Sculpture with Fanonian roots

...and at the theoretical foundations of the After Math© project.... Frantz Fanon...

At the core of After Math©, reside the theories and concepts of psychiatrist, philosopher and revolutionary Frantz Fanon (July 20, 1925- December 6, 1961). Fanon (1952) in his book titled Black skin White masks unpacks the devastating psychological consequences of colonialism and broader, racially oppressive political regimes. He coins a key concept referred to as the “colonisation of the mind” and identifies a resulting neuroses i.e. “black neuroses”.  “Colonisation of the mind” is the process whereby the colonised, due to broader political racial inequalities, is violently dispossessed of physical, material and cultural effects (Hook, 2004b: 88). The empowered coloniser and the disempowered colonised settles into what Fanon refers to as a “psycho-existential complex”. For the colonised the elimination and degradation of all forms of wealth, manifests psychologically as distaste, subordination and inferiority.

 As such, Fanon (1952) argues that the “black neuroses” is caused by an elimination of black/native culture and its replacement by the favoured Eurocentric culture as the only standard or model to aspire to. In other words, the self loathing aspect of the oppressed identity is forged by the coloniser. Fanon’s “black neuroses” refers to the black man’s[1] aspirations to be accepted by the coloniser; or even to become the coloniser.  Hook (2004a) extends this condition to the South African context in the following quote: “apartheid may be considered a particular extension or variation of the basic politics and conditions of colonialism”.

He refers to Bertoldi (1998) who claims that the basic constructs of colonialism i.e. politics and conditions, apply to apartheid. In a similar way, the South African “black neuroses” becomes a variant of the original Fanonian condition.

As previously introduced, the After Math© project is a sculpture, video work and performance based social intervention that explores temporality, wounding and consequence. The project aims to contribute to post-colonial and post-apartheid discourse by visually unravelling, unpacking and tackling the process of wounding, inscription on the physical and mental body; as well as its aftermath. It proposes to explore the after affects of racial discrimination within a South African context through the process of narrative re-enactments which manifests here as sculptural installations, video work and performance art. The project through its major outputs aims to critically engage the viewer around the subject of temporality, wounding and its consequences. 

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[1] Subsequent psychoanalysts, such as Loomba (2005), notes that Fanon’s writing is gendered. She insists that post-colonial critique is inclusive of both genders and all classes and sexes. 

The image of Fanon was taken from: http://repeatingislands.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/frantz_fanon_memoire_d_asile_0.jpg?w=500

Announcement: Exhibition 2012!!!

Launching the After Math© Project

A sculpture, video work and performance social intervention; exploring temporality, wounding and consequence

Below, find the concept and artist statement for my show titled After Math©, which will be hosted by the Apartheid Museum, Johannesburg in August 2012.

After Math is envisaged as a long term project, that comprises a range of outputs. The initiation phase of this project commenced in February 2012 and involves the production of the first body of work. Phase two involves introducing and displaying the work in the public sphere; beginning with an exhibition at the Apartheid Museum, Johannesburg in the second week of August 2012.

Through collaboration, the work benefits from a broad range of artistic disciplines and creative dialogues. Approximately eight works will manifest as sculpture installations (created by Farieda Nazier), two to three as video work (by Mocke J Van Veuren) and one as a performance piece (by Thami Hector Manekehla).

                                                                                                           

The intent behind this social art intervention is to invoke and evoke the process of catharsis by probing wounds of the past. Within the South African context as with many other analogous contexts, personal histories are undeniably engrained with discrimination and its consequent wounding. Borrowing from Fanon, Hook (2004a) refers to this wounding as the “neuroses of blackness”. He argues that instances of racism cannot be reduced to any one theory; and infers (by making reference to the Apartheid Archives Project)[1] that these narratives be approached via multiple conceptual lenses (Hook 2004b). In this regard, this intervention uses a range of explorative creative methodologies including stop motion animation, sculptural installations and performance art as mechanisms to generate dialogue around the discrimination-wounding-aftermath theme. Although foundational works manifests as sculptural installations, the process for arriving at the sculptural combines a personal socio-political account structured by mathematical processes and formulae. This methodology was selected to unpack causalities and its effects on the ethereal, through rational calculation and deliberation.

Consequently, the project comprises of two main streams; the first pertains to the creation of an art experience in line with the foundational underpinnings of Fanonian psychopolitics and secondly, capturing the viewers interaction, reaction, response and reception of the work in an analytical article.

The work
The intervention described below is informed by two key works of Frantz Fanon    i.e.   The Wretched of the Earth (1963) and Black skin White masks (1952). Through sculptural installations, video work and performance the work makes reference and attempts to visually unpack key concepts from these foundational works, within a contemporary post apartheid South African context.           

Sculptural Installations and Video work
The installations and video work which constitute After Math, illustrate the transformative processes incurred in terms of inscription of a personal history on a body or form. It is further, a gradational visual record demonstrating a progression of moments within a work’s lifecycle.  As time elapses, cause seemingly disappears and the wounded object replaces it; becoming the only evidence that the action ever occurred. Each installation and video work will comprise a number of unfinished abstract sculptures deliberately stopped at different stages of its production. These will act as physical records or evidence; a metaphor for the inscribed and wounded body.  Similarly the stop motion animated video work constitutes a number of still photographs depicting the bodies as they progress[1]. The relation between the work and its surrounding context i.e. space-light-sound environment is core to the manner in which they will be read, perceived and experienced. 

