Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The archive as mnemonic device and taxonomic structure plays a significant role in the visualisation of identity. This thesis draws on the example of the personal photographic archives of three trans men to suggest ways of understanding archives as discursive and visual practices through which fluctuating narratives of self can be uncovered, traced, erased, renegotiated and fictionalised. This thesis considers how these participants negotiate the roles of author, archivist and photographer in the creation of their personal photographic archives, and how such archives intersect with discourses on the social, somatic and political. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die argief speel as beide ‘n mnemoniese apparaat en ‘n taksonomiese struktuur ‘n beduidende rol in die voorstelling van identiteit. In hierdie tesis word die fotografiese argiewe van drie trans mans bespreek om maniere voor te stel waarop argiewe as diskursiewe en visuele praktyke funksioneer waardeur veranderlike narratiewe van self ontbloot, nagespoor, uitgewis, heroorweeg en verbeel kan word. Hierdie studie oorweeg die manier waarop hierdie deelnemers die rolle van outeur, argivaris en fotograaf onderhandel tydens die skep van hul persoonlike fotografiese argiewe, sowel as die wyse waarop hierdie argiewe as kruispunte dien waar diskoerse rondom die sosiale, liggaamlike en politiese bymekaarkom.

Thesis (MA (VA)(Visual Arts))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / This investigation uses an object relations psychoanalytic framework to explore ways that art embodies both social and personal meaning. The relationship between the non- verbal experience of art and the pre-verbal realm of infancy is explored and linked to bodily, perceptual and inner forms of non-discursive knowledge which are of value for the subject. The study investigates how this inner experience is related through art to language and representation as aspects of external experience. The study argues that these two dimensions, the inner/bodily and the outer/linguistic, are held together in the art object which, as metaphor, is a conjoined structure that embodies the maternal and paternal realms in paradoxical and dynamic interplay. The art object, which elicits imaginary and phantasied responses from the viewer, serves both the self (through presentational symbols) and social needs (through representational symbols), thus allowing the creation and communication of new meanings.

Thesis (MA (VA)(Visual Arts))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / This thesis investigates social aspects of the production and distribution of artworks, approaching these from the context of the every-day life of the artist. Its main aim is to form a theoretical framework and personalised application of auto/ ethnography to enable the artist to study her own practice within a specific context. The thesis serves as a counterpart to the practical work that is expected of a Master of arts student at this particular university and in this department, the University of Stellenbosch, Department of Visual Arts. As such, it works in tandem with the practical component to posit an understanding of the artworks as they have been formed in a complex postmodern society. I, as the artist and writer, discuss my work by drawing from autobiographical experiences and theoretical frameworks as texts. Auto/ethnography, the chosen methodology, is informed by post-structuralism, Marxist and neo-Marxist theories and feminist discourses, among others. It calls for researchers to apply self-reflexivity in their practice and, hence, must include the situated position of the ‘I’ of the researcher, as this inevitably impacts on research findings. My writing on my art-making process becomes a form of ‘emergent’ research that studies the relationship between the self and the social. This takes place through the use of autobiographical texts and the above-mentioned theoretical frameworks, combined with relational and dialogical theories of art, and frameworks that study art production and distribution from sociological perspectives. I write myself as constituted within ideology and subject to societal structure, but also possessing agency. I write on my art as a product determined by my position in society; my intentions and aims for the artwork and considerations on how its distribution might affect me; and its function as a text that carries meanings that differ from those which I, at any given time, might ascribe to it. The framework in which I write on my art-making process also draws on complexity theory. Within this framework I approach the self as relational, society and the environment as a complex self-structuring process, and the meaning of text as created and re-created in a web of interactions, between the self (of the writer/artist and reader/viewer) and the society (as built up of different interrelating subsystems). Writing auto/ethnographically to produce an academic dissertation within this specific academic community can, I believe, serve as a means through which I can question my own objectivising claims, or claims that lie in theoretical and personal frameworks that I draw from. Implicit in this thesis is the question: how can an artist, working within the confines of an academic framework, ensure that an ethical component exists between the self and other in her working practice?

