. Works are considered in relation to the transgression of material, the transgression of taste, the transgression of integrity of form and the integration of narrative and parochial content and attempts to demonstrate that an appropriate critical posture in regard to such jewellery is art, rather than craft-relevant. In Chapter Four general influences regarding themes and concepts apparent in the author's body of practical work are discussed. An annotated catalogue supplements the general discussion. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: CONTEMPORARY AVANT-GARDE JEWELLERY IN SOUTH AFRICA Hierdie studie ondersoek die dinamika en karaktereienskappe van neoavant- garde juweliersware, met spesifieke verwysing na kontemporêre Suid-Afrikaanse neo-avant-garde juweliersware. In Hoofstuk Een word die terme "avant-garde" en "neo-avant-garde" beskryf. Die doel hiervan is om uiteindelik die omvattende gebruike en definisies van hierdie terme (met betrekking op kontemporêre estetika) vas te lê. Hoofstuk Twee gee 'n oorsig aangaande die redes vir- en implikasies van fisieke versiering. Die ontwikkeling, invloede en aard van neo-avant-garde juweliersware word bespreek en gekontrasteer met komersiêle jeweliersware. In lig van die bogenoemde onderskeidings verwys Hoofstuk Drie na spesifieke Suid-Afrikaanse voorbeelde van neo-avant-garde juweliersware. Hierdie voorbeelde word oorweeg in terme van hul oorskryding van tradisionele grense aangaande materiaalgebruik, smaak, integriteit van vorm en die integrasie van relaas. Die studie poog om die relevansie van neo-avant-garde juweliersware as kuns eerder as kunsvlyt te demonstreer. In Hoofstuk Vier word die outeur se praktiese werke bespreek deur middel van 'n geannoteerde katalogus. Die katalogus word voorafgegaan deur 'n bespreking van invloede, temas en konsepte van die deurlopende ooreenkomste in die outeur se werke verduidelik.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A spectacle denotes an impressive or deplorable sight, and necessarily involves the power and politics of viewing. The female body exists as a sexualised object of these processes of looking within Western culture, not only in high art, but also in discourses such as medicine and science. In both art and medicine the female body has been treated as a passive object to be studied, analysed and classified. Power relations and patriarchal ideologies have played a great part in the resulting objectifying representations, firmly locating images of the female body within the realm of the spectacle. Bodily perceptions, in terms of the female body, have changed much, particularly through the reinterpretation of sexuality through feminist theory. Modem culture and technology have opened up many new possibilities for the redefinition and understanding of the body. Modem bodies seem to be under as much close surveillance and scrutiny as their nineteenth century counterparts. This study explores these ideas through a wide range of examples from painting, photography and performance art, and non-art objects such as anatomical objects and medical illustrations. Central to the construction of the body as spectacle, are issues of looking and viewing. Chapter 1 examines ideas around the gaze; the politics and processes of vision, objectification and fetishisation are explored in relation to the functioning of the medical and aesthetic gaze. The concept of spectacle is also elaborated upon in terms of ideas around the nineteenth century carnival and freak show, and in terms of societal taboos and transgression. Aspects of aesthetic and medical discourse focus on the display and scrutiny of the female body. Chapter 2 examines the way in which these discourses attempted to reveal the female body by rendering it in highly visual terms. The dominant ideologies informing both discourses played an instrumental role and resulted in representations that defined the female body in normative standards and ideals of beauty and health. Pornography is considered as a modem discourse in which the female body is defined and displayed as an object of scrutiny. Feminist theory challenged exclusively male representations of the female body and the subversion of traditional forms of representation of women is studied by examining the work of Annie Sprinkle and Cindy Sherman. Many representations of the female body by feminist artists are considered