Abstract:
This study investigates the multiple occurrence of violent sacrificial imagery
associated with animalistic and hunted bodies in the work of selected South African
female artists as an articulation of the society in which the art was created. The
theoretical framework of corporeal feminism is applied with reference to the
postulations of George Bataille (1962), René Girard (1972) as well as Deleuze and
Guattari (1984,1987), specifically with regard to the notion of becoming animal. This
study shows how such imagery is used to act as a catalyst for social change by
challenging Cartesian dualisms and forefronts certain issues applicable to women in
a society that is patriarchal and violent. A comparison is made with the art of a
selected group of Australian female artists who deal with similar themes and imagery
from more or less the same timeframe.
