Political imaginings in the visual art of South African Indians

Abstract

During times of pain, trauma and disempowerment, the creative field of fine art affords an opportunity for communication and self-empowerment. In the 1980s, which was one of the most turbulent decades in South Africa’s political history, art students from the University of Durban-Westville used their creativity to engage with these struggles. The artworks presented here are a small sample extracted from a broader corpus of work, approximating 1 000 pieces, which have been identified over a research period of four years and which have yet to be located within a more inclusive space in the art history of our country. This article attempts to engage with this marginalisation in our art history and intends to bring into the dialogue those South African artists who have been consigned to invisibility. This dialogue and narrative are vital nationally as South Africa embarks on the process of regeneration and affirms both national and cultural pride in the South African histories and heritage. Further, at a time when the South African Indian community has just celebrated their 150th year in this country, the space has arrived through the post-colonial discourse to write back to the centre those who have been consigned to the peripheries of our society.

In tye wanneer pyn, trauma en ontmagtiging ervaar word, bied die skeppende gebied van die beeldende kunste geleentheid vir kommunikasie en selfbemagtiging. In die 1980s, wat een van die onstuimigste dekades in Suid-Afrika se politieke geskiedenis was, het studente van die Universiteit van Durban-Westville hulle kreatiwiteit gebruik om tot hierdie stryd toe te tree. Die kunswerke wat hier verteenwoordig is, is ‘n klein keur uit ’n groter werkskorpus van ongeveer 1 000 kunswerke wat in die loop van vier jaar se navorsing geïdentifiseer is en waaraan daar nog ’n meer inklusiewe plek in ons land se kunsgeskiedenis toegeken moet word. Hierdie artikel het dit ten doel om met hierdie marginalisering in die geskiedenis van ons kuns in gesprek te tree en die Suid-Afrikaanse kunstenaars wat tot onsigbaarheid gedoem is, te betrek. Hierdie gesprekvoering en narratief is van nasionale belang noudat Suid-Afrika met die proses van hernuwing begin het, en bevestig sowel die nasionale as die kulturele trots op die Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis en erfenis. Buitendien, op ’n tydstip dat die Suid-Afrikaanse Indiërgemeenskap pas hulle 150ste jaar in hierdie land gevier het, is die ruimte danksy die postkoloniale diskoers geskep om diegene wat na die randgebied van ons samelewing uitgedryf is, weer terug te bring na die middelpunt daarvan.