highly disturbing and transgressive, precisely because they traverse traditional and acceptable representations of it. The idealised nude forms the epitome of contained ideals of health and beauty, and the work of Orlan and Cindy Sherman is examined within these terms in Chapter 3. These artists' representations of the female body are in direct opposition to such norms, rather settling for an open-ended, unconfined and abject representation. However, such transgressive cultural images produced by women artists are often regarded as pathological acts, and dismissed in terms of deplorable spectacle. The research concludes with a commentary on the candidate's practical work, which in dealing with the representation of the human body explores some issues of visuality, spectacle and fragmentation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: 'n Spektakel kan op 'n indrukwekkende of betreurenswaardige skouspel dui; gevolglik betrek dit die politiese en magseienskappe van besigtiging. Die vroulike liggaam bestaan as 'n seksuele objek van só 'n proses van besigtiging binne die Westerse kultuur - nie net in kuns nie, maar ook in diskoerse soos geneeskunde en die wetenskap. In beide kuns en geneeskunde, is die vroulike liggaam beskou as 'n passiewe objek vir bestudering, analisering en klassifisering. Magsverhoudinge en ideologieë het gevolglik 'n groot rol gespeel in die uiteindelike objektifiserende representasies, en gevolglik is die uitbeelding van die vroulike liggaam in terme van spektakel vasgelê. Liggaamlike persepsies, veral in terme van die vroulike figuur, het noemenswaardige veranderinge ondergaan - veral deur die hervertolking van seksualiteit deur feministiese teorie. Moderne kultuur en tegnologie bied verdere moontlikhede vir die herdefiniëring en begrip van die liggaam. Die moderne liggaam word onder streng bewaking en betragting geplaas - net soos sy negentiende-eeuse ewebeeld. Hierdie studie ondersoek dié idees deur die bestudering van 'n verskeidenheid voorbeelde vanuit skilderkuns, fotografie en 'performance' -kuns, asook objekte soos anatomiese objekte en mediese illustrasies. Kwessies van besigtiging is sentraal tot die konstruksie van die liggaam as spektakel. Hoofstuk londersoek dus idees rondom besigtiging - onder andere die politiese en magseienskappe, en die gevolglike objektifiserende effek daarvan - in verhouding tot die funksionering van die mediese en die estetiese blik. Die konsep van spektakel word verder uitgebrei in terme van die negentiende-eeuse karnaval, asook in terme van taboes en sosiale oortreding. Sekere aspekte van estetiese en mediese diskoerse fokus op die vertoning en besigtiging van die vroulike liggaam. Hoofstuk 2 ondersoek die wyse waarop hierdie diskoerse die vroulike liggaam in hoogs visuele terme uitgebeeld het. Beide diskoerse is gemotiveer deur dominante ideologieë, wat gevolglik 'n instrumentele rol gespeel het in die uitbeelding van die vroulike liggaam. Sulke uitbeeldings is dikwels gemotiveer deur standaarde en ideale van skoonheid. Gevolglik word pornografie in hierdie hoofstuk bespreek as 'n moderne diskoers wat georganiseer is rondom die vertoning en besigtiging van die vroulike liggaam. Feministiese teorie skep 'n positiewe ruimte waarin sulke eksklusiewe, manlike definisies en uitbeeldings van die vroulike liggaam uitgedaag kan word. Die omverwerping van tradisionele metodes van uitbeelding word hier ondersoek deur die werk van Annie Sprinkle en Cindy Sherman te bespreek. Die herdefiniëring van die vroulike liggaam deur feministiese kunstenaars word dikwels beskou as onstellend; waarskynlik omdat dit tradisionele en aanvaarbare uitbeeldings van die liggaam oortree. Die werk van Orlan en Cindy Sherman word in terme van sosiale oortreding in Hoofstuk 3 ondersoek. Die klassieke naakfiguur stel die ideale van skoonheid en stabiliteit voor. Hierdie kunstenaars se uitbeeldings toon egter 'n doelbewuste verontagsaming van sulke ideale, deurdat hulle eerder 'n oop, onstabiele en gefragmenteerde figuur uitbeeld. Oortredings van kulturele norme deur vrouekunstenaars word dikwels beskou as patalogiese aksies; en dit word dus maklik afgekeur as 'n spektakel. Die navorsing word afgesluit met 'n bespreking van die kandidaat se praktiese werk, wat die uitbeelding van die menslike liggaam ondersoek. Gevolglik word kwessies van besigtiging, spektakel en fragmentasie verder ondersoek.

