1 Self published by Pierre le Riche , , 2018

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©Images and Text: Pierre le Riche

Artwork: Pierre le Riche Paper: Munken Pure 90gsm Type: Baskerville Printing: Dream Press Cover: Screenprinted at Black River Studio Design, layout & bookbinding: Candice Ježek at Dream Press

2 3 Conducting research on whiteness in post- South Africa feels like asking for trouble. In 2011, Professor of Philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand, Samantha Vice, published a paper entitled “How do I live in this strange place?” (2011a), which sent a cold ripple of shock through the academic community with her critical, yet sincere, reflections on what whiteness entails in the post-apartheid context. Excerpts, many quoted out of context, were published in the media and were met with outrage from many South Africans willing to engage in the debate1. It was apparent that prompting South Africans, whether they were white or not, to think about whiteness caused unbearable discomfort. Now, almost six years after Vice’s article was published, events surrounding student protests2 at South African universities brought to light that the consequences of thinking about whiteness in a public intellectual space seem to bare the same discomfort as experienced by Vice, and often results in passive and aggressive violence directed at those involved in the debate.

Against the backdrop of these developments, my motivation for conducting this research was born from the discomfort of thinking about my own identity in terms of my race. I identify as a white gay male who grew up in a moderately conservative household in the predominantly Afrikaans Northern Suburbs of Cape Town. My Afrikaner heritage, which is strongly influenced by the Calvinist faith and for that reason has outdated views on issues such as masculinity and homosexuality, dictated how I saw myself and related to the world: my sexuality deviated from preconceived ideals of Afrikaner masculinity, and that was a big problem in my community. Up until my final undergraduate year I focused intensely on this issue and even applied to various university graduate programmes to further my research in said field. I was, admittedly, distracted from and, to a certain extent, naïve about my whiteness until the aforementioned unsettlement at the forced me to consider it more intently. My findings were unsettling, and left me with an overwhelming insecurity about my place in South Africa. This project is thus the result of my perceived uncertain white identity, and how my insecurities as a white person living in post-apartheid South Africa has manifested in an engulfing body of artworks at a time of political revolution.

1 Vice published a response to the public outcry in an article published on the Mail and Guardian website entitled Why my opinions on whiteness touched a nerve (2011b).

2 I am particularly referring to the ‘Rhodes must fall’ and ‘Fees must fall’ movements which caused major upheaval at various South African Universities in 2015 and 2016 (Lyster, 2016)

4 5 This artist book and the writing it contains was originally presented in partial fulfilment to the special requirements for the Master of Fine Arts degree as specified by the University of Cape Town. The content of this document, which is intentionally concise, offers contextualisation and supplementation to my visual research. It is intended to be read in conjunction with the body of artworks presented along with it.

The goal of this document is to locate my practice within a broader field of artistic research, which is achieved through the consideration of relevant theorists and artists working within the same scope as I do. The visual material I reference in this document are catalogued using a captioning system that states the name of the artist or photographer, the title of the work, medium and date of completion, whilst throughout the rest of the document the Harvard (author - date) system is employed as a means of reference.

I find it crucial to mention, along with the notion of the conciseness of this document, that this study does operate within certain limitations where contemporary discourse surrounding ‘white identity politics’ is concerned; it does not reference class, sexuality nor gender. It must also be stressed that during the course of this document I do not attempt to speak for all white South Africans, and that this body of work is based on my personal experiences of being a white Afrikaans male living in post-apartheid South Africa.

6 7 “To my compatriots, I have no hesitation in saying that each one of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of and the mimosa trees of the bushveld – a at peace with itself and the world.” (quoted from Mandela, 1994)

8 9 South Africans owe much of In an attempt to locate my artistic practice within congruent relation to their heritage and identity these issues, I will briefly explore white South African identity in terms of to the migratory patterns of how it has manifested in South African history. I do this with the assistance their ancestors, since natives, of the theorist Tabe Ebot (2008) who, in research on the post-apartheid colonisers, slaves, refugees and immigrants all make up the racial profiles of school syllabi, argues that the Groot Trek was mythologized by the Nationalist this diverse nation. Now, more than twenty years after the implementation government to create an archetype citizen for white South Africans to of democracy, the mature post-apartheid South Africa is a place that aspire to, and for non-white citizens to be measured against (page 12). I supposedly celebrates this diversity, proclaiming to be as inclusive and non- critically consider this mythology with the assistance of the paper Myths discriminatory as possible, yet what constitutes South African heritage and Monuments Museums (1992) by Leslie Witz6 and Ciraj Rassool, which further identity remains a tricky terrain to navigate as the effects of the country’s problematizes the remembrance and subsequent monumentalization of history of institutionalised racism is still the order of the day (Meskell, 2012: the Voortrekker hero in terms of the Voortrekker Monument and the festivals 40). As an individual who identifies as an Afrikaner3, my place as a white that accompanied the inauguration of the monument (page 14). With this South African feels uncertain. As the decolonisation movement gathers in mind, the idea of Afrikaner identity politics is further problematized momentum in South Africa, it is becoming particularly clear that there is through the consideration thereof in terms of Charles Taylor’s hypothesis little tolerance left for whites that grew up with the privilege afforded to of the social imaginary (page 18), as explicated by Griffiths and Prozesky them by apartheid. My own uncertainty is not imagined, and the fact is (2010), and Crain Soudien (2012) (page 19). that a large portion of white South Africans are feeling doubtful about their position in the country of their birth. This has manifested in a constant flow As a means to place this information in context of my own body of artworks of white emigration from South Africa since the abolishment of apartheid I start directing the information towards how one can understand it in terms as bureaucratic structure starting in 1990, and recently statistics have been of materiality; through the consideration of white materiality as discussed on the rise again (Wakefield, 2015). Now, as I see more and more of my by Max Andrucki (2010) (page 22), and material heritage by acclaimed friends and family pack their lives in shipping containers, I start to question archaeologist and heritage specialist, Rodney Harrison (2013) (page 23). In my belonging, and can not help but wonder if my Afrikaner heritage fits the following section this research is posed along with a practical discussion into the greater body of South African heritage. I ponder issues of nativity of historic South African furniture pieces, which are continually used as a and how long it would take for an alien people to be considered indigenous4 visual metaphor in my work. This is done by considering the research of if they have been dwelling the lands of the same country for centuries. Can Hugo Geldenhuys (1986) (page 27), who conducted a doctorate study on the , and white5 South Africans in general, in any possible way shake Cape colonial furniture maker, of Nico Botes (2007), from the University of off their European connection and truly be considered South African? Or Pretoria, and of Mathilda Burden (2013) (page 28), from the University of perhaps in order for a white South African to feel assured in the place of Stellenbosch. This survey is followed by an explication of my artworks and their birth, to truly dwell authentically, a middle ground pertaining to what how they are in dialogue with works by Louise Bourgeois (page 32 and 36), is coined indigeneity needs to be established. Ai Weiwei (page 43), Doris Salcedo (page 42) and other relevant artists.

3 “Afrikaners are white South Africans who speak Afrikaans, a creole Dutch language. They are descended from Dutch, German, French and other European settlers who came to South Africa from the mid- seventeenth century on, many in search of religious or political freedom.” (quoted from Griffiths & Prozesky, 2010: 25)

4 “‘Indigenous’ is a term applied to people – and by the people to themselves – who are engaged in an often desperate struggle for political rights, for land, for a place and space within a modern nation’s economy and society.” (quoted from Patte, 2006: 17)

5 Even though I will focus on the Afrikaner during most of my discussions, it is important to note, as Griffiths and Prozesky argue, that under apartheid Afrikaners and English speaking white South Africans formed 6 Leslie Witz is the author of the acclaimed Apartheid’s Festival (2003). a “de-facto community” defined purely by their whiteness (Griffiths & Prozesky, 2010: 33).

