The representation of the female figure in Western society has been moulded by such diverse forces as religion, economy and geography, nonetheless, certain images of the female form and representations of feminine qualities appear to be archetypal. One example is that of the Venus of Willendorf which has been recognised as a generalised image of women's fertility. This is mainly due to its formal exaggeration of, and emphasis on, the reproductive aspects of women's bodies. A second example is contained in the theories of Jungian psychologists who have recognised the feminine principle as embodied in the myths and pictorial imagery of what is known as the great goddess. They maintain that the symbols and images from these myths are similar to those in the myths, dreams and fantasies of modern individuals. Following on from these insights the first series of sculptures was aimed at examining women's experience of the reproductive aspects of their bodies in patriarchal society. Generalised images of female fertility were represented through the expressive device of exaggeration. I was concerned to express each woman's individuality by including facial details and gesture. It was also necessary to depict conventionalised elements of patriarchal society. This was achieved through a personification of bestial attributes. The ceramic medium offered many advantages, among them, its primordial qualities and its suitability for modelling and casting voluminous forms. An interest in broader aspects of femininity developed out of the study of images of the great goddess. This was facilitated by a reading of Jungian contrasexual psychology which maintains that the feminine principle is a universal psychological element specific to both men and women. The intention in the second series of sculptures was to celebrate this principle. Since it is not gender-related, it was necessary to find imagery other than that of the female figure. The feminine principle is not definable in purely physical terms since it is experienced in the conscious and unconscious mind, in fantasy, and in what is taken for reality. Abstract symbols associated with goddess mythology were recontextualised in this series and were intended to function on several layers of perception. The technique of modelling cement onto a metal armature facilitated the bold and celebratory forms chosen to celebrate the feminine principle.

There is the need to express what it is like to be a feeling, thinking, young person growing up on the southern tip of the African continent today, and this, from a generation who have had to cope with and survive the pressures of brain washing or intellectual laundering that an education in a State school in South Africa usually enforces. It is a generation trying to come to terms with information that has been filtered through the organs of the State radio and television systems, which routinely exclude news not deemed to be in the public interest, and substitutes an iconology dedicated to the values of sunny skies, beer and braaivleis. (Dubow 1986: 60) As an artist living in South Africa, I am part of the generation that has had to cope with the 'intellectual laundering' Dubow speaks of. I have experienced the ways in which apartheid, as a cultural norm governing society, has been constructed. It is around these issues that the title, An electronic laager: A sculptural interpretation of post-industrial society's cybernetic order, forms a concise description, and 'key' to an interpretation and understanding of the various issues which have amalgamated to inform my iconography, and the way in which these issues have been transformed into sculptural expression.

