Abstract
Since 1994, the politics of race and class remain deeply ingrained in South African culture. Recent events in South Africa, such as the state of capture (2009–2023), the Marikana massacre (2012), and the July 2021 uprising, indicate that human rights are in jeopardy. The disregard for human rights can result in the collapse of social order and the emergence of anarchist and populist ideologies, deepening inequality and isolating marginalised communities within a democratic framework. Contemporary South African visual art empowers artists to challenge and provoke the national consciousness regarding political hypocrisies and human rights violations. This study suggests that visual representations of human rights issues, supported by the concepts of ubuntu and humanism, can nurture a human rights consciousness toward social transformation.
This interdisciplinary research demonstrates how visual art can intersect with development. Despite persuasive scholarship on development from the social sciences and humanities perspectives, the connection between visual art and development remains a unique and innovative concept that diverges from traditional research (Clammer, 2012: 220-241; 2019: 1-18). This research critically evaluates how an arts NGO like Artist Proof Studio (APS) employs a human rights-based approach to visual art practice to promote rights awareness in pursuit of its mission. The qualitative case study research used in-depth interviews, group discussions, observations, and artwork analyses to understand how APS promotes human rights values through contemporary art. The study's focus on developing contemporary South African art provides a rich context for APS' use of an arts-based research methodology, emphasising art's social relevance and demonstrating its effectiveness in promoting human rights values. APS's public engagement programme encourages complex and innovative art practices that engage with the participants' socio-political and economic subjectivities, informing artworks contributing to the research theme.
The research makes three critical contributions to knowledge. The first contribution examines the evolving perception and involvement with human rights in South Africa since 1994 and how NGOs have had to adapt their approach to human rights accordingly. It includes a case study of an arts organisation addressing this challenge through the scope of its work and internal practice. The second contribution addresses a literature gap regarding the NGO’s use of an arts-based methodology and diverse art methods to elicit critical qualitative responses to human rights through art. The third original contribution to knowledge explores the interdisciplinary connection between visual art and development studies by transcending traditional qualitative methods with arts-based research. In South Africa's historical context,
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discussions about ubuntu, human rights, memory, and representation offer opportunities for re-evaluating the path towards freedom through art.
Artist Proof Studio represents a microcosm of marginalised South African society, focusing on students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds with little to no art experience. The APS students are predisposed to systemic violence and structural inequality, which hinder any hopes and aspirations they may cherish. The study is grounded in Critical theory, focusing on concepts of societal alienation and domination. APS uses praxis to empower its students to critically engage in creating social transformation through art. It embraces Freireian ideas of collaborative education, dialogic reasoning, and respect for cultural diversity, guided by the principles of ubuntu and African Humanism. The study examines how the research participants connect art and human rights, considering them as a direct reflection of their life experiences. Artist Proof Studio offers a distinct argument for promoting ubuntu by reimagining, reinventing, and innovating radical art praxis as a universal alternative to development. However, there are concerns about the Eurocentrism implicit in human rights praxis and the idealisation of ubuntu, which supports state ideologies.
Keywords: Artist Proof Studio, development, human rights, praxis, ubuntu, visual art