10 11 In order to consider the concept of mother tongue” (Afrikaans9), and was made compulsory in primary and contemporary whiteness in South Africa and how it fits in with the greater junior secondary schools, with government inspectors frequently visiting scope of what is deemed South African heritage, it is important to take note schools to make sure that the prescribed syllabus was followed and taught of how it was constructed through history. This construction is interesting as accurately. it was a forced process, often making use of exaggeration and the creation of mythologies to make whites’, particularly Afrikaners’, place in history The promotion of Voortrekker history did not end at primary and secondary seem more prolific. There are other noteworthy historic events7 that may education, and the use of the concept of the Voortrekkers as the archetypal be discussed in this regard, but in light of my argument, and the artworks white Afrikaans South African was put forward in the form of countless I have made based in relation to this argument, the migration of the Groot traditional10 Voortrekker activities in which children and adults alike were Trek () of the Voortrekkers (Afrikaner pioneers) is the most relevant. strongly encouraged to take part in. These included folk dancing (volkspele11) This migration, which is perhaps the most well-known and celebrated in and music (boeremusiek12, literally farmers’ music), which were carried forward white South African history, occurred between 1835 and 1846, when several through generations by means of the Voortrekkers youth organisation. This large groups of Afrikaners migrated into the interior of South Africa in an organisation, which is still in existence, is particularly important to consider, attempt to break free from British colonial rule and oppression. The plight as its directives were a clear indication of earlier attempts to enforce white of this group, who, according to the constructed mythology, possessed equal superiority and to use the story of the Voortrekkers to enforce this upon amounts of audacity, self-preservation and self-determination, is described unassuming South Africans. This was first noticeable in 1936, when the club as “the single most important element in the folk memory of Afrikaner was established in revolt against the British Scouts, who had an open policy Nationalism” (quoted from South African History Online, 2017). The Groot towards racial integration (Parsons, 2005: 97). The Voortrekkers organisation Trek is a pivotal element to understanding the psychological state of those thus established itself and operated as an elitist, pro-white group who who identify as white Afrikaners in terms of concepts of the social imaginary, shamelessly promoted institutionalised racism, and therefore had the power dwelling and indigeneity, as I will explore in the following section. to impose these political views on the layman and impressionable young minds. The story of the Voortrekkers and their Groot Trek, as I remember from my school history lessons, is one of hardship and courage. It is filled with the A significant moment when theVoortrekker archetypal idea was implemented drama of a struggle for freedom, determination and a strong-willed fight with particular vigour was during the centenary celebrations, also known for self-preservation in the once untamed and harsh hinterland of South as the Eeufees, of the Groot Trek in 1938 when the cornerstone was laid for Africa. Those timeworn school history lessons failed to teach my classmates the new Voortrekker monument in Pretoria. During this ceremony more than and me the other end of the story: the battles that came with expansionism 2000 Voortrekker members performed volkspele (figure 2) and boeremusiek13, and violent land claims, and also the problematic nature of blindly fighting and commemorative migrations were held. These migrations, also fondly for freedom. In a study on the history syllabus taught in South African secondary schools from 1994 to 20068, researcher Tabe Ebot critiques the 9 There is still an ongoing debate regarding the teaching of university classes in only Afrikaans at some education system for enforcing a very pro-white syllabus with a very obvious South African universities. political agenda, with the history of the Groot Trek being the most significant 10 The construction of these activities is interesting as they are in fact borrowed from other groups. See topic covered in the syllabus (2008: xxi). Ebot continues to state that the following notes. importance of history as subject was considered to be central “next to the 11 Volkspele is based on Swedish folk dancing (Afrikaanse Volksang- en Volkspele Beweging, n.d.).

12 Boeremusiek, with the concertina being the key instrument, has a creole history (much like the birth of Afrikaans) and originated as an amalgamation of folk music from various different cultures prevalent in South 7 Such as the Jan van Riebeeck festivals, as discussed by Rassool and Witz in Myths Monuments Museums Africa during colonial times (Froneman, 2012: 49). (1992). 13 It was not until the Eeufees celebrations that boeremusiek received its name. Previously it was merely 8 Coincidentally, I received my school education from 1994 to 2005. referred to as vastrapmusiek, or the more derogatory hottentotsmusiek (Froneman, 2012: 50).

12 13 referred to as Eeufees gedenktrek (centenary festival commemorative trek), all started at the base of the Jan van Riebeeck monument in Cape Town and followed, as closely as possible, the original routes14 Voortrekkers established a century earlier. Through all these celebrations it was clear that the concept of the Voortrekker evoked a strong feeling of pride in those who identified as Afrikaner. When the newly built Voortrekker monument was inaugurated, twelve years after the cornerstone was laid and one year after the political victory of the Nationalist party, in 1949, more than 100 000 white South Africans participated in the celebrations (figure 3). Rassool and Witz states that the Eeufees celebrations could be seen as the first true mobilisation of Afrikaans speaking whites as members of the new Afrikaner nation, and describes it as follows:

“An anti-imperial view of the past and an assertion of the self-proclaimed destiny of the volk had underpinned the march to power of . The 1938 Groot Trek Eeufees had served to mobilise Afrikaans speaking whites as members of the Afrikaner nation, with its exclusive sacred traditions and history.” (quoted from Rassool & Witz15, 1992: 3)

In his study on white Afrikaner identity in post-apartheid South Africa, Who’s got the map? The negotiation of Afrikaner identities in post-apartheid South Africa, Mads Vestergaard conveys that the Afrikaner nation, who never really possessed strength in numbers, constructed their national identity through the creation of imaginary symbols (2001: 23). The Voortrekker monument is one of these symbols that propelled the self- proclaimed importance of the Afrikaner, and other symbols include the old Afrikaans national anthem, the renaming of streets, dams, airports and other infrastructure after Afrikaner politicians and trek heroes, as well as the Afrikaner national flag. Vestergaard elaborates further, referring to discourse of sociology of religion, that states that a totem of a group is sacred as it

14 During the Eeufees Gedenktrek citizens of various towns across South Africa poured concrete slabs for ox wagons to pass through in order to imprint and preserve the tracks (figures 4 & 5).

15 This paper, presented by Ciraj Rassool (director of the University of the Western Cape’s African Programme in Museum and Heritage studies) and Leslie Wits (professor at the University of the Western Cape), formed part of a workshop conference conducted at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1992, which explored the events surrounding the tercentenary celebrations of the founding of South Africa in 1952.

