Abstract
This study investigates the construction of personal and communal identity in the work of selected contemporary South African illustrators, with the additional aim of contributing to initiatives that endeavour to compile a local archive that serves as a critical inquiry into South African image-making practices. The official nation-building efforts of the South African government, especially in a post-apartheid setting, are examined in the context of the study. Furthermore, the contentiousness of the construction of national identity and ‘new’ national symbols in relation to multicultural societies is noted. The investigation of communal identity, as constructed by members of said community, is offered as an alternative area of study. Illustrators as both creators and consumers of visual culture offer a unique sample with which to explore the creation of communal identity, particularly in South Africa’s multicultural community. The construction of identity is viewed through the lens of visual rhetoric in order to determine the communal identity which is created and subsequently argued for by the illustrators. Modes of interpretation and elements of visual rhetoric are explored and applied in the analysis of the sample of illustrations.
M.A. (Design)