The ways in which people present themselves online to others is a growing point of interest for scholars in a multiplicity of academic fields. On the common ground of self-representation, the concept of reach campaigns is used as a hermeneutical tool to analyse and interpret the postings and uploaded videos of five selected vloggers to work towards a way to explain the hidden algorithms at work on Social Networking Sites. The purpose of reach campaigns is not to replace terms such as ideology, or hegemony, nor does it serve to categorize or limit certain trends and currents but rather aims to provide a means to discuss human interactions with technology and more specifically – digital technology, working in and around the fields of cultural analytics and visual studies. One of the most notable visualities to emerge from the human-technology relationship is that of the self-representation. Vlogging has become one of the most popular means of self-representation online and through the lens of reach campaigns, it is proposed that a contemporary understanding of online self-representation can be achieved. While a large majority of vlogging’s conception occurs online, algorithms could be seen as a predominant influencing factor. This dissertation seeks to explore how algorithms may affect the promotion of four YouTube vlogger’s videos. / Dissertation (MA (Visual Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / NRF / Visual Arts / MA (Visual Studies) / Unrestricted

In this study, I seek to explore how contemporary art created by Nigerian and South African artists can be described to be rooted in an African vernacular. To this end, I conducted a comparative analysis of the cultural imageries and symbolisms of four Nigerian and four South African artists. For each of the artists, five of their works produced between 2007 and 2016 were purposively sampled. Thus, the study investigates forty works within the ten year period. The comparative analysis focuses on visual hermeneutics theory and art historical methodologies (formal analysis). Accordingly, the analysis examines the artists’ personal influences, training, frames of reference, knowledge base and philosophy as well as the reception of their works. Given the fact that most of the selected artists are excluded from mainstream art historical research because their works are said to be outside the normative contemporary art standards, this study establishes that the trend of their art is significant and should be researched. For that reason, the selected artists were included in this study so as to contribute a mainstream art historical discourse on their artworks. In the theoretical underpinning of this study, it is argued that although vernacular arts were produced in a historical African arts context, nevertheless the contemporary modes of cultural appropriations in artworks by the selected academically trained artists are not a continuation of the historical African. Therefore this study establishes that the adoption of the term African vernacular rooted in narrating contemporary African arts produced by Nigerian and South African artists is a rethink in the use of the old term in opening up a new discourse on engagement with cultural imageries and symbolisms. As a result, this research argues that their ideological trends in appropriating cultural imageries in arts are not a different form of contemporary African art. The significance of this research lies in the contribution of knowledge to the existing literature on global contemporary African art, and in initiating the exercise of documenting the visual culture of artists from both countries. Although the study provides a wider insight into appropriations of cultural symbolism in the works of these artists, it shows that some of the artists focus their visual narratives on specific dominant vernacular tropes or cultural imageries and symbolism in narrating experiences from past and present occurrences in both countries. However, many of the dominant cultural symbolisms are basically depictions of either young black African children or compositions showing African men and women. However, they narrate different experiences and aspects of African socio-cultural life. Significantly, the depictions in the artworks of the contemporary artists demonstrate, in different heterogeneous ways, African identities through cultures, heritage, history, and identity. Furthermore, most of the African vernacular rooted arts discussed in this study reveal influences from environmental factors such as migration, homelessness, African humanism, socio-cultural ceremonies, cultural and racial unity, oppression, ritual murders, and family life. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Visual Arts / PhD / Unrestricted

This study analyses a northern-Sotho publication of the Berlin Mission Church, namely, the Thsupa Mabaka a Kereke. It is particularly concerned with the similarities and differences in the approaches the German missionary producers of the publication have taken in the selection, reproduction and utilization of photographs of South Africans and Germans. The focus is on the 1930s, the decade during which the publication first came into existence; the decade during which National Socialism was implemented in Germany and a period in which black South Africans were negotiating the challenges of both the British colonial world and growing Afrikaner nationalism. The focus of the study is to investigate the history that shaped the perceptions of class and gender where different racial groups were concerned. It studies how inequality was communicated in missionary photography. The aim of this study is to gauge whether the representations of African people in the Thsupa Mabaka a Kereke bear any relation to those of German missionaries. It further explores how the depictions are connected to the context of the time and the perceptions of the people in the separate communities. It investigates the influence of the images in promoting imperialist activity, their influence in encouraging modernity and, essentially, their role and purpose as tool of communication with the congregations of the Berlin Mission Church. Certain stereotypes and inequality in the representation of the different races, classes and genders will be investigated and problematized where necessary. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / DAAD/NRF / Andrew W. Mellon Foundation / Visual Arts / MA / Unrestricted

The development of a film rooted in family conflicts and an exploration of the nature of authorship.