Thesis (MA (Visual Arts))--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is motivated by an interest in a host of idiosyncratically interrelated phenomena that can be understood, in my view, as symptomatic of a primary interest in representing experiences of affect, loss, alienation and objectification of an “other”, which in turn, necessitates a critical interrogation of the notion of self. These phenomena include notions of the body (animal and human), private and public spaces, voyeurism, transgression, desire, fetishization, sentimentality and most critically, nostalgia as understood through experiences of homesickness and heimwee. My focus is on the affective potential of contemporary lens-based (photographic and video) art. I approach this study by way of three central ideas: the longing for home (the relationship between self/space); the longing for the body (the relationship between body/self); and the longing for the other (the relationship between self/other). I make use of psychoanalytic and feminist theory, as well as theoretical interpretations of photography and screen-based media, in the broader context of visual art and culture, to frame my discussion. As such, this study draws on the theoretical work of Roland Barthes and Susan Sontag to introduce basic concepts such as the relationship between photography and memory, and develops these to include ideas of the gaze, self and alientation from the self read through Judith Butler and Jacques Lacan’s image of the mirror phase; home and homesickness read through Martin Heidegger, Sigmund Freud’s notion of das unheimlich (uncanny) and Julia Kristeva’s notion of abjection; and Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s objectification of the animal-other. This study is intimately linked with, and critically informed by my personal artistic practice, which focuses specifically on the photographic or filmic representation (projection) of separation, displacement and longing for an absent other (home, partner & domestic animal). I discuss my own work relation to selected examples by artists including Shizuka Yokomizo, Sophie Calle, Penny Siopis and Jo Ractliffe, among others, framing the art object and related processes as cathartic, mnemonic and talismanic; acknowledging the paradoxical aspect of photography as simultaneously distancing and acting as a trace of the real; and analysing the evocative (metaphorical or conceptual) allusions made possible by lens-based processes and their presentation as print and projection, image and screen. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: My navorsing is gemotiveer deur ʼn belangstelling in ʼn menigte idiosinkratiese onderling verbonde verskynsels wat myns insiens beskou kan word as simptomaties van ʼn primêre belangstelling daarin om ervarings van affek, verlies, aliënasie en objektivering van ʼn “ander” weer te gee. My fokus sal op die verband tussen kontemporêre kuns en affek wees. Hierdie onderling verbonde verskynsels sluit in: die self en nosies van “die ander”/aliënasie, identiteit, die liggaam, die verbeelding; veiligheid, die huis, huishoudelike ruimte/plek/ontheemdheid; beheer, grense, oortreding, voyeurisme en geweld; verlange, nostalgie (heimwee), misnoegdheid; verlies, gemis, rou, woede, depressie met inbegrip van melancholie; liefde, romanse, sentimentaliteit, kitsch, besit; begeerte, obsessie, objektivering, tot fetisj maak (met inbegrip van objektivering van die huisdier). Ek benader ʼn bespreking van bogenoemde verskynsel deur diskoerse van psigoanalise en feminisme binne die raamwerk van my navorsing. Ek beoog om, met behulp van psigoanalitiese teoretiese verwysings, in hierdie verhandeling die verlange na die huis (die verband tussen self/ruimte, hoofstuk een), die verlange na die liggaam (die verband tussen liggaam/self, hoofstuk twee) en die verlange na die ander (die verband tussen self/ander, hoofstuk drie) te verken. Ek sal voorbeelde van kontemporêre fotografie en videokuns, asook voorbeelde bespreek om kontekstuele verwysing na ʼn bespreking van die uitoefening van my eie kreatiewe kuns te verskaf. Ek sal die uitbeelding (projeksie) van skeiding, ontheemding en verlange na ʼn afwesige ander (huis, maat en huisdier) bespreek. Die veld van my teoretiese ondersoek sal put uit sleutelteorieë van Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag, Sigmund Freud, JaquesLacan, Julia Kristeva, Gilles Deleuze en Felix Guattari, Martin Heidegger en Judith Butler ten einde basiese begrippe in gebruik te kan neem soos die verband tussen fotografie en geheue (die kunsvoorwerp/proses as suiweringsmiddel, mnemoniek en besitter van bonatuurlike, veral beskermende magte), paradokse in fotografie, uitbeelding en verlange/aliënasie, huis en heimwee (die bonatuurlike, ellende), kontemporêre kuns en affek, die starende blik en die objektivering van die dier-ander en die stemmingsvolle (metafories of konseptueel) sinspelings wat deur fotografiese prosesse en aanbieding (druk en projeksie, afbeelding en skerm) moontlik gemaak word.