Abstract
In this study I examine how South African creative practitioners Roman Handt and
Athi-Patra Ruga use the grotesque and carnivalesque as aesthetic and conceptual
design philosophies to question gendered constructs and propose alternatives to rigid
forms of masculinities. The grotesque and carnivalesque, which include strategies
such as excess, reversal, hierarchical inversion, satire, and pastiche, serve as
disruptive mechanisms that destabilise delineated gendered categories and liberate
dominant heteronormative assumptions.
My focus in this study is on selected garments and performances from each artist to
analyse how their work embodies and reimagines masculinities through fashion and
the body. By analysing selected works, this research highlights how these artistic
strategies contribute to a broader critique of hegemonic masculinity in South Africa.
Handt’s collections provoke contemplation on masculinity and gender fluidity through
unconventional tailoring, exaggerated silhouettes, and fabric choices that challenge
prescriptive masculinities and sartorial norms. Ruga, by contrast, employs
performance and visual spectacle—such as his Future white woman of Azania saga
(<?=?–<?=^) and Queens in Exile (<?=L–<?=B) series—to interrogate sexuality, gender
politics, and the complexities of first- and third-world influences in contemporary South
Africa.
Stuart Hall’s theories on identity, diversity and postcoloniality, Judith Butler’s concept
of gender performativity and Mikhail Bakhtin’s work on liminality and the carnivalesque
form the theoretical framework that underpins my analysis. These perspectives
provide a lens through which to understand how fashion and performance function as
sites of contestation and transformation in the construction of contemporary South
African masculinities.
By situating these artistic practices within broader discourses on gender and identity,
this study contributes to scholarship on African masculinities, fashion theory, and
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performance studies. I demonstrate how creative expression can challenge and
redefine hegemonic gender norms in postapartheid South Africa.