Abstract
This research explores the continuous impact that apartheid has on family dynamics, identity, and displacement, particularly within the context of my own Black South African family. Through observations of personal archives, I explore the silenced stories of our history that often have an impact on family dynamics. This study allows for further understanding of the political affiliation of my grandfather, a uMkhonto we Sizwe veteran and the family fractures that can be traced to my grandfather’s exile. This study focuses on the legacy of apartheid and how it continues to influence the aspects of Black families, particularly in a loss of identity and the re-enactmentment of trauma.
By using an autoethnographic method, the study aims to reveal the patterns of trauma, loss and pain in the broader context of South Africa, in which my family’s personal lived experiences are a microcosm. Through the interrogation of oral histories and an investigation into my family's photographic archives, I uncover how the negative narratives fostered by trauma continue to shape our history. The autoethnographic lens is key to this study as it facilitates a dismantling of negative narratives and unresolved trauma. This method starts the conversations on healing and finding agency to retell our story.
This study utilises the postmemory and post-apartheid framework, as to navigate and reveal the transferal of intergenerational trauma through personal storytelling, patterns of behaviour, and the memories photo archives in post-apartheid. The Black feminist framework is largely employed to situate the study as I analyse the work of contemporary Black South African artists, Senzeni Marasela and Lebogang Kganye. I draw similarities between their methods of artmaking and investigation into their families’ past and memories, which ultimately inform my own exploration of my personal storytelling through artmaking.