Resisting iconoclasm: contemporary responses to landscape in South African art

Abstract

This dissertation sets out to find the ways in which contemporary performance artists problematise and resist the iconoclasms found in modernist landscape paintings. The landscape paintings of Maggie Laubser, J.H. Pierneef and Hugo Naudé are discussed to show iconoclastic renditions of the South African landscape that aim to fit the ideologies of the Afrikaner people. These absences are shown to be resisted by contemporary artists though their deliberate presence within it. Berni Searle, Sethembile Msezane, Athi-Patra Ruga and Hannelie Coetzee use remembrances, calculated violence, the speaking of silenced voices and a disruption of power dynamics in their dissent. They practice an embodied phenomenological experience in the landscape to provide a counter-archive and resist the iconoclasms.

Inhloso yalolu shicilelo bekuwukuhlola izindlela izingcweti zamanje zibhekana ngayo nenkinga futhi zimelane nokuphikiswa okuqinile kwezinkolelo namasiko amukelwa ngokuvamile atholakala emidwebeni yokwakheka kwezwe yesimanjemanje. Imidwebo yezwe kaMaggie Laubser, J.H. U-Pierneef kanye no-Hugo Naudé kwaxoxiswana ngayo ukuze kuboniswe ukuphikiswa okuqinile kwezinkolelo namasiko amukelwa ngokuvamile kwezwe laseNingizimu Afrika okwakuhloselwe ukuhambisana nemibono yabantu abangamaBhunu. Ukungabikho kobandlululo phakathi kwalezi zindawo kuboniswe ukuthi izingcweti zesimanje ziyakuphikisa nakuba ukuba khona kwabo ngamabomu kuyo. U-Berni Searle, u-Sethembile Msezane, u-Athi-Patra Ruga no-Hannelie Coetzee basebenzisa izikhumbuzo, udlame olulinganiselwe, ukukhuluma amazwi athule kanye nokuphazamiseka kokuguquguquka kwamandla ekuphikisaneni kwabo. Bazijwayeza isipiliyoni esihlanganisiwe sesifundo semvelo namaqiniso sezinhlaka zokuhlangenwe nakho nokwazi ezweni ukuze banikeze ingobo yomlando ephikisayo futhi bamelane nokuphikiswa okuqinile kwezinkolelo namasiko amukelwa ngokuvamile kwemidwebo yokwakheka kwezwe yesimanjemanje.

Die doel van hierdie skripsie was om die maniere te ondersoek waarop hedendaagse vertoonkunstenaars die ikonoklasme wat in modernistiese landskapskilderkuns voorkom, problematiseer en teenstaan. Die landskapskilderkuns van Maggie Laubser, J.H. Pierneef en Hugo Naudé word bespreek om ikonoklastiese weergawes van die Suid-Afrikaanse landskap te toon, wat ten doel gehad het om in te pas by die ideologieë van die Afrikanervolk. Die bevooroordeelde ontbrekings in hierdie landskappe is uitgebeeld as teengestaan deur hedendaagse kunstenaars, deur hul doelbewuste teenwoordigheid daarin. Berni Searle, Sethembile Msezane, Athi-Patra Ruga en Hannelie Coetzee gebruik herinneringe, beredeneerde geweld, die praat van stilgemaakte stemme, en ’n verskeuring van magsdinamika in hul meningsverskille. Hulle beoefen ’n beliggaamde fenomenologiese ervaring in die landskap om ’n teenargief te bied en om die ikonoklasme van modernistiese landskapskilderkuns teen te staan.