14 15 encapsulates the collective essence of what the group stands for: “The worship of the totem is a celebration of the group itself ” and “It is by the act of worship that we create or ‘imagine’…the very object of our worship” (quoted from Vestergaard, 2001: 23). One can argue that in the case of the Afrikaner, the collection of symbols they created and implemented became their objects of worship and can be seen as a contribution to a psychological sense of self-importance acclaimed to white South Africans in general. Rassool and Witz contemplates this mythologized self-importance by considering the opening paragraph of a history text book written by ’s first Professor of History, S.F.N. Gie, which was published at the time of the Eeufees celebrations:

“We remember the great and well-known persons, heroes of word and deed; but while we give them the praise they deserve, we also need to remember the unnamed thousands, the volk at large, our direct ancestors who, throughout generations, executed their simple duties day after day. Their work, their honouring the white man, their courage and patience and pursuit of liberty — those in particular were what gave us a South Africa in which we can be content and free and … prosperous.” (quote translated from Rassool & Witz, 1992: 5)

I would like to argue that this self-manifested sense of self-importance created by the Nationalists of the superiority of the Afrikaner people propelled, and in a way established the “truth”/gospel that was apartheid. This fractured reality, which dabbles in both fantasy and reality, is termed by philosopher Charles Taylor as the ‘social imaginary’. In the following section I will take closer look at what the social imaginary entails, and how it applies to post-apartheid white South Africans and how it affects how they dwell in the country of their birth.

16 17 Charles Taylor’s Modern social imaginaries been the central goal of my own father, who had been cabinet considers the idea of the social imaginary, minister during the 1950s and 60s. It was the ideal to which I stating that it is: myself had clung until I finally concluded, after a long process of deep introspection, that, if pursued, it would bring disaster “the ways people imagine their social existence, how they fit to all the peoples of our country— including my own” (Griffiths together with others, how things go on between them and their & Prozesky, 2010: 32) fellows, the expectations that are normally met, and the deeper normative notions and images that underlie these expectations.” Indeed, De Klerk did show symptoms of suffering from a social imaginary: (Taylor, 2004: 23) an elaborate, almost romantic self-mythologized belief of the Voortrekker story as passed down from mother to child. In his mind the Voortrekkers It can be argued that human beings make use of this concept in the way were heroes who overcame the hardships of oppression, their fight for they define their existence and interrelate with one another; simply put, self-preservation being their ultimate goal (Griffiths & Prozesky, 2010: 32). it is how they make sense of their lives in order to live and move forward. He, like many of his colleagues and fellow Afrikaners were blinded by The social imaginary, especially in terms of modernity16 in a South African this imaginary, mainly because it proved that Afrikaners did have a place context, is a particularly powerful, yet unstable hypothesis. Canceran states in South Africa, but also, as Griffiths and Prozesky states, because we as in Social imaginary in social change that a social world can be created by a humans have a compulsive need for our lives to make sense according to mere “imaginative burst of power”, and as it is collectively carried forward what we believe is coherent in terms of the realities that inform our lives by society its power grows (Canceran, 2009: 26). This was particularly the (2010: 31). Soudien17 is specifically concerned and sensitive to the fact that case with Afrikaners. Griffiths and Prozesky indicates, through the study of modern social imaginaries challenge existing hierarchies, and in the sense former president F.W. de Klerk’s autobiography, that he too suffered from of modernity our perception of realities in terms of a Western framework the effects of the social imaginary: is causing considerable miscorrelations (Soudien, 2012: 20). I firmly believe that this is the situation with modern day white South Africans. Griffiths and “My people . . . erected [a] monument . . . to the Afrikaner Prozesky puts this into perspective by stating that “South Africa’s apartheid Voortrekkers—pioneers in Afrikaans—who had opened up the imaginary was profoundly at odds with the emancipatory, egalitarian mores interior of South Africa with their flint-lock muskets and trains that began to emerge ever more strongly in the West after the Second World of lumbering ox wagons. The marble bas-reliefs that adorned its War.” In an etic18 sense, apartheid was anachronistic in comparison to other interior walls bore silent testimony to the tribulations that they countries, but the fractured reality, or imaginary, that it created was easy had suffered in their quest to establish their own free republics to succumb to and live with by white South Africans (Griffiths & Prozesky, in the interior of the sub-continent. The people depicted in 2010: 30). the murals were the heroes of whose deeds I learned at my mother’s knee. The dream that they had dreamt of being a If one should further consider Canceran’s statement that the social imaginary free and separate people, with their own right to national self- can be created and projected by an “imaginative burst of power”, it can also determination in their own national state in southern Africa, be argued that the imaginary of was strong enough to had been the dream that had motivated the ancestors who survive well after the apartheid era, but now, as this imaginary is dissolving, stared sternly at me from our old family photographs. It had so are some white South Africans’ sense of place in their home country.

17 In a chapter of Crain Soudien’s (ex Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town) The 16 The social imaginary in terms of modernity questions whether modernity in itself should be modern seduction of race he considers the social imaginary in terms of race, exploring how both inform each other understood as a single phenomenon, or as multiple “modernities”, given the fact that multiple non-Western when people attempt to understand each other in relation to one another (Soudien 2012: 19). civilizations have evolved outside of the Western framework (Reeves, 2013: 353). What makes the social imaginary complex in terms of South African modernity is that it functions in a plural society where Western and non- 18 In this case “etic” refers to the structure of apartheid without considering the context it operated in Western frameworks attempt to function in the same space. (“Etic”, 2017).

18 19 This idea of place is a concept that can be enriched by considering Martin created and sustained by the apartheid government created an artificial Heidegger’s concept of dwelling, a hypothesis that develops arguments sense of dwelling for the white South Africans that worked against the useful for thinking about the social imaginary and also indigeneity in a initial productivity the shared beliefs offered, as it moved into the diabolical more philosophical19 sense. Heidegger is thus useful to this project as an system (apartheid). What is left is a group of people who inherited material intellectual figure despite his varying context and distance across space and privilege, but are left with psychological displacement. time. In Building Dwelling Thinking, Heidegger explores the idea of roaming the land with the constructed “dwelling” as the ultimate result or goal of “living authentically” (Heidegger, 1971: I). He explains that the process of dwelling goes beyond living or even being born in one’s homeland, but it is rather a carefully constructed and evolved relationship between caring and loving the land. To dwell authentically, one has to live authentically, and to do so Heidegger sets certain criteria, the fourfold as he calls it, that comprises the sky, earth, mortality and divinity. Although these ideas might seem more spiritual rather than academic, Griffiths and Prozesky deems them relevant, attributing them to what Heidegger calls homeliness, or being truly fulfilled in the place you call home. Heidegger states that this quest for homeliness is the plight of dwelling, a “call” or “summons” one has to answer:

“But how else can mortals answer this summons than by trying on their part, on their own, to bring dwelling to the fullness of its nature? This they accomplish when they build out of dwelling, and think for the sake of dwelling.” (quoted from Heidegger, 1971: 35)

At this point I wish to consider how the concepts of the social imaginary and dwelling interrelate in terms of the Voortrekkers and certain contemporary white South Africans. In my formulation of how settler history brushes up against the present, I offer the following reading: the Voortrekkers were made up of several generations of migrants and refugees who only knew the Cape, let alone the , as home. When they chose to break free from their British oppressors, they made a conscious choice to preserve the heritage they created in this space. If anything, the Voortrekkers made the choice to trek because they were certain that their place was in Southern Africa despite their initial move from the Cape. If we had to consider their situation in terms of Heidegger’s fourfold, they did dwell authentically in the sense that they constructed an intimate relationship with the land they roamed. In contrast to this one can argue that the social imaginary

19 I have chosen to include a brief discussion of Heidegger’s philosophies on dwelling in order to enrich the content of the social imaginary and how it affects thefeeling of belonging.

