Abstract
M.Tech. (Fine Art)
This dissertation examines selected printmaking artists actively working in
Johannesburg, ‘born-frees’ who have reached adulthood in post-1994 South Africa.
The premise of this paper is that these emerging printmakers appear to use the
collective as a strategy to navigate and challenge existing established and
‘traditional’ modes, focusing specifically on the medium of print as a tool to assist in
this process. These concerns involve the development of identity, navigating and
disrupting enduring systems from the past, as well as institutional spaces which
perpetuate these legacies. An in-depth study of their operations explores potential
alternatives of navigating the landscape of South African art. The collectives chosen
for this study are: Alphabet Zoo, Danger Gevaar Ingozi and Title in Transgression.
The study applies the Portraiture methodology as defined by Sarah Lawrence-
Lightfoot and Jessica Hoffman Davis in their book The Art and Science of
Portraiture (1997). Written portraits using this methodology subjectively explore the
collectives’ features, recording and interpreting their perspectives and reflecting the
essence of the collective. The portraits are informed by a series of interviews with the
artists, plus secondary information collected from articles, blogs, catalogues,
exhibitions and projects. Further interviews were conducted with individuals identified
by the collectives as influential in their practice.
The nature of the work created by these emerging printmakers is process-oriented,
fluid and emergent. They are a hybrid of a past and current existence, neither
belonging to the struggle protest of the past nor the freedom of the future. Their
collectivity informs elements of support, community, ideas and technique sharing.
Research of these collectives has influenced my studio practice.
My practice-led research experiments with the medium of cement in printmaking as
an ever-present element in urban landscapes. Through my work I engage with the
intersection of plants and people within liminal spaces of the city. I am interested in
how city dwellers are informed by, and in turn inform, the urban landscape. The...