A Research Report submitted to the Department of History of Art, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts, 2016 / Statistics indicate that over the past 16 years (since the year 2000), there have been
over 30 black lesbians in South Africa, who have been victims of rape (and in some
cases, brutal murder as well) as a result of homophobic violence, which is aimed at
“curing” lesbians of their homosexuality. The aim of this research report is to
examine how activist methods, such as art exhibitions and public performances, are
challenging homophobic violence. The report explores the effectiveness of activist
artworks (which include public performances and works by South African artists
Zanele Mutholi and Gabrielle Le Roux) in raising awareness and educating South
Africans about homophobic violence, which is a daily reality for many members of
the South African LGBTQ community. For the purpose of this report, the Queer and
Trans Art-iculations exhibition, which was held at the Wits Art Museum (WAM) in
2014, is compared to the annual Johannesburg Pride parade of 2012. These events
are analysed in terms of their effectiveness in creating awareness about homophobic
violence and how they can improve on being more informative and effective in the
future. The importance of this research is to add to the existing body of work around
art activism as it explores the ways in which activist artists attempt to make social
and political change regarding the South African LGBTQ community. / MT2017
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/22230 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Hackney, Luke David |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | Online resource (86 leaves), application/pdf, application/pdf |
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