Masters Degrees (Visual Arts)
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- ItemContemplation, the long take, Sátántangó, Slow Cinema, South African rural idyll, ruin.(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-03 ) De la Rey, Adriaan; Stella, Viljoen; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is in conversation with the poetic documentary film, Rou/Raw, a 117-minute long film shot in Nthoroane/Greylingstad, a South African small town. In this project, the two components explore the aesthetic and ethical dimensions of Slow Cinema within the unique backdrop of Nthoroane/ Greylingstad. The emphasis is on the historical context and techniques of Slow Cinema, specifically its extremely long take and the film Sátántangó (1994) directed by Béla Tarr. It investigates the representation of the South African rural idyll on screen. This practice-based study delves into the potential of long takes to convey multiple temporalities, illuminating the intricate interplay of time, place and the state of ruin/s in the rural milieu. In this thesis, I suggest that in order to reveal how time flows over the hills of Nthoroane/Greylingstad,we need to slow down to the town’s pace and rhythms and wander in its milieu as this exposes moments of both wonder and slow violence. In the film the long take and its unfolding durée facilitates this oreorientation towards the South African rural landscape, revealing multiple temporalities within the same environment from seconds and minutes to the grandiose timescale of the cosmos, all linked to nature and its cyclical patterns and unfolding decay. It reflects on the similarities between Slow Cinema and documentary film techniques, and offers an account of Tarr’s journey from documentarian towards minimalist stylization, all the time keeping his own sense of “truth” and the “real” intact. This thesis includes a written long take, a combination of autoethnographic reflections, production diary entries and images, alongside a close analysis of a long take from Sátántangó. Through this, the thesis echoes the structure of Sátántangó while discussing the history of Slow Cinema and the capacity of the long take to provide moments for contemplation outside of time but inside the moment. Boredom, often experienced in the long take, becomes an ethical act for considering the nature of labour and leisure through the lens of slow violence in the ruin/s of the South African small town.
- ItemContemporary jewellery as Aamilatun Jameelah: a creative response to the complexities of a South African Islamic-feminist identity(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-03 ) Khan, Mariambibi; Van der Wal, Ernst Ruurd; Terreblanche, Carine; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: One word comes to mind to summarise my experiences and encounters as a Muslim woman: ‘paradox’. This term explains what I consider to be the misrepresentation of my identity as a Muslim woman, while it also refers to the fact that I am a contemporary jewellery artist in a community where many do not understand my practice. In my practical body of work and accompanying thesis, I explore my Islamic feminist identity. My study aims to use Islamic feminist theory to challenge certain Islamic perceptions and doctrine through critical engagement with gender inequality and the lingering influence of patriarchy on Islamic communities. I also see this study as a vehicle for the creative reinterpretation and affirmation of Islamic faith and spirituality. My contemporary jewellery practice which I describe as Aamilatun Jameelah (beautiful worker), is how I make sense of my thoughts and grapple with my understanding of self. I also use my practice to create visibility around the embodiment of traditions, specifically those about Muslim women. I am interested in understanding how tangible objects can foster creative dialogue between self and society in a context where the feeling of belonging and the impact of inherited Islamic traditions play a crucial role. I am specifically interested in the role that visual representation and artistic practice can play in facilitating diverse perspectives on Muslim women’s experiences and complex identities. In my artistic practice, I use textiles, cotton and metal to reference my South African Indian heritage and the generations of skills passed down in embroidery, sewing, crocheting and knitting. In response to my own experience, I turn to creative jewellery practice to situate my work within a South African Islamic feminist context and to use familiar mediums such as paper, porcelain and needlework to represent the complex life stories of Muslim women.