20 21 In the previous section I whiteness he coins a “passport of privilege”, thus assigning privilege as a have argued that many white material attribute of the white body, an aspect we can successfully associate South Africans may have white South Africans with (2010: 360-361). experienced the effects of the social imaginary the apartheid government imposed onto them, leading them to experience a psychological displacement I find it interesting that white privilege extends far enough for the white of sorts in the post-apartheid period. During the following section I will body itself to become an object of material privilege, or a “passport of briefly discuss the results of what I term the dissolving social imaginary and privilege” as Andrucki puts it. At this point I consider it important to note how heritage has problematized this. how this material aspect of white privilege can be considered in terms of heritage, and how the inherent materiality of whiteness and heritage further In The visa whiteness machine: transnational motility in post-apartheid South Africa, intertwine and inform each other. In light of these theories I will move on author Max Andrucki gathered statistics of white South African emigration to discussing how this extends into my own research and practical body of with a particular focus on South Africans who moved to the United Kingdom work after delineating some important thoughts relating to heritage. (2010: 359). He reports that between 1995 and 2005 the white South African population shrank by more than sixteen percent, with a large portion of this In Rodney Harrison’s Heritage: critical approaches (2013: 14), he describes the group of emigrants now residing in the UK and other countries such as concept of heritage as constantly misconstrued. He states that, since the late Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. Andrucki gathered twentieth century heritage boom, the classification of what is considered his evidence by surveying online South African expatriate forums and by heritage has become “conveniently ambiguous”; the application of the conducting interviews with emigrants to determine their reasons for leaving term covering architecture, cooking, music, ethnicity, religion as well as the country they once called home, and most reasons for moving included more cultural associations. He continues asserting that heritage is, simply stories of crime, violence, corruption, negative views on the country’s put, a “set of attitudes or relationships with the past”, which is formed by political situation or the dwindling economy. These motivations for leaving human and non-human counterparts, which can then be applied to objects, the country, in conjunction with the contested sense of dwelling as discussed places or practices (2013: 14). What is particularly important to note is that previously, has caused a percentage of white South Africans who rely on the heritage is produced in the present and it is the intention of the application material privilege afforded to them by apartheid, to actually pack up their thereof on objects, places or practices to be able to distinguish between the lives and leave. historically significant and the quotidian.

Contemporary discourse in whiteness indicates that it affords many different Applying this criteria to South African heritage, particularly in a post- types of privilege, most of which I will not be discussing in this paper. What apartheid context, becomes challenging. When Nelson Mandela replaced I will briefly consider is an aspect of privilege I find particularly relevant the KwaZulu-Natal provincial King Shaka public holiday with a new to my project; a theory presented by Andrucki, who challenges notions of national Heritage Day in 1996, he said: “When our first democratically- how whiteness is perceived in the humanities (Andrucki, 2010: 359). He elected government decided to make Heritage Day one of our national states that whiteness is based on how it interacts with the world and how days, we did so because we knew that our rich and varied cultural heritage the world understands it. It functions with various sets of power relations has a profound power to help build our new nation“ (South African intact and this, in effect, maintains its hegemony (Andrucki, 2010: 359). History Online, 2016). Although a “profound” and prolific statement, it Andrucki is however not satisfied with the idea that whiteness is purely places a great amount of pressure on what we understand about South hegemonic, and argues that whiteness should be seen as “an embodied and African heritage. In Lynn Meskell’s The Nature of Heritage: the new South Africa, material accomplishment” as a by-product of former settler societies (2010: she elaborates, stating that immediate attempts to be too future forward, 360). He states that we can assess this material accomplishment in terms of such as the implementation of the annual celebration of diverse heritage how easily white bodies can migrate between continents, a characteristic of to somehow forgive and forget the country’s troubled past, becomes

22 23 problematic since certain inadequacies in history tend to become suppressed and are left unresolved (Meskell, 2012:204). I believe that this sentiment can be compared to that of the social imaginary as discussed earlier: Afrikaner heritage was constructed during a “burst of imaginative power” when the Nationalists needed it to mobilise support for their apartheid agenda. The “Indeed, our lovely furniture asks nothing better than to stand against construction of the Nationalist version of Afrikaner heritage, based on the a clean white-washed wall, squarely planted on the wide yellowwood imaginary plight of self-preservation and determination of the Voortrekkers, flooring-boards or the polished surface of the large red-brown Batavian was problematic since it did not adequately consider the past, yet it resulted tiles.” – A quote from in an almost irrevocable, fractured reality for contemporary whites trying to well-known South locate themselves within South African heritage. African business man and art collector, As I draw closer to the discussion of the practical application of all of William Fehr (Burden, the above information on my body of artworks, I would like to suggest a possible way of thinking about how all the aspects of South African heritage 2013: 2) interconnect. My research is, I admit, centred along my own experiences as a white South African in the midst of a crisis of dwelling and that might seem one-sided, but I do believe that a reconsideration of heritage in terms of its materiality can provide us with a more philosophical way of considering the past in relation to the future. To elaborate, I would like to draw on Harrison’s discussion of heritage in terms of materiality. He states that human history is narrated by a series of relationships between human and non-human heritage that is ultimately mixed and shared (Harrison, 2013: 36). For this reason it can be argued that the “ontological indivisibility” between human and non-human agents can possibly assist in recreating the past in the present to better the future. I would like to draw on this to suggest that artworks, objects and other elements of material heritage can offer paths of flight that are not insignificant when a reconsideration of heritage is implemented to move forward productively in a social sense.

24 25 My interest in When artisans are considered in the context of the early colony, a particular heritage objects, particular historic South African furniture pieces, was problem arises: in few to no cases were there any documentation or record the strongest influence in terms of the how this body of work materialised kept on the objects they produced. In his unpublished PhD thesis, historian visually, and the role of these historic objects is of vital importance when Hugo Geldenhuys did an extensive study on the furniture makers prevalent one reads my artworks. My research journey started in 2015, when I was in the Cape during colonial times and although he managed to compile given the opportunity to conduct field work at the Ditsong Cultural History an extensive list of the craftsmen who were working at the time, they still Museum in Pretoria with head curator Annemarie Carelson. At the museum were not formally assigned to any particular furniture pieces (Geldenhuys, I documented parts of their extensive collection of over 1200 chairs, and 1986). I find this disheartening, as I deem these pieces most certainly to also had the opportunity to learn more about the rest of their collection be considered as works of applied art in their own right, and should be which included vaults filled with tables, settees, armoires and other historic associated with their creators as historic pieces of art and material heritage. South African furniture pieces. For me this museum research established Furthermore, if these pieces were autographed by their creators it would a passionate fascination for these objects as it made me critically aware certainly have been easier to assess, ‘read’ and understand them better, of their inherent complexity and contested history. During the following which in turn, would have provided more information on the historic setting part of this document I will discuss certain complexities surrounding these they were created in. This problem of the absent maker is an issue that objects in relation to research by local experts on the matter, after which I kept recurring in my survey of literature on the subject, but it was Botes will explicate how I further apply this knowledge within my own body of who expressed his frustration with the situation clearly, stating that it is artworks. imperative that a reconsideration of material heritage should be prioritised in the post-apartheid spirit (2007: 117). I find this sentiment particularly In Nico Botes’s essay Towards an understanding of the vernacular: nineteenth century relevant in light of this project as I argued previously that a more thoughtful Boer-made chairs in the collection of the National Cultural History Museum, Pretoria, rereading of South African material heritage can be beneficial in order to he elaborates on the interpretation of furniture pieces as objects of material consider the future more critically. heritage, indicating that they can be seen as “objects of historical texts” in the sense that they reveal “layers of history and meaning within specific contexts” (Botes, 2007). Botes’s essay goes on to elaborate on how the study of the development of South African furniture pieces can provide us with a visual timeline of sorts. This timeline can be compiled through Table 1: Style periods in Europe and the (translated from Burden, 2013: 4). the identification of construction methods, materials, design choices and surface patina prevalent in these objects of material heritage. Combined, these elements result in a vernacular of furniture, a type of aesthetic Style-historical Period Western Europe Cape Colony language that can be used to further analyse and understand history better (Botes, 2007: 116). This is particularly relevant in South Africa, and the Grecian 700 - 200 BC Roman 400 BC - 500 earlier evolution of the country since colonial settlement in 1652 is evident Early Christian 0 - 500 in the development of South African furniture. Factors that were unique Byzantine 300 - 1400 to the development of furniture at the colony were mostly confined to the Romanesque 800 - 1200 availability of materials, tools and skilled craftsmen20. This was further Gothic 1100 - 1450 influenced through the introduction of periodic stylistic features from Renaissance-Classicism 1400 - 1650 1650 - 1700 Europe (which was quite delayed in colonial times, see table 1) and how Baroque 1650 - 1710 1690 - 1770 Rococo 1710 - 1760 1750 - 1800 they were interpreted by local craftsmen. Neoclassical 1760 - 1820 1790 - 1870 20 I find the use of the masculine term “craftsman” instead of “craftsperson” appropriate in terms of Regency 1810 - 1830 (England only) 1820 - 1900 this study as artisan guilds were male dominated.

