Nelson Makamo’s representations of African vernacular rooted images of black children

Abstract

My paper offers an interpretative approach using visual analysis. In doing so, the paper contributes a discourse on artworks by the South African artist, Nelson Makamo, and focuses on the images drawn from black children. And ‘the predominant theme, black child, is examined as African vernacular rooted images. He uses the motif of the African child to reflect on different’lived experiences of black children in South Africa. Thus, his paintings and drawings were selected and ‘analysed for their formal content and contexts, and the discussion is framed by the insight gained through interviews with the artist’. While several ideas are reflected in each of the works analysed, the works highlight the contemporary social issue of homelessness experienced by rural-urban migrants, the early training of a black child in carrying out responsibility, the socio-ethical humanism in African communities, especially in the upbringing of black African child, and the effects of technology on regard for African cultural values in a young African child who adopts headphone in the postcolonial era. Through these, it is argued that Makamo’s representations of ‘black African children engage a discourse that contributes to global contemporaneity’.