Broadly speaking, art can be described as man’s emotion made tangible, providing a visual memory of the past. Resistance art is no different save the strength of its embedded meaning bound to context through signs and cultural references. In a pre-liberation South Africa, resistance art formed one of the critical voices of opposition to the apartheid regime and from the Rorke’s Drift Art and Craft Centre in Zululand this voice resounded. The memory of this together with the memory of the Rorke’s Drift artists has become dissociated from the actual place resulting in a gap in the history of South African art as well as the history of KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa. In light of this, this document explores the potential of art to generate built-form. By examining the link between man, society and art through the review of relevant literature, it is found that memory can be revived as a key driver behind the meaning of art and built-form through the provision of place as governed by issues of cultural identity, symbols and meaning context and the experiential. This conclusion is extended through precedent studies to include the art in question and is proved through the use of a case study. The significance suggested is that there is a global opportunity for art to provide meaning to the built environment and a local potential to directly address the loss of meaning and memory of Rorke’s Drift. In other words, it is proposed that meaning can be returned to Rorke’s Drift if the fundamental issues of memory are addressed, thereby continuing the narrative of South African art and contributing to it in the future. / Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

The thesis will focus on documenting, analysing and interpreting the motifs for the ceramics of Rorke’s Drift Art and Craft Centre Ecumenical (Evangelical) Lutheran Church (RDACC ELC, often called ELC Art and Craft Centre, hereinafter referred to as ‘Rorke’s Drift’) which were donated to the University of KwaZulu-Natal by Mark Bernstein. It is hoped that local indigenous narratives and visual designs in relation to Basotho and Zulu cultural identity will be outlined in the form of a catalogue. All vessel forms in the Bernstein Collection (as it will be referred to in this thesis) will focus on the figurative works and iconographic signifiers that represent local cultures. Ceramic works by the following ceramists will form the main argument of my thesis: Gordon Mbatha, Dinah Molefe, Ivy Molefe, Ephraim Ziqubu, Lindumusa Mabaso and Joel Sibisi of the Pottery Workshop. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

The Rorke's Drift Art and Craft Centre is examined in its historical context. In order to place the pottery workshop in the context of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELC) Arts and Crafts Centre, the history of the centre's other workshops, Fabric printing and Weaving as well as the Fine Art School will be compared and contrasted. The pottery workshop is investigated and compared with the printmaking of Rorke's Drift. A selection of Rorke's Drift ceramics from the Durban Art Gallery's collection has been selected and examined to determine some of the stylistic changes that have occurred in the Rorke's Drift Pottery studio from 1970 to 1994. Fifteen works appear in an illustrated catalogue which examines the imagery and stylistic content of each work. The similarities between the prints of Rorke's Drift artists and the ceramics are explored; gender issues are analysed. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005