26 27 In an attempt to get around the problem of the absent craftsman, these in most of pioneer furniture pieces (Carelson, personal communication artisans are rather assigned to groups or categories according to the skill- 2015, July 9). She motivated that this can be seen as the maker’s yearning for level. Firstly, the skilled craftsman, who was a professional most likely home, an idea that can be connected with the exotic decorations found in trained in a European guild environment and produced furniture pieces pieces produced by slaves. I would like to further extend this notion to argue for patricians, and then the pioneer or country maker, who was unskilled that these elements attribute to the amalgamative cultural traces prevalent in and mostly produced furniture pieces in a rural setting to fulfil a functional these objects of material heritage. In the following section of this document need. Slave makers can be attributed as both skilled and pioneer makers as I will explore how I use and manipulate these ideas that challenge taxonomic there are speculations that they were trained at both their country of origin logic in my various artworks in order to further promote the reconsideration as well as at the colony (Burden, 2013: 9). of material culture in the post-apartheid context.

My interest in terms of this project lies predominantly with the furniture pieces that pioneer and slave makers produced. I chose to particularly focus on chairs since they are made for the specific function of accommodating the body and for the fact that they can further embody the materiality of the body in the sense that the object itself can suggest absence, presence and solitude (Chin, 2010). I believe these qualities are relevant to my work since I question the mobility of bodies in both their physical presence as well as their absence, which can be related to previous arguments made in context to white emigration and dwelling.

Furniture pieces, in this case chairs, which can particularly be related to these two groups of makers are spindle chairs (tolletjiestoele) and also pioneer pieces. Spindle chairs, or more commonly known as slave chairs, were created using a wood lathe and locally available timbers that were not easily manipulated for other applications, such as thin branches of fruit wood (Fransen, 1987: 259). They are mostly associated with slaves because they were most commonly found in workplaces of slaves such as kitchens, and to some extent it can be argued that certain decorative elements prevalent in some examples of these pieces are more exotic than the decorative European styles that were prevalent at the Cape at the time. Spindle chairs, it can also be argued, belong to the greater body of historic furniture pieces made by pioneers. This collection is particularly interesting in the South African context as the common association is to connect its makers to a farmstead setting, but many of these pieces were actually produced by Voortrekker pioneers, and are termed Boer-made chairs (Botes, 2007: 117). As per Botes and Burden, the reading of Boer-made chairs is challenging as they were normally constructed for a functional application with no stylistic elements in mind. During my research with Carelson she contradicted this, and indicated that in most cases there is indeed evidence of stylistic choices

28 29 With my career history in the design industry In an attempt to soften the tension between the rigidity of the scaffold- it has always been a natural and logical step to consider the built environment like structures, and to continue the aesthetic element the porcelain spindles as an important source of visual reference. As stated in previous parts of attribute to the work, I have incorporated the use of a range of porcelain slave this document, my research indicates that through the reconsideration bell replicas in the installation and throughout the rest of the body of work. of material heritage one could establish more considerate ways of future The decision to incorporate the bells was however not purely an aesthetic dwelling. As a means to further this idea I chose to implement the concept choice, but rather to reference the slave-makers of the original chairs the of scaffolding21, a common element found in the construction industry, in a works are based on, and the contested time they lived in as discussed in the work I created entitled Modular Heritage. I have particularly chosen to use the previous section of this document. The range of bells, which were replicated practical workings of scaffolding as it could suggest, in the form of many through the study of slave bells at various Cape Dutch homesteads24, were conjoined components that consists of both structural and reinterpreted cast from hand-made slip-casting plaster moulds and are fitted with wooden objects of material heritage, an interconnected network of sorts; a network “tongues”. With these tongues in place, the bells, in all their fragility, would that could very well be representative of a new, more constructive way of be able to ring, but will eventually be smashed by the force of the timber perceiving cultural interconnectedness22. striking the porcelain. The silent presence of I pursued this idea by considering how scaffolding could be integrated the bells in the Modular with historic furniture pieces and found, by means of creating wooden Heritage installation, and H-frames that connect to each other in a way similar to scaffolding throughout the rest of the H-frames, that it merges with tolletjie chairs in an aesthetically pleasing way. body of work, becomes In conjunction to this network of H-frames I created, I designed and made a signifier, referencing a specific attachments that draw on the historic seating I surveyed during my fragile history, but also a museum research. A very important aspect of what these interconnecting reinterpretation thereof. H-frames and attachments lend to this installation is that of modularity23, an attribute that essentially makes the work adaptable to almost any space With all of the above- it is exhibited in. During the production I have attempted to stay true to mentioned information the basic design of the historic seats, which were simplistic and boxy in in mind, it can be design, but in most cases I altered the shapes to fit the scaffold installation deduced the combined as well as reinterpreted them in more drastic measures. Creating the seating elements of modularity attachments for the installation went from practical problem solving to a and reinterpreted more deliberate derailment of well-known objects, ultimately forcing a material heritage in reconsideration of these historic objects in relation to their new framework. this work allow me Another challenge which arose during the production of the work was to explore issues of the overall stability of the structure, which I managed to solve by creating cultural adaptation25, hollow porcelain “spindles”, reminiscent of turned wooden spindles, for the indigeneity and historic H-frames and attachments to slot in to. influence, which in turn connect with my 21 Scaffolding is “a temporary structure for holding workers and materials during the erection, repair, or decoration of a building.” (quoted from “Scaffolding”, 2017) 24 Figure 8 was photographed at Rustenberg estate in Stellenbosch during one of my excursions to study slave bells at various historic Cape Dutch homesteads. 22 During a previous study I argued that the attitude of spectators at a sporting match can, through the support of the same team, be representative of a type of cultural interconnectedness (Le Riche, 2013) 25 From an anthropological point of view, the evolution of man can be defined as an “interactive process between cultural and physical development”, where cultural development in itself can be classified as adaptive 23 Modularity, in terms of this body of work, suggests a composite system of interconnecting parts which biological evolution (Alland, 1966: 40). lends portability to a structure which would have, in a singular form, have been impractical to transport.