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The cinematic communication process starts with the creative enunciation by the filmmaker and ends with the viewer's subjective perception of the film. This thesis represents a theoretical and experiential investigation of this process and entails critical and self-reflexive discussions of stylistic approaches to filmic representation. The focus of this representation falls on on-screen violence. This study is a practice-led process, and therefore the fields of research are applied to my own work, namely the filmmaking process of a feature film entitled Preek. The research was prompted by my need to take an academic stance on the filmmaking process, instead of a mere practical one, and to form an intellectual awareness of the filmmaker and viewer dynamic. As a practicing filmmaker interested in the mimetic quality of film representations, it was necessary for me to form a conscious apprehension of how a film may be understood as a reflection on reality on the one hand, and an expression formulated through the filmmakers creative decisions on the other. The representation of violence in film was investigated by the way of critical readings of selected films, framed by both contemporary and classical film theory. Through contemporary film theory, I investigated the viewer's perception and identification with the film's diegesis, and particularly with its characters. The „classic‟ film theories of the realists and formalists allowed me to discern two stylistic approaches to the representation of violence in film, and to explore the emotional affect and cathartic release these approaches may elicit from viewers. These discussions were then applied to my own film Preek, in order to critically understand the relationship between filmmaker and viewer. The research and the application thereof, indicated that the stylistic approach to the representation of violence and its intensity in a film, unveils the filmmaker's motivation for communicating through the film medium. The arguments showed that I represented the violence in Preek in such a way that it may result in a traumatic affect on the viewer rather than an appreciation of its aesthetic value, and that this affect is the result of an engagement with the film's diegesis, due to the viewer's own identificatory participation. The research concluded that the viewer's subjective identification with the film forms a triangular relationship and communication between filmmaker, film and viewer. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die kinematiese kommunikasieproses begin met die kreatiewe uitdrukking van die filmmaker, en eindig met die kyker se subjektiewe waarneming van die film. Hierdie tesis verteenwoordig 'n teoretiese en ervaringsgerigte ondersoek van die kinematiese kommunikasieproses, en behels kritiese en self-reflektiewe argumente van stilistiese benaderings tot filmiese uitbeelding. Die fokus van hierdie uitbeelding is op geweld gerig. Die navorsing is 'n prakties-georiënteerde studie en daarom word die navorsing op my eie werk toegepas, naamlik die filmmaak-proses van die vollengte film, Preek. Die navorsing was aangespoor deur my behoefte daaraan om die filmmaak-proses vanuit 'n akademiese oogpunt te benader, in pleks daarvan om 'n suiwer praktiese posisie teenoor die filmmaak-proses in te neem. Vervolgens is die navorsing aangespoor deur my behoefte daaraan om intellektuele bewustheid oor die dinamika tussen die filmmaker en kyker te skep. As 'n praktiserende filmmaker wat geïnteresseerd is in die mimetiese eienskap van film-uitbeeldings, was dit vir my belangrik om 'n duidelike begrip te ontwikkel van die manier waarop film verstaan kan word, eertstens as 'n weerspieëling van realiteit, en tweedens as ‟n uitdrukking wat deur die kreatiewe besluite van die filmmaker gevorm is. Die verteenwoordiging van geweld in films is ondersoek deur middel van die kritiese beskouing van uitgesoekte films wat deur beide kontemporêre en klassieke film-teorie gevorm is. Ek het deur kontemporêre film teorie die kyker se waarneming en vereenselwiging met die film se diegesis en veral die film se karakters, ondersoek. Die klasieke film teorieë van die realiste en formaliste het my in staat gestel om tussen twee stilistiese benaderings tot die uitbeelding van geweld in film te onderskei, en om die emosionele effek en katartiese vrystelling wat hierdie benaderings by die kyker kan ontlok, te verken. Hierdie besprekings is gevolglik toegepas op my film, Preek, ten einde 'n kritiese begrip van die verhouding tussen filmmaker en kyker te vorm. Die navorsing en die toepassing daarvan het getoon dat die stilistiese benadering tot die uitbeelding van geweld, asook die intensiteit daarvan in film, die filmmaker se motivering tot kommunikasie deur die film-medium ontbloot. Die argumente het getoon dat ek die geweld in Preek op so 'n manier uitgebeeld het dat dit 'n traumatise affect op die kyker kan hê, in pleks van 'n waardering vir estetiese. Die argumente het verder aangedui dat hierdie effek die resultaat is van ‟n betrokkenheid by die film se diegesis, en dat dit te danke is aan die kyker se deelname aan vereenselwiging. Die navorsing het die slotsom gekom dat die kyker se subjektiewe identifikasie met die film 'n drieledige verhouding tussen filmmaker, film en die kyker vorm.

