Syllabus

Short Course Description

Course description: This course introduces us to some of the key chapters in the history of art and photography in South Africa, during the years leading up to the onset of the apartheid regime and beyond. The course further describes and explains some of the major changes that took place within the fields of art and photographic practices toward the end of the apartheid regime, and probes some of the underlying reasons leading up to these changes. We begin by briefly familiarizing ourselves with the historical context of segregation and racial separation in South Africa, outlining the conflicting interests and forces that arose between its indigenous populations and European settlers - both Afrikaner and British, and the colonial policies of the latter. We will also examine some of the circumstances that led to the fall of apartheid, and how these were brought about. Throughout the course we will consider to what extent, and during which years, we might perceive ?the struggle for art as synonymous with the struggle for the end of apartheid? (Peffer 2009).
Throughout most years of apartheid, especially before the 1980s, the rigid regime of racial and ethnic segregation among South Africa?s people drove different racial and ethnic groups to turn their artistic energies to what were considered to be their ?distinctively unique? artistic traditions. This meant that ?fine art? was a domain exclusively designated to white European artists, excluding black or ?colored? artists from participating in practices considered to be ?art?. Works produced by black artists were considered to be forms of material culture or ?craft?, establishing a clear-cut hierarchical division between black and white artists. Most black artists had little or no access to the basic materials required to produce artworks, such as paper, paint, canvas, or drawing materials of any kind, let alone to formal art education. This resulted in a racially biased history of art and writing about art in South Africa, as well as predetermined views of how ?black art? might be included in art discourse in the public sphere.
The ostensible misalliance between ?white art? and black material culture or ?craft? began to shift around the 1980s. As a result, works previously identified as craft began slowly to be recognized, albeit problematically, as ?transitional art?, gaining acclaim and appealing to white buyers. This was one of the ways in which works by black artists were gradually incorporated into the field of art in South Africa, which until then had been an exclusively white domain.
We will further examine a selection of community and other art educations centers and schools in South Africa, as well as key museums and major exhibitions which have shown a diversity of artworks by both black and white artists both during apartheid and after. We will also acquaint ourselves with various iconographies and artistic styles produced by black South African artists. These include Township Art, Resistance Art, and what today is referred to as ?contemporary South African art?, which has acquired international standing in the global art market.

With regard to uses of the camera and photography, the history of photography in South Africa was initially marked by the rise in popularity of photojournalistic photography. Following the Soweto uprising in 1976, there was a surge in a socially relevant style of documentary photography which sought to show the nuances and ambiguities of everyday life in South Africa. We will critically examine ?struggle photography? and stereotypical images of abject black South Africans and the miserable conditions of their lives, in an attempt to establish whether these images were fully, or problematically, representative of the broader experiences of black South Africans. Finally, we will attempt to assess the aesthetic, discursive and socio-political contribution of South African art and photography to the global history of art discourse