30 31 exploration of dwelling as a complex natural and cultural framework. For (Crone & Schaesberg, 1998: 13). The panels interconnect and through a me, this framework, as a composite entity of modular parts and creative type of zig-zag staggering they are kept upright, being able to open wider interpretations of material culture which can ideally morph and change or close in more tightly as if the installation were breathing. The panels shape, ultimately questions the inherent structure of heritage and if it is indeed form a roofless room,lair or cell as Bourgeois later deemed, that is accessible easily transplantable. I believe that my scaffolding installation can symbolise through two doors. “One is an entrance, and the other is an exit in order new ways to perceive, what Griffiths and Prozesky deems as, natural and to escape if cornered” (quoted from Crone & Schaesberg, 1998: 13). Apart cultural interconnectedness (2010: 30). In an attempt to further this dialogue from the structure itself the lair is furnished with one small and low chair, and I employ a mixture of alien (Oak, Jacaranda, Pine, Purple Heart), indigenous a series of black, rubber hanging sculptures that remind of limbs, ham, or (Yellowwood, Stinkwood, Kiaat) and chemically treated species of timber26 objects of a more phallic and sexual nature (Crone & Schaesberg, 1998: 13). in the work, which essentially draws attention back to the initial question I draw on this work specifically for its modularity, but also because, like my of whether the entities work, Bourgeois makes use of modularity to suggest, through metaphor and these timbers represent materiality, a framework of ideas and meaning. The work is introspective, can function in the same and yearns for the viewer to be introspective through the incorporation of an space. Furthermore, the empty seat. Furthermore, it is filled with contrasts evoked by the materiality use of porcelain, which of the objects and the structure: the rubber sculptures are disturbing, yet is generally considered soft, gleaming and comforting. The metal panels, although they seem that a particularly fragile they can open with ease telescopically, feel enclosing from the inside. The material, as a practical room feels like a familiar prison that, through its modularity, can change solution to stabilise as it moves through different gallery and museum spaces. It becomes an the entire structure extension of the psyche, but also of the ever-changing domestic space, and emphasises the inherent in effect, human matters (Lorz, 2015: 13). fragility of cultural systems and the network As a means to further my idea that my work could represent a framework the work represents. of elements of modular heritage, I draw on my previous discussions of emigration, and pose a uniquely designed shipping crate to house these An artwork which I draw elements I have crafted. The scaffold structure can easily shape-shift to many parallels with in occupy certain spaces, and with little to no effort it can be disassembled terms of my own work and packed for transportation or storage, essentially furthering dialogue is Louise Bourgeois’s regarding the ease of movement of the complex frameworks it represents, Articulated Lair (1986) whether in a literal or metaphorical sense. The production of Modular (figure 9), a work which Heritage, with its H-frames, attachments and unique box led me to further I had the opportunity to explore the idea of the shipping crate and its contents, a process which step inside of during a visit to the traveling retrospective of Bourgeois’s Cells directed me in creating unique pieces which did not necessarily fit onto the series at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. The work is made of scaffolding, but still furthers ideas about heritage and the mobility thereof. a series of metal panels that are kept in place by a three-piece hinge system In essence, the creation of this work served as a catalyst for the rest of this and is, according to Bourgeois, “completely flexible” - a modular system body of artworks, which I will continue to discuss in the following sections.

26 Consider the following: the Jacaranda tree is an alien species, yet it was almost deemed South Africa’s national tree (Comaroff & Comaroff, 2001: 645). Can one imagine Table Mountain without the Stone Pines at its feet, or Stellenbosch, Die Eikestad (The Oak City), without its iconic lanes of historic Oak trees? Surely these trees are now part of South African heritage, yet they are quintessentially alien.

32 33 In contrast to Modular Heritage, which exemplifies ease of mobility through modularity, I created the workRetreat/ Retract which is a more literal interpretation of the complexities surrounding the mobility of heritage. Physically the work depicts an elongated version of a traditional riempiesbankie (leather-thonged settee), which can be extended from and rolled up back into its own unique container. In appearance the work draws on sculptures such as Roll (2016) (figure 10) by Michael Beitz and Right of Return (By Themselves of Themselves) (2016) (figure 11) by Marc Andre Robinson and, as with these mentioned works, relies on the use of humour to evoke a reconsideration of the well-known seat. My intention with Retreat/Retract is to offer a witty reconsideration of the serious nature of emigration; what it truly entails to pack up one’s life into a shipping container. I attempt to communicate this not only through the use of playfully looping the highly traditional seat, but also by placing it in an odd- shaped container that is clumsy and difficult to transport. The dialogue of emigration is further enhanced through the use of chemically treated timber and raw hide, which references vaccinations and import/export restrictions for modern day international travel, and essentially questions if heritage is really convenient and ready for export.

34 35 As I move on with the discussion personal. My works, En(gulf) and The Solitaire Box function in the same way, of my artworks I return to the work of Louise Bourgeois to further explicate working with themes that are relevant to this project, but also involving my art-making process. In this case I draw on Bourgeois’s Cells, a body of myself as the artist on a more personal level. work well-known critic and curator Okwui Enwezor describes as “intensely emotional microcosms” (Lorz, 2015: 13). The Cells are a vast collection of stand alone pod-like artworks which are often constructed from found architectural elements such as doors, windows or trellis with their interiors being more representative of the mental state of the artists’ psyche: a simple chair in the middle of a small chamber constructed from doors, or more elaborate cells constructed from metal mesh filled with carved marble and large circular mirrors - works which encloses the viewer and forces introspection.

The work which I am most interested in, in terms of my own research, is Passage Dangereux (1997) (figure 12). Physically, the work is constructed from chain-link fence and beams, and is in the shape of a passage with various alcoves that lead from it, much like that of the nave and apse of a cathedral. The passage and alcoves are filled with objects both found and sculpted by the artist: many chairs and an electric chair, a black rubber form reminiscent of those found in Articulated Lair, mirrors, tapestries, a prosthesis, and other sculptural tableaux. This work, in all its elaborateness and complexity, would be difficult to discuss in its entirety in this paper and for this reason I will consider it only in the context of how it could be related to my own work. Although completely different in appearance, I detect many similarities between Articulated Lair and Passage Dangereux, not merely for Bourgeois’s relating the two works with the inclusion of the black rubber forms and deeming them both cells, but with her careful incorporation of architectural elements to activate the space the work is displayed in. The chain-linked fence walls immediately close off the space, but the elongated shape and transparency of it suggests movement, perhaps the passage of time (Lorz, 2015: 77). The objects inside, particularly the chairs, reference the absence of bodies (most probably in the case of Bourgeois the absence of her family). Bourgeois makes interesting use of scale when it comes to the chairs in order to reference authority: a child’s swing on ropes as an indication of emotional instability and innocence, a large armchair to symbolise the father figure and patriarchy, and also the electric chair to force the viewer consider the end of the journey down the “passage”: death (Lorz, 2015: 76). Although Bourgeois’s works touch on more universal themes such as the passage of life and ultimate death, her works are also deeply and painfully

