Bibliography: pages 109-111. / Dispossession, aspects of conflict and the breakdown of the relationship between people and their environment is the subject of this thesis. The body of work presented consists of twenty-four photographs and sixteen screen-printed off-set lithographs (referred to as the prints). The photographs are largely intended to introduce and contextualize the prints which act as the main body and conclusion of the thesis. In the series of prints I have manipulated certain photographic imagery in order to explore the ways in which meaning can shift with changes in context, and reveal associations not apparent in the original photographs. This book is divided into four sections: 1. Sources and context: This section contains a brief outline of the historical tradition of apocalyptic literature and its relevance to our times, as well as a discussion of some of the literary texts to which I have referred. All the visual source material for my prints was derived from my own photographs. As a result, I have not looked to other artist's works for reference, or for the development of my theme. Of great importance, however, were the texts I read during the course of my study, which included a wide and diverse range of literature and poetry. I have also looked to film as a source, including popular cinema such as George Miller's "Mad Max" series, as well as the more serious aspects of cinema, for example, the films of Francis Ford Coppola, Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders. While my prints do not necessarily fall within the mainstream of apocalyptic, they have in common with it, a particular attitude towards the present. It is the vision of imminent chaos and the desire for a return to a restored natural order that has informed my work. 2. My working methods and their implications: This section contains an explication of the processes involved in the making of the prints, and the manner in which these processes contributed to the meaning of the images. Also included is a discussion of the relationship between my photography and my printmaking. 3. Introduction to the work: This section introduces my theme. In my photographs I have documented those aspects of southern African urban and rural landscape which reveal evidence of the erosion of the natural environment, as well as the physical manifestations of displacement. In my prints, I have disintegrated, translated and recontextualised these images. While the theme of my work lies within the broad context of apocalyptic, it is the individual's conflicts and sense of displacement within that context that has been of particular interest to me. As the apocalypticist expressed the tensions and conflicts of his time in a language of symbols, so I have similarly presented a response to my environment. It is not my intention in this section to present an interpretation of my work, but rather to highlight those aspects important to an understanding of the motives I had in making the images. In addition, this book includes documentation of the photographs and prints, preparatory sketches and collages, reproductions of source photographs, and a selection of literary texts which informed the work.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/17181 |
| Date | January 1988 |
| Creators | Ractliffe, Jo |
| Contributors | Skotnes, Pippa |
| Publisher | University of Cape Town, Faculty of Humanities, Michaelis School of Fine Art |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Master Thesis, Masters, MFA |
| Format | application/pdf |
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