Aspects of mythologies, their associated rituals and shamanism, are the subjects of this thesis. In a portfolio of twenty-one etchings, I have modified and recontextualised images from a variety of sources as a means to developing a personal iconography. Ritual and the creation of mythologies offer humankind one way in which inexplicable aspects of experience can be confronted. Myths are expressed visually or verbally through the language of symbols. These symbols provide a means to transcend the physical world, and to create an environment in which knowledge and understanding of the cosmos is enriched. The rituals accompanying myths, and in particular the role played in these by the shaman, have been of major importance in the development of this body of work. The exploration of my field of study was principally based on visual reference material and recounts of myths. Source material was derived from rock paintings, ritualistic costumes, musical instruments and other objects found in the rites which accompany the narration of myths of n1ainly pre- . literate societies. In the section, SOURCES AND REFERENCES, such areas of interest are discussed. Rituals have been an important focal point of my examination of mythologies, as an abundance of symbolical connections to the metaphysical realm are included in them. These take the form of clothing and other adornments, such as headdresses and masks, and a variety of ritualistic objects and instruments. The meanings of mythologies are distilled, through the participation of the observers or listeners, by personally interpreting the symbols they perceive. Often symbols are obscure and in their understanding assistance is required. This aid is offered by those individuals who, in a given culture, specialize as interpreters - prophets, sages, priests and shamans. 1 The shaman, as mediator, has been a special concern in my research. I have concentrated on those societies where shamanism is the central religious practice. By virtue of their experience of ritualistic ecstasy, shamans are believed to transcend the physical barriers of time and space to become inhabitants in a metaphysical sphere and participants in the mythology. To enable entry, the ecstatic has to undergo a symbolical metamorphosis during the trance state. This metamorphosis entails a ritualistic suffering, death and resurrection as well as a ceremonial incarnation: an animal or spectral form appropriate to him or her or the occasion. My investigation into the transformation processes has focused mainly on visual references to the animal or mythical beings which aid the incarnation. As well as the gleaning of symbols and forms from mythologies, and their associated rituals, I have referred to a multitude of designs and shapes from the natural world, including palaeontological and biological sources. To formulate the information comprising my personal iconography, various interpretative and manipulative processes were employed. These took the form of drawings and collages. In the section, WORKING METHODS AND ETCHING PROCESSES, these will be discussed. This section is also concerned with the variety of etching techniques utilized in the body of practical work. In the section, INTRODUCTION TO THE PRINTS, I have mentioned some of the themes developed in the four series. I have not discussed the meanings of each print individually, as I hope that these will, in part, be determined by the viewers themselves, but have tried rather to provide an insight into some of the motives I have had in constructing my images. A selection of images from my sketchbooks as well as preparatory drawings relating to the final in1ages have been included. The INDEX TO THE PRINTS, details editions, techniques, sizes and titles of each print.

Surface Tension – Permeability, the Body, and Installation, is comprised of a multimedia installation and an accompanying minor thesis. The concurrent points of departure for both are the body and the medium of installation itself, exploring their sympathies with the lens of permeability. The installation presents sculptures and video montage works that make use of medical, religious, and pathological renderings of the body, drawing attention to its varied portrayal as reliant on parallel visual technologies. The navigable and immersive nature of installation is used to suggest a reading of the body as permeable, constructed, and fluid. In the document, these portrayals are discussed via an arthistorical case-study approach, each suggested as varying depictions of bodily permeability. In particular, the Cartesian body as the product of Judeo-Christian morality, the Descartes mind-body split, Enlightenment secularization, and Western medical representation that renders the body as a discrete organism ending at the skin is tracked. The project attempts to unsettle this paradigm by focusing on the dialectic of porosity, which aims to situate the body in dialogue with systems beyond itself via consumption, excretion, and infection. The second aspect of the research is an extrapolation of this porous dialectic to modes of representation and their consequent ways of seeing. The Cartesian bodily paradigm is suggested as parallel to the rise of ocularcentrism. Whilst acknowledging the strengths of various mediums, attention is called to the capacity of static, 2D media to emphasize ocularcentric disembodiment. In contrast, installation is explored as a medium that demonstrates a porous capacity via the viewer's occupation of an immersive environment designed to activate multiple senses, thus aligning message and medium.

Re-forming the Monstrous consists of an installation of ceramic and wooden sculpture accompanied by an audio piece, and an explicatory document. This artistic project aims to critique the entwined social and ecological violence associated with the current era, as governed by hegemonic patriarchal capitalism, with particular reference to Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing and Donna Haraway. In the artwork, this is articulated through an imaginative reinterpretation of selected characters from Greco-Roman mythology. The trope of the Hero who must slay a monster to gain redemption for his transgressions (as in the case of Heracles) is examined and subverted. The process culminates in a sculptural installation in two parts: the first a metaphorical contemplation of the ongoing ecological and social devastation; the second composed of a number of discrete tableaux symbolising a sanctuary for the monster. In this figuration, the monster, represented by particular South African and domestic fauna, provides the departure point to consider issues of the environment, queerness and care through the immersive format of installation. The writing of queer theorists, José Estaban Munoz' s and Jack Halberstam is considered with reference to this body of work, as well as artworks by a number of local and international artists, in the context of imagining a creative salve to current global crises.

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