36 37 The work En(gulf) further activates the idea that the shipping The inside of the The Solitaire Box is reminiscent crates in this body of work are individual boxes of information. The crate of that of a traditional Cape domestic interior (as per the quote by Fehr in this work, made from repurposed shipping crates, contains a chair which in the section on heritage making at the colony) and is equipped with a has been engulfed and entangled in pink yarn. The lurid tonal value of found Sandveld chair, an unbalanced Yellowwood and glass-marbles solitaire the yarn makes it difficult to focus and identify the forms inside the box, board-game and a tapestry of a burning historic Cape Dutch homestead. but on closer inspection it appears that the chair itself is being consumed The box is treated as a lair of sorts and is fitted with locks and a peep- by the fibrous material. It almost appears as if it is feeding off the timber hole. For me the work is one of the more autobiographical pieces in this and sprouting bulbous growths. The chair used in the work is a chair which body of work as the Sandveld27 chair is representative of my own immediate I used in my studio throughout the duration of this project; a seat which heritage and ancestry, whilst treating the box as a type of hideout continues my body became accustomed to as I conducted my research. The yarn is the idea of the anxiety I experience as a white person living in South Africa. repurposed from my undergraduate work Broederbond (2012) (figure 13), a I have installed a solitaire set in the box as a means for the occupant to work which explored my homosexual Afrikaner identity. Combined this pass the time, but the fact that it is unbalanced indicates that even the act object and the materials I used to alter it become metaphorically illustrative of waiting needs to be strategic: one wrong move and the board game’s of a shift in research and thinking, but also a shift in how I understand marbles will topple and cause noise. The game will thus be over with a my own identity. The work is purposely created to be perceived to be at possible worst-case scenario of being detected in the lair. The tapestry on odds with the rest of the body of works through the use colour, texture and organic form. Through the use of these elements a sense of discomfort is created, effectively illustrating the anxieties evoked by this research.

27 The Sandveld is an area in the Western Cape characterised by its sandy soil. It is where my mother grew up and where I remember, as a child, spending time on their family farm.

38 39 the wall of the crate is an embroidered version of an iconic photograph28 (figure 15) taken early in 2017 when a historic Cape Dutch homestead (De Villiers, 2017) in Paarl in the Western Cape was destroyed29 during a fire. I created the tapestry30 in reaction to a tapestry (figure 14) in the collection of the Voortrekker Monument museum in Pretoria which has always unsettled and interested me (see image). The tapestry’s composition is dictated by the shape of a central Cape Dutch gable and depicts a biblical doomsday on the left side of the panel and a scene of a prosperous settlement on the right. The scenes depicted in the tapestry are of course fictitious and, in terms of my research, references the social imaginary as discussed earlier in this paper.

28 Reproduced with kind permission of photographer Justin Sullivan.

29 The fires in the Cape in 2017 have been particularly controversial as authorities suspect arson in many cases. (Hayman & Saal 2017)

30 “The ‘Afrikaanse Taal-en Kultuurvereniging’ ATKV’s Woman and Mother Movement donated the historical tapestry to the Voortrekker Monument. Nine women worked for eight years to complete the 15 scenes from the Great Trek. The tapestry contains 3,3 million stitches. The artist W.H. Coetzer painted the scenes on the tapestry gauze for the women to embroider.” (Quoted from Voortrekker Monument, 2017.)

40 41 As a means to further situate my work within contemporary art With this discussion I now practice, I have identified Colombian artist Doris Salcedo’s Untitled (1995) turn back to the importance concrete furniture sculptures (figure 16) as a body of work that resonates of the reinterpretation of the with my own, particularly that of my sculpture Uproot. I have selected this traditional seat in my body of work, through the consideration of the work range of artworks as they embody a successful use of assemblage and a Grapes (2015) (figure 17) by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. Ai’s work in general strategic choice of materials to convey issues of deep cultural concern. critiques social, political and economical issues in his home country and with Violent crimes such as abduction and execution have been a common Grapes, a work which consists of 32 Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1912) stools, he occurrence in Colombia since the 1940s up to the point where it has become furthers his criticism of said structures in a striking, yet playful way. The stools part of the everyday. Salcedo literally employs the idea of the everyday used in this work are first and foremost objects of material heritage: three- by using salvaged furniture pieces as a starting point for her works, but legged chairs that “can be found in every countryside home, often (being) unexpectedly engulfs them in a mass of concrete, effectively rendering them passed down through the generations” (quoted from Branzcik, 2015). Ai’s impractical to a point of absurdity. Not only do the works become useless, repurposing of these stools, which were individually sourced and collected they also bear a massive weight. Salcedo elaborates on her specific choice from people residing in the countryside, is sensitive and unique: the artist, of materials as a way to transform common, everyday objects into pieces with the help of local craftspeople, took the stools apart and reconnected that resemble “fragility and formability, lightness and weight, immateriality them by “interweaving” the legs (Branzcik, 2015). The result is a strikingly and physicality” in order to address deeply rooted issues of violence and loss geometric, yet organic arrangement: as the triangular positioning of the (Bacal, 2015: 262). stools’ legs slotted into each other, the conglomerate of stools naturally took on a spherical shape with an internal “bowl” of seats. Ai states that Grapes is In my work Uproot I apply a similar a mass coming of awareness of sorts, and addresses rapid social, economical strategy as Salcedo in her Untitled and political change in modern day China (Branzcik, 2015). pieces by enveloping an Oak tolletjie chair in sawdust and leather I find Ai’sGrapes relevant in terms of my works, High chair (maquette) 1, High chair thongs. The work, which is squarely (maquette) 2 and Keep your seat. All three of these works, which are essentially moulded to resemble and suggest the a reconsideration of objects of material heritage, are commentary on social shape of an absent container, gives and political issues inherent in the act of migration. The two High chair the impression that the chair has works, which were both created through a slow and technically challenging started to deteriorate in its container. elongated spindle-turning process, resemble children’s chairs, but upon closer By entangling the work in cord, the inspection the proportions reveal that they were not made for children; the leather attains an anthropomorphic works are in fact maquettes scaled down 75% from their supposed original quality and insinuates that it is size. Visually they reference the structures of the scaffolding components consuming the chair and living in used in Modular Heritage, but since they are made from long solid parts of and feeding off its remains. The timber they resemble a different set of ideas: not those of modularity and work is direct commentary on issues interconnectedness. I created these works particularly in consideration of of indigeneity, which is referenced the materiality of whiteness as previously discussed in this document, where through the use of a Cape-style the tall, throne-like quality of the chairs insinuates that the hegemonies tolletjie chair which is made from of whiteness can still easily be transported cross-continentally. This idea is an alien timber that is seemingly furthered by the work Keep your seat, which consists of a large rectangular being “uprooted” whilst in storage crate which contains 6 yellowwood seats, but without the rest of the chair or freight. structures included in the box. This work gives the impression that with

42 43 only a part of the chair, the rest of it can easily be sourced or fabricated elsewhere. Once again this work raises issues of cultural adaptation, but also emigration and the mobility of bodies.