Azaria Mbatha's (1941 - ) work incorporates the many and various influences he has experienced throughout his life. Writers have tended towards essentialist readings of his work emphasizing proselytizing, resistance or traditional Zulu aspects of his work discretely. This is not sufficient to gain an accurate representation of his work which exhibits a spontaneous response to Biblical narratives as he critically appropriates and modifies texts at will. He utilizes narrative to express and explore his own circumstances creating works which are able, in turn, to express the plight of anyone who identifies with his experiences. His work functions both autobiographically and didactically and aspires to be applicable and encouraging to both the individual and the general public, regardless of one's culture of origin. This dissertation aims to present a holistic reading of Mbatha's oeuvre taking into account, amongst others, his Lutheran kholwa upbringing, the situation in South Africa (especially in the years under Apartheid), his familial ties to the Zionist church, his training at the Evangelical Lutheran Church Art and Craft Centre and in Sweden, his foundation within traditional Zulu cosmology, the influence of members of the Lutheran Theological College on his theological views, his position as an artist of the diaspora as a result of his self imposed exile in Sweden and his own interpretation of the Bible, influenced most profoundly by his father. Such a reading of his work is necessary to decipher aspects of Mbatha's idiosyncratic approach to the various influences he applied to his work in order to outline his personal worldview. His work encompasses many themes, of which three are covered here. Firstly, his depictions of scenes from the book of Revelation are examined, as are his various portrayals of the figure of Jesus Christ. Finally, his images of reconciliation in its various forms are considered. Interpretations of these works are informed by a consideration of the various influences already mentioned combined with a visual analysis of each work. It is hoped that this dissertation will aid in understanding the idiosyncrasies and complexities present in Mbatha's work and thus aid in preventing further essentialist readings of comparable artists. For the purposes of this study I have limited my interpretations to his linocuts only. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.

Thesis (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The thesis deals with the notion that individuation in drawing provides visible evidence of experiential cognition as embodied action. It asserts that trait as enaction signifies constructive and inventive processes that involve the body-mind. Trait emerges as nonrepresentationist, non-expressive component of drawing that marks the pre-conceptual as conceptual. Therefore, drawing functions as a complex interface between drafter and world that unifies antimonies such as inside and outside; convention and invention; remoteness and intimacy; body and mind; and subject and object. The thesis outlines drawing as a self-reflexive research process that constructs and invents. An understanding of trait as invention, the thesis proposes, can aid the drawing facilitator at higher education level to develop individual student drafters’ creativity. The thesis therefore argues for a form of drawing facilitation that is responsive to the complex interaction between the self and the world. Responsive mediation develops and celebrates diversity in socio-cultural heritage, personal history, and individual differences. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die idee dat verpersoonlikte trekke in tekenkuns sigbare aanduiding van enaktiewe vergestalting van kognisie is, vorm die onderwerp van hierdie tesis. Die tesis stel dit dat vergestaltende ervaringskognisie, as die tekenaar se ervaringsbetrokkenheid, geïndividueerde begrip, vaardigheid, sintese en betekenisvorming moontlik maak en ontwikkel. Verpersoonlikte trekke in tekenkuns blyk van non-representatiewe en non-ekspressiewe oorsprong te wees aldaar dit die prekonseptuele as die konseptuele merk. Dit ondersteun die gedagte dat tekenkuns as ’n komplekse koppelvlak tussen tekenaar en omwêreld funksioneer. As koppelvlak word die tekenkuns verwesenlik as ’n sigbare samevloeiing van dualiteite soos binne en buite, die gewone en verdigting, afstand en intimiteit, subjek en objek, liggaam en gees. Ingevolge ’n enaktiewe beskouing van die tekenkuns kan die tekenhandeling beskryf word as ’n selfrefleksiewe navorsingsproses wat kreatiwiteit ondersteun. Sodanige beskouing van die tekenkuns, lui die argument, kan die fasiliteerder op ’n hoër onderwysvlak help om individuele tekenstudente se kreatiwiteit te bevorder. Daaruit vloei die voorstel vir ’n vorm van fasilitering wat gevoelig is vir die ingewikkelde interaksie tussen die self en die omgewing. ’n Vorm van mediasie wat dit in ag neem, skep nie alleen ruimte vir diversiteit wat betref sosio-kulturele herkoms, persoonlike geskiedenis en individuele verskille nie, maar ontwikkel en vier ook dié soort diversiteit.