The nearly 400-page graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth is widely recognized as the culmination of the comic medium on both an aesthetic and contextual level, as well as graphic artist, Chris Ware’s magnum opus. Ware is known for his intricate and multi-leveled narratives, often involving multiple time periods, which produce a level of realism that simultaneously portrays the complexity and mundanity of everyday life. Jimmy Corrigan is primarily about a thirty year old man, Jimmy, who was abandoned by his father when he was very young, and grew up with his single mother in Chicago. As an adult, Jimmy is a painfully shy, quiet, and passive person. He has no friends, is afraid to talk to women, spends his days in a cubicle, and his nights at home alone. His mother calls him on the phone incessantly, which seems to be the extent of his human interaction. The combined effect of his behavior and lifestyle renders Jimmy a kind of ‘manchild,’ devoid of a clear identity or will.

Chen Hongshou (1598/1599-1652), a famous artist of late Ming and early Qing China, was particularly well-known for his figure paintings, which exerted a noticeable influence on later generations and has been the subject most commonly discussed by scholars. Among Chen’s figure painting oeuvre, this study is especially concerned with his portrayals of women ranging between the 1630s and 1650s with an intention to explore what their representations, audience and function reveal about the artist. The existing monographs on Chen’s female figures is limited to only few case studies, from which the artist’s depictions of women have not been clearly sorted out, so there is room for further investigation of the relation between female imagery, cultural meanings and the artist’s identity. The contribution of this study is to research on some specific questions in these regards. The three chapters of this dissertation consider Chen’s depictions of women from different perspectives. It begins by analyzing Chen’s appropriations and innovations revealed in his female figures in terms of iconographic and thematic aspects. The artist’s works demonstrate identifiable features ascribed to the past paintings that indicate his considerable familiarity with the subject established in the broad history. At the same time, they are distinguished by innovative traits which show his awareness of popular trends in his own time and his facility in reinvention. This thesis then proceeds to examine Chen’s attitude towards women by positioning his representations of female figures in relation to the social and cultural context in the seventeenth century. It is found that Chen’s portrayals of women, on the whole, reveal the artist’s ambivalent stance towards women as he on one hand shows positive on female talent, bonding and emotional disclosure, but on the other hand treats women as object of desire. His conflicting attitudes in fact correspond to the complex status of women at that time. The final chapter of this thesis explores the intended audience and functions of Chen’s rendering of women, from which the artist’s dual identities as a literate man and a professional painter in his late life are strongly revealed.

This study explores the phenomenon of kitsch as found and embraced within contemporary Afrikaner culture. The two spheres that this study specifically looks at is that of popular mega church, Christian Revival Church (CRC), and the sphere of contemporary, popular Afrikaans music. It is argued, by means of a visual hermeneutical analysis, that the same kitschified religious tropes that are used within the CRC are also to be found in the music videos and concerts of contemporary, popular Afrikaans artists. / Dissertation (MA (Visual Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Visual Arts / MA (Visual Studies) / Unrestricted

Magic Show is an animated short film created in the Unity game engine that follows a mischievous fairy named Faye, who attempts to deceive her human audience, the viewer, into believing she can do magic. My goal in the program was to create a themed entertainment experience. I created a point-of-view animated film as an alternative to traditional theme park 3D/4D attractions that typically take place in a theatrical setting with large audiences. This allows for a more intimate experience and accessibility in the absence of a physical theater. The storyline itself is a study of imposter syndrome. Instead of embracing who she is, Faye tries to convince the outside world that she can do magic like a typical fairy. Her feelings reflect my own experiences and the shared experiences of my peers as females in male-dominated fields where similar emotions arise. Please view the film here: https://shorturl.at/beGHR

This work examines the inclusion of social values in children's stories and the visual and auditory techniques implemented in animation. It explores personal encounters and experiences in my life which shape the content and mission of my story. This work also touches on my role in presenting family and social values to children using rhyme as style and animation as a medium. Furthermore, in discussing my animated film, this work will delve into the decision to incorporate rhythmic poetry, evaluate the composition of the film's score and touch on the purpose of visual devices. Finally, this work will highlight the creative, and technical aspects of developing visual elements contained in the film.

This paper explores the ways in which Nike's 2010 'Make Yourself' campaign claims to promote 'female empowerment', when in actuality it supports beauty standards that serve to disempower and devalue women. This paper uses various semiotic and deconstructive techniques to explore this issue, including close readings of both the film and photographic texts of the campaign.