I aim to showcase post-African female identity through the exhibition, The princess in
the veld. The exhibition displays selected works produced by South African women
artists, underpinned by the proposed curatorial framework. This curatorial approach
is feminist, and may allow for a liminal reading of local female identity. I premise my
theorised curatorial framework liminally, in-between binary oppositions. This position
allows for a feminist position and/or reading of female identities that simultaneously
allude to, and reject a so-called local (essentialised) women’s art production within
the ambit of global, Western dominated feminism. I argue that, for such a display to
be successful, an alternative curatorial space is needed. For this purpose, I introduce
the notion of heterotopia, a counter-space, to renegotiate binaries and to render
identity formations temporarily in-between prevailing norms. This heterotopic
counter-curatorial space is realised through an exhibition that employs the medium of
video, rather than conventional exhibition media installed in real space.
An exploration of specified key local and international survey exhibitions
foregrounding women’s concerns from the 1980s onwards, serves to inform my
theorised curatorial framework. The research embarks on an investigation of a recent
large-scale exhibition hosted in France, to gain an understanding of the pitfalls
prevalent in curating an exhibition of artwork produced by women. From a feminist
standpoint, I critically analyse this display to suggest more inclusive alternative
curatorial strategies to shift the conventionally Western approach followed by this
curator.
The revisionist, feminist, re-reading of certain South African curated exhibitions from
both the apartheid and post-apartheid periods proposes a feminist trajectory that
follows the shaping of local women’s identities, which remain deeply inscribed in this
country’s politics and histories. This section of the survey underlines local post-
African female identity as liminal and in flux, through the investigation of seminal
exhibitions and artworks produced by South African women. I argue that this liminal
account allows for an inclusive and extended understanding of women, while
explicating the South African multicultural dispensation wherein the post-African
woman operates. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / National Research Foundation / University of Pretoria / Visual Arts / DPhil / Unrestricted
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:up/oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/63007 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Adendorff, Delaida Adéle |
| Contributors | Dreyer, Elfriede, Du Preez, Amanda, daadendorff@me.com |
| Publisher | University of Pretoria |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Rights | © 2017 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
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