- ItemFrom patient to person: an investigation of Type 1 Diabetes through critical discourse analysis and creative practice(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 202406) Dreyer, Jordyn; Van der Wal, Ernst; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis investigates how I, as a creative practitioner and researcher, can challenge contemporary depictions of people living with Type 1 Diabetes as the unhealthy ‘other’. This thesis aims to examine the medical gaze in the context of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) and its experiential aspects, encompassing historical and contemporary perspectives. I employ critical discourse analysis to challenge the discourses that shape the societal perception of chronic illness (and Type 1 Diabetes specifically). I examine the social construction of illness, rooted in the sociology of illness, and the stigmatising meanings it engenders. Through an analysis of the ‘medical banal’, I investigate how people living with Type 1 Diabetes are further alienated by medical aesthetics, which they encounter in the form of medical packaging, blood sugar data displays, and waiting rooms. In an attempt to create a basis for my own creative practice, I analyse the works of artists addressing, adopting, subverting, and challenging the medical banal through their creative practices. This research-based investigation serves as the basis of my own creative practice in which I employ practice-based research methods to investigate alternatives to the bio-medical model and produce a practical body of ceramic work to challenge normative depictions of Type 1 Diabetes. By situating my creative practice in the contemporary context, and investigating new methods and mediums through which the medical banal can be questioned, I aim to contribute a critical investigation of how creative practice can serve as an effective means of challenging the clinical gaze as it pertains to the lived experience of Type 1 Diabetes.
- ItemMaking a monument out of a memory(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-03 ) Brincat, Aldo Mario Joseph; Moe, Ledelle; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research project explores my creative artistic practice as a process that is fluid and unfixed. In my work, I explore and respond to existing memorials/markers to create site responsive sculptures, drawings, performance, and photographs. A central concern in my work is the process of converting personal memory, loss, grief, shame, and the passing of time, into commemorative markers. In doing so I embrace the temporal performative qualities of returning to significant sites and past events, (real, forgotten, or imagined), and observing how these experiences affect my art practice. I refer to my primary authors Sabine Marschall, Annie Coombes, Derek Hook and Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, in discussing the public sphere of memorials, collective memory and trauma. These insights dovetail into my own insights on how different audiences’ views on commemorative markers change over time, and how the function of commemorative markers are affected by maintenance or neglect; deliberate denigration, and natural entropy. I refer to the work of artists Haroon Gunn-Salie and Sethembile Msezane, each of whom are known to produce work that functions both as performance, and as temporal public commemorative markers. Discussion of my work has been woven into the paper in the form of vignettes that reflect my experiences of certain places, insights, and processes that inform my creative practice. This body of work takes the form of this research article, an exhibition titled, At the Edge of the Vanishing, and the scripting and performance of an original, autobiographical theatre script titled, The Moon Looks Delicious From Here.
- ItemRelocalising community through design: considering the role of participatory mapping(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-03) Weetman, Tamara Anne; Perold-Bull, Karolien; Thumbiran, Kiveshan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic forced many communities to switch to online modes of communication. While the pandemic may be officially over, many working and studying environments have remained online and remote. Sherry Turkle and Ezio Manzini claim that virtual communities are unsustainable. This study explores how participatory design, specifically participatory mapping, can negotiate stronger connections, and more sustainable communities. This study explores how the characteristics of participatory design may contribute to placemaking and Manzini’s hybrid communities of place. Furthermore, this study attempts to establish what role participatory mapping may place on relocalising, hybridising and for stronger connections within existing communities. This research study is situated within the theoretical framework of Human-centred design, specifically, Design for Social Innovation. It does this by making use of a practice-led approach, with the methodology being rooted in participatory design. The study involved practical collaborative maps with students at The Open Window Institute in Pretoria, South Africa to assess the relationship that participatory mapping may have on community development. This involved a top-down method, however, there were a few activities that allowed students to direct from the bottom up. This study found that participatory design, specifically participatory mapping, may contribute to more sustainable communities by relocalising and connecting students, although only in niche cases that involved little online interaction and the extreme willingness of the participants. This research provides a foundational framework for making use of participatory mapping methods and leveraging collaboration to enhance community sustainability. It encourages higher education institutions to assess their community culture and could be an initial step to paving the way for more studies on the long-term impact of participatory mapping on community dynamics.