The thesis spans two volumes ... Volume two is an artist's book and although it is part of the project I have set myself, it is not being submitted with the theoretical component of the MA dissertation, but as part of the practical component.' -- Abstract. / Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2007. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The thesis investigates the contemporary practice of book art, examining in particular the manner in which it fits both into the tradition of the book and the tradition of art making. The thesis spans two volumes. Volume One discusses the phenomenon of the artist's book from three vantage points: the attempts to define it, the attempts to catalogue it and the attempts to interpret it. Volume Two is an artist's book and although it is part of the project I have set myself, it is not being submitted with the theoretical component of the MA dissertation, but as part of the practical component. (Briefly, one of the tasks it embarks upon is an examination of the phenomenon of thesis writing, as understood and endeavoured by myself in the production of the first volume - in this sense it is self-reflective. Another is an examination of some aspects of my attempts to make examples of artist's books, which includes an investigation of some of the recurrent themes and preoccupations of my work) Volume One is set out in three chapters. The first chapter pursues a definition of book art and the artist's book in order to draw some perimeters around the subject, and to build a picture of its nature. In the course of doing this, the ideas of some book artists and book art commentators are considered in an attempt to create a richer tapestry of understanding. In the next chapter some of the ways in which book art has been categorised are discussed. This is in order to more finely delineate the nature and scope of book art. It is also to bring some clarity to bear upon the different components and manifestations of a vast and sometimes confusing oeuvre. I then suggest a system of classification of my own which offers an adjacent model for investigating artists' books and the endeavour of book art. With the above model in place, I undertake a foray into the arena of interpretation. Here I suggest the suitability of adopting certain methodologies of interpretation that come from the field of contemporary literary studies in general, and the interpretation of poetry in particular. I draw comparisons between the book artist and the poet, and suggest that they occupy a similar territory of meaning making. In the course of laying out my arguments in the three chapters, I refer extensively to examples of artists' books in order to make particular points. Where I consider it apt, I draw upon my book art as a source of example. In this way, I am able to weave into the text some information and reflection about my own practice and concerns as a book artist. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Daar word in die tesis ondersoek ingestel na die hedendaagse praktyk van die boekkuns en in die besonder die wyse waarop dit aansluit by die tradisie van die boek en die tradisie van die kuns. Die tesis beslaan twee volumes. Volume Een bespreek die fenomeen van die kunstenaarsboek vanuit drie invalshoeke: pogings om dit te definieer, pogings om dit te katalogisieer en pogings om dit te interpreteer. Volume Twee is 'n kunstenaarsboek en, hoewel dit deel uitmaak van die projek wat ek ondemeem het, word dit nie voorgele saam met die teoretiese komponent van die MA- dissertasie nie maar as deel van die praktiese komponent. (Een van die take wat dit ondemeem is, kortliks, 'n ondersoek van die fenomeen tesis-skryf soos ek dit met die produksie van die eerste volume self verstaan en benader het - in die sin is dit selfreflektief. 'n Ander taak is 'n ondersoek van sekere aspekte van my pogings om kunstenaarsboeke te maak, insluitende 'n ondersoek na van die deurlopende temas en preokupasies van my werk.) Volume Een bestaan uit drie hoofstukke. Die eerste hoofstuk streef na 'n definisie van die boekkuns en die kunstenaarsboek met die doel om die onderwerp nader te ornlyn en 'n beeld daarvan op te bou. In die proses word die idees van 'n aantal boekkunstenaars en boekkuns-kommentatore oorweeg in die poging om n ryker begripstapisserie te weef. In die daaropvolgende hoofstuk word van die wyses waarop die boekkuns gekategoriseer is, bespreek, om die aard en rykwydte van die boekkuns nog nader te omlyn. Dit work ook gedoen om lig te werp op die verskillende onderdele en manifestasies van 'n omvangryke en soms verwarrende oeuvre. Ek stel vervolgens my eie klassifiseringsisteem voor, wat 'n verdere model hied vir die ondersoek van kunstenaarsboeke en die boekkunsbedryf. Aan die hand van hierdie model betree ek dan die arena van interpretasie. Ek stel voor dat sekere interpretasiemetodes ontleen aan die tydgenootlike literatuurwetenskap, en spesifiek die interpreteer van poesie, oorweeg word. Ek vergelyk die boekkunstenaar met die digter en stel voor dat hulle op soortgelyke wyses met die skep van betekenis omgaan. In die loop van die uiteensetting van my argument in drie hoofstukke, verwys ek ekstensief na voorbeelde van kunstenaarsboeke om spesifieke punte te maak. Waar ek dit as gepas beskou, verwys ek, by wyse van illustrasie, na my eie boekkuns. Op hierdie manier is dit vir my moontlik om inligting en besinning oor my eie praktyk en pre-okkupasies as boekkunstenaar met die teks te verweef.

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.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: To write a life story the auto/biographer must reflect upon the past that was once experienced. When presented with this task of depending on memory and narrative, the auto/biographer often finds himself/herself in the position of creating and imagining, rather than reflecting or presenting the past as it was lived. Fragmentation, forgetfulness, selection, (re)construction and imagination are often inextricably connected to Memory which results in the reliance on an unstable memory to access the past. This dissertation explores how postmodern auto/biographies, specifically the (auto/bio)graphic novel, acknowledges the difficulty of writing about the past when concerned with truth. The (auto/bio)graphic novel disrupts the notion of truth by blurring the boundaries between fact and fiction, resulting in a hybrid form where text and image, reality and imagination co-exist to create new, and often more significant pasts (that can serve the present). / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Om ‘n lewensverhaal te skryf, reflekteer die outo/biograaf op dít wat eens geleef was in die verlede. Deur hierdie proses, wat ‘n afhanklikheid van die geheue behels, vind die outo/biograaf homself/haarself gereeld in ‘n situasie waar hy/sy ontwerp en verbeel, eerder as om die verlede weer te gee soos dit beleef was. Fragmentasie, vergeetagtigheid, selektering, (her)konstruering en verbeelding is soms onskeibaar van Geheue wat dui op die afhanklikheid van ‘n onstabiele geheue in die skryf- en illustreer-prosesse van ‘n outo/biografie. Hierdie verhandeling ondersoek hoe postmoderne outo/biografieë, spesifiek die (outo/bio)grafiese roman, bewus is van die kwessies rondom die skryf van die verlede in verhouding tot waarheid. Die (outo/bio)grafiese roman ontwrig die idee van waarheid deur die grense tussen feit en fiksie te ondermyn. Gevolglik onstaan ‘n hibriede vorm van outo/biografie waar teks en beeld, realiteit en verbeelding gekombineer word om nuwe en meer beduidende verledes te skep (wat so ook die hede op nuwe maniere kan dien). / mlb2013

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / Please refer to full text for abstract.