Art and the End of Apartheid

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Art and the End of Apartheid

John Peffer

Table of Contents

$29.95 paper
ISBN: 978-0-8166-5002-6

$90.00 cloth
ISBN: 978-0-8166-5001-9

The first book to fully explore cosmopolitan modern art by black South Africans under apartheid

Black South African artists have typically had their work labeled “African art” or “township art,” qualifiers that, when contrasted with simply “modernist art,” have been used to marginalize their work both in South Africa and internationally.

In Art and the End of Apartheid,John Peffer considers in depth the work of black South African artists in the decades leading up to the end of apartheid in 1994. Peffer examines painting and graphic art, photography, avant-garde and performance art, and popular and protest art through artist collectives (such as the Thupelo Art Project and the Medu Art Ensemble) and individuals such as Durant Sihlali and Santu Mofokeng. He shows how South African artists imagined what “postapartheid” could mean during the time of apartheid, even as they struggled with immediate issues of censorship, militancy, street violence and torture, and, more broadly, the problem of self-representation and the social role of art.

Peffer describes how, in defiance of the racial polarization that surrounded them, South African artists created “grey areas,” nonracialized spaces and hybrid art forms in which both black and white South Africans collaborated. Beyond the boundaries of apartheid, these artists forged connections at home and abroad that modeled a future, more democratic society.

“This book is a most welcome addition to the existing literature on the history of art in South Africa.” —H-Net Reviews

“What Peffer labels ‘grey areas,’ metaphorically alluding to solidarity among black and white artists, is teased out in well-organized, interconnected chapters that touch on standard art historical areas such as public arts, censorship, abstraction, artist collectives, and the economic limitations.” —Choice

John Peffer is editor of Critical Interventions: Journal of African Art History and Visual Culture, which began publication in 2007. He teaches at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

352 pages | 83 b&w photos, 8 color plates | 7 x 10 | 2009

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction: Art, History, and Apartheid

1. Grey Areas and the Space of Modern Black Art

2. Becoming Animal: The Tortured Body during Apartheid

3. Culture and Resistance: Activist Art and the Rhetoric of Commitment

4. Here Comes Mello-Yello: Image, Violence, and Play after Soweto

5. Abstraction and Community: Liberating Art during the States of Emergency

6. These Guys Are Heavy: Alternative Forms of Commitment

7. Resurfacing: The Art of Durant Sihlali

8. Censorship and Iconoclasm: Overturning Apartheid’s Monuments

9. Shadows: A Short History of Photography in South Africa

Notes
Index

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Art and the End of Apartheid John Peffer Table of Contents		$29.95 paper ISBN: 978-0-8166-5002-6 $90.00 cloth ISBN: 978-0-8166-5001-9
The first book to fully explore cosmopolitan modern art by black South Africans under apartheid Black South African artists have typically had their work labeled “African art” or “township art,” qualifiers that, when contrasted with simply “modernist art,” have been used to marginalize their work both in South Africa and internationally. In Art and the End of Apartheid,John Peffer considers in depth the work of black South African artists in the decades leading up to the end of apartheid in 1994. Peffer examines painting and graphic art, photography, avant-garde and performance art, and popular and protest art through artist collectives (such as the Thupelo Art Project and the Medu Art Ensemble) and individuals such as Durant Sihlali and Santu Mofokeng. He shows how South African artists imagined what “postapartheid” could mean during the time of apartheid, even as they struggled with immediate issues of censorship, militancy, street violence and torture, and, more broadly, the problem of self-representation and the social role of art. Peffer describes how, in defiance of the racial polarization that surrounded them, South African artists created “grey areas,” nonracialized spaces and hybrid art forms in which both black and white South Africans collaborated. Beyond the boundaries of apartheid, these artists forged connections at home and abroad that modeled a future, more democratic society. “This book is a most welcome addition to the existing literature on the history of art in South Africa.” —H-Net Reviews “What Peffer labels ‘grey areas,’ metaphorically alluding to solidarity among black and white artists, is teased out in well-organized, interconnected chapters that touch on standard art historical areas such as public arts, censorship, abstraction, artist collectives, and the economic limitations.” —Choice John Peffer is editor of Critical Interventions: Journal of African Art History and Visual Culture, which began publication in 2007. He teaches at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. 352 pages \| 83 b&w photos, 8 color plates \| 7 x 10 \| 2009 Table of Contents Preface Introduction: Art, History, and Apartheid 1. Grey Areas and the Space of Modern Black Art 2. Becoming Animal: The Tortured Body during Apartheid 3. Culture and Resistance: Activist Art and the Rhetoric of Commitment 4. Here Comes Mello-Yello: Image, Violence, and Play after Soweto 5. Abstraction and Community: Liberating Art during the States of Emergency 6. These Guys Are Heavy: Alternative Forms of Commitment 7. Resurfacing: The Art of Durant Sihlali 8. Censorship and Iconoclasm: Overturning Apartheid’s Monuments 9. Shadows: A Short History of Photography in South Africa Notes Index