Thesis (MA (VA)(Visual Arts))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / The purpose of the thesis is to contextualise my art works in theoretical terms. As counterpart to my art practice and consistent with its subject matter, the thesis deals with the handbag as subject and investigates the formation of an idiomatic, metaphorical or symbolic visual language that emerges in my handbag Collections. The thesis traces how such language pertains to social, cultural and personal history as sources of its conception to also serve as foundation for the conception of my art works. Its central questions are formulated around ‘how’, thus investigating the formative, the developmental and the process. Its thinking is relativist, embracing the belief that no option is absolute, but rather as susceptible to change as it is open to interpretation. As events of change and change inducing events, developmental processes are posed in a framework of generative structuralism that comprises the internalisation of externalities and the externalisation of internalities. As such it structures an attempt to define the genesis of my aesthetic idiolect in and from a cultural context. The thesis therefore posits its secondary aims as investigative rather than determinist of how social and cultural context informs my art-making processes and how generation and development occur in my art-making processes in order to determine how these factors contribute to a personal voice becoming evident in my work. My art practice and art works serve as primary sources of information and the thesis partially serves as a process of textual re-articulation of my own art-making practices to reveal the relationships between habitus as generative structure, enaction of identity and aesthetic idiolect.

Thesis (MA (VA)(Visual Arts))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / As manufacturing jewellery artist, I have found that it is now most often women rather than men who commission or purchase jewellery. These women often earn substantial salaries and therefore they are in a position to indulge freely in what traditionally was considered the frivolous pursuit of beauty. Consequently, women are challenging expectations that they be submissive and desirable display objects, thereby signifying their dependence on male economical power. The aim of this research is to encourage transformation and the development of an individual and independent feminine identity by exposing the pressures placed on women to construct their identities as prescribed by patriarchal institutions, dress codes, fashion, science and therefore also gender stereotyping and gender inequalities. The three chapters of my thesis are titled Restriction, Change and Liberation?, which is followed by a discussion of my practical work in the addendum. The thesis and practical work were developed in support of one another.

Thesis (MA (VA)(Visual Arts))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / This investigation draws on theories of sacrifice to explore Wim Botha’s sculpture Premonition of War: Scapegoat in relation to nationalist and patriarchal thought. Since the artist deals with myth, his approach is discussed in terms of Barthes’ formulation of myth as a meta-language. It is maintained that Botha is using a meta-mythical language to deconstruct the narratives he deals with. Sacrifice is seen as an act that binds communities together but that also separates them from threats (Nancy Jay 1992:17). It is argued that the crucifix has been used as symbol of sacrifice to denote immortality, and that this over-emphasis of continuity has been to the detriment of those that do not fall within the boundaries of the “same” as defined by white men. The incorporation and exclusion of the feminine into male structures are discussed, as well as the role that institutionalised religious thought has played in South African Nationalism. An interpretation of Scapegoat using Freud and Žižek seems to point to the necessary compromise made by the Church with the dualisms it has created between its definitions of good and evil. Nietzsche’s conception of sacrifice as a system of debt when applied to the Scapegoat also seems to point to a contradiction inherent within it, since Botha’s inversion puts into question the idea of a gift given outside of a creditor/debtor system. The burnt appearance of the Scapegoat appears to indicate that the attempt to sacrifice the act of sacrifice is futile, since sacrifice eternally returns. However, the “pure gift”, or don pur that Derrida writes of, seems to point to a way beyond dialectics, towards a morality freed from duty.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbsoch University, 2012