44 45 As a means of the psychological state of many others who identify as white South concluding this Africans through the consideration of the social imaginary. In an attempt document, I want to problematize the hypothesis further I considered the material attributes to address the of both whiteness and heritage. With these theories in mind I continued ongoing element of my exploration through a consideration of material heritage production conservation and during colonial times, offering the notion that objects of material heritage restoration in my artistic practice. I will do so through considering a work can actually depict a visual timeline of social and cultural development. I created in 2013 entitled Strata (Op hierdie Rots), in relation to my works This information then served as a backdrop for the consideration of my Ap(peal) 1, Ap(peal) 2, and Enshrining loss. own body of artworks: objects that bespeak solutions in their processes of manufacture that carefully and critically analyse historic events as a means Strata (Op hierdie Rots) (figure 18) was created during a time where I explored to consider and then engage future and past concerns by producing “forms the structures of hegemonic masculinity within Afrikaner culture, where the for a personal cultural interconnectedness” that is served by the agility that virile game of rugby can be motivated as second to Calvinism as religion, the idea of portable heritage offers. and can metaphorically be associated with an active promotion of patriarchy and heteronormativity. During the production of this work I created thinly- cast concrete rugby balls which were smashed and then further cast in layers of concrete. These fragments were subsequently painstakingly excavated and resulted in a work which is layered in materiality and artistic intention; the key conceptual elements in the work being the acts of preservation and conservation which occurred during the creation thereof. I further this notion in my works Ap(peal) 1, Ap(peal) 2, and Enshrining loss. The two Ap(peal) works are porcelain bells that cracked and warped during the bisque firing process and were essentially rendered useless. Instead of destroying them I preserved them by carefully closing up the cracks with cross-stitched Egyptian cotton thread, the same technique used to create the tapestry in The Solitaire Box. Although the shape of the bells was mostly saved, they will never be able to be used as intended, and are displayed in vitrines as objects of conceptual significance to this body of work. Enshrining loss employs the same idea: a layered container embedded with many versions of my failed attempts at woodturning. In effect, these three works, in relation to my discussion of Strata (Op hierdie Rots), can be argued as furthering the notion that a reconsideration of objects of material heritage can be seen as a continual attempt at corrective action.

Throughout this paper I have explored how the reconsideration of history in both its social, political and philosophical context can effectively be used in heritage production, which is a present and ongoing process. I have done so by identifying my own insecurities as a white person living in South Africa, which I placed in a more relatable context by considering

46 47 48 49 Modular Heritage

Repurposed plywood shipping crates Various timbers: indigenous, alien and chemically-treated Porcelain, leather.

2017

50 51 52 53 54 55 Retract/Retreat

Repurposed plywood shipping crates Chemically-treated South African pine Untreated leather.

2017

56 57 58 59 En(gulf)

Repurposed plywood shipping crates Repurposed knitted acrylic yarn And found chair.

2017

60 61 62 63 64 65 The Solitaire Box

Repurposed plywood shipping crates Found Sandveld chair Found solitaire set Egyptian cotton Various timbers.

2017

66 67 68 69 70 71 Uproot

Repurposed plywood shipping crates Untreated leather Oak.

2017

72 73 74 75 High Chair 1

Repurposed plywood shipping crates High Chair 2 Chemically-treated South African pine Untreated leather Table Mountain stone pine Batting. Untreated leather.

2017 2017

76 77 78 79 Keep Your Seat

Repurposed plywood shipping crates Found yellowwood and treated leather seats And high density foam.

2017

80 81 82 83 Ap(peal) 1 Ap(peal) 2 Bisque-fired porcelain Yellowwood Bisque-fired porcelain Egyptian cotton. Egyptian cotton.

2017 2017

84 85 86 87 Enshrining Loss

Repurposed plywood shipping crates High density foam Various broken timber spindles Found ceramic objects.

2017

88 89 90 91 92 93 Archive of loss (and found)

Giclée print on Epson hot pressed cotton rag paper

2018

94 95 Seat Archive 1 Seat Archive 2

Found leather (riempies) seat Found leather (riempies) seat

2018 2018

96 97 Seat Archive 3

Found cane seat

2018

98 99 Although mymy stubbornstubborn personalitypersonality normally dictates working inin solitude,solitude, thisthis projectproject wouldwould notnot havehave beenbeen possible without the invaluableinvaluable input,input, effortsefforts andand assistanceassistance ofof a a groupgroup ofof individuals:

Hannes Mouton, who hashas notnot onlyonly playedplayed thethe partpart ofof mymy partner, partner, but but also also patiently assisted me withwith proof-readingproof-reading andand editingediting mymy writing,writing, being being my my soundboard when I neededneeded toto hearhear mymy ideasideas repeatedrepeated backback toto me,me, as as well well as being the mostmost effectiveeffective andand capablecapable studiostudio assistantassistant anyany artistartist couldcould everever hope to have.

HeartfeltThank you thanks to Alex go to and Candice Zelda Ježek Hamilton, for her creativeSMAC input,Gallery design and andthe hand-rest of makingthe Woordfees of this book.Visual I Artscould team not havefor their hoped generous for a better assistance way to and preserve support and in containexhibiting my this works body and of research. work. To Philip Raath for not only assisting me in photographing my work, but for dealing with all the wood dust I created in ourHeartfelt studio. thanks As a print-makergo to Candice he Ježek has been for her particularly creative input, patient design with andme. hand- making of this book. I could not have hoped for a better way to preserve and Icontain am also my grateful works andto Delise research. Reich To forPhilip allowing Raath mefor notto constantly only assisting pick me her in brainphotographing regarding my ceramics, work, but Peter for Jenksdealing for with sharing all the his woodwealth dust of knowledgeI created in onour digital studio. fabrication, As a print-maker as well heas hasJill Joubertbeen particularly who always patient allowed with me me. to keep my chisels sharp. Thank you to Justin Sullivan who allowed me to interpret hisI am iconic also photographgrateful to intoDelise embroidery, Reich for andallowing also Annemarie me to constantly Carelson pick at theher Ditsongbrain regarding Museum ceramics, of Cultural Peter History Jenks forfor introducing sharing his mewealth to the of fascinating knowledge worldon digital of materialfabrication, heritage as well conservation. as Jill Joubert I wouldwho always also like allowed to acknowledge me to keep themy financialchisels sharp. assistance Thank ofyou the to UCTJustin postgraduate Sullivan who research allowed funding me to interpret and the Juleshis iconic Kramer photograph trust for ainto gracious embroidery, travel scholarshipand also Annemarie in 2015. Carelson at the Ditsong Museum of Cultural History for introducing me to the fascinating Specialworld of thanks material go heritageout to my conservation. supervisors, I Drwould Kurt also Campbell like to acknowledge and Associate the Professorfinancial Johannassistance van of the der Schijff,UCT postgraduate for their research contribution funding to and this the Julesproject; particularlyKramer trust for for initially a gracious swaying travel and scholarship constantly in redirecting2015. my research in the right direction. I am incredibly grateful for their influence and support. Special thanks go out to my supervisors, Dr Kurt Campbell and Associate LastlyProfessor I would Johann like to van thank der my Schijff, loving forfamily: their my parents contribution Wilene toand this Bennie project; leparticularly Riche, and for my initially brother, swaying Sean leand Riche. constantly Your supportredirecting in mymy careerresearch and in studiesthe right has direction. never wavered, I am incredibly and I will grateful always for be their in debt influence to all theand love support. you have given me. I dedicate this body of work to you. Lastly I would like to thank my loving family: my parents Wilene and Bennie le Riche, and my brother, Sean le Riche. Your support in my career and studies has never wavered, and I will always be in debt to all the love you have given me. I dedicate this body of work to you.

100 101 102 103 Afrikaanse Volksang- en Volkspele Beweging. n.d. Geskiedenis van die AVVB. Available at: http://volkspele.co.za/avvb/tuisblad/geskiedenis-van-die- avvb/ [Accessed April 12, 2017].

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