The performance
By means of play, movement and illusion, the art experience extends in meaning through performance; transgressing boundaries that exist between the three modalities: static installations, animated video work and living body. Within the exhibition space, the performing body explores and depicts the volatile actions of discrimination-wounding-aftermath sequences.

Field, S. 2007. The Politics of Disappointment: Trauma, ‘Healing’ and Regeneration in Post-apartheid South Africa. [O].

Available:    http://www.riehr.com.ar/archivos/Investigacion/PoliticsofDisappointment.pdf  

Accessed: 9 January 2012

Hook, D. 2004a. Fanon and the Psychoanalysis of Racism. [O].

Available: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/2567

Accessed: 20 February 2012

Hook, D. 2004b. Frantz Fanon, Steve Biko, ‘Psychopolitics’ and Critical Psychology. [O].  Available: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/961

Accessed: 20 February 2012

[1] The Apartheid Archive Project (AAP) is an international research initiative run by the University of Witwatersrand. It aims to archive and analyse a broad range of up to 5000 narrative accounts of racism in South Africa. AAP has launched three successful international conferences that critically interrogate the data they have collected, using number of theoretical lenses.

South African protest art! In this day and age?

An argument for authenticity

By Farieda Nazier

The following entry is based on my own views of a public talk I recently attended in Joburg. The main topic of this talk was socio political art and whether it was still feasible for South African artist to be using the socio political as reference or content for their work. I argue that South African artists should remain true to their inspiration i.e. Africa and their Africaness.

“Things got blurry politically after ninety four” was one of the opening comments at the public seminar. In other words ‘things’ or politics are no longer simple in the times of a democratic constitution, here in South Africa.  Does this mean that Apartheid, in retrospect, is seen as a very clear, black and white, simple politics? Could this be owing to its systematic nature which provided for ease of critique, commentary and protest, from the media and art world alike? 

One view is that many of us are over saturated with the idea of Apartheid and its consequences (by consequences I mean present day South Africa). Anything referencing the A-word seems to be considered smut. I often hear the call to “Stop blaming Apartheid” and the famous "Why are we living in the past?"

The fact is that we are all products of our past. We can all agree that the past is multifaceted and layered with input from our parents, siblings, the environment, society, media, politics, you name it. WE are shaped by all these, in various proportions. As South Africans, one such element which shaped us here and now in the present is our shared socio-political history. In this instance that specific history is called Apartheid. Does it make sense to try and forget it, if this is what constitutes US?

As artists we are inspired by our perceptions of our surroundings and experiences thereof & with. We filter these through our senses and deposit it in our minds, assimilate and process the data; and subsequently deliver visual and sound ‘reports’ which manifest as artworks. The reality is that the surroundings that we confront on a day to day basis are heavily laced with physical and intangible remnants of Apartheid. Poverty is one such remnant. If we are surrounded, affected or disturbed by it, why not depict it?  That said, does it make sense to search abroad, “in Europe and elsewhere” to make our art more valuable and saleable? (Let’s not start on the value of art works!) Would we not be dishonest with ourselves if we do so?

I would like to open up dialogue by arguing 1) for South African artist to remain true and authentic to their Africa and Africaness; and  2) against the appropriation of European and ‘other’ ideas.

Please feel free to comment or critique.

'looming 2'

The link below is for the animated videowork- 'looming 2'. The work was on exhibit with the sculpture 'looming' (posted on 9 January 2012- see below) in the public domain at the Artspace gallery in December 2011.

Sculpture:

Aluminium and Wax by Farieda Nazier

40x40x20

Animation and Sound by Mocke J V Veuren

2.03 minutes

Sounds were recorded in Johannesburg CBD, near the Carlton Centre.

The video work, ‘Looming 2’, accompanies the sculptural piece ‘Looming’ and is fundamentally linked in its conceptual premise. It is the product of a creative collaboration between sculptor Farieda Nazier and film maker Mocke J Van Veuren. The resultant video work provides the scope for broader, time-based reflection regarding the subject matter. The video work illustrates the notion of change, temporality and moments in the growth of the city. It exploits the inherent mechanisms of stop-motion animation, by stitching together the incremental moments of the sculpture’s production process in a sequential manner in order to construct a sense of duration and perpetual transformation, emphasizing the awkwardly shifting nature of the city.

Through the animation process, the usually rigid and passive metal moves in unexpected ways, expressing pliability and mobility without signs of external force. The transformation of the metal seems to be driven by a complex, conflictual agency, mirroring the internal struggles and desires that continually shape and reshape the city.

Feel free to comment!

Animation for 'in and around'

Below is our (Farieda and Mocke J V Veuren's) first stop motion animated video collaboration. This was the first experimental work related to the 2012 sculpture exhibition. The work is titled: 'in and around'. Duration: all of 5 seconds!

Exhibition 2012... 'in the beginning'

The short essay below titled 'of things unseen' marks the first concrete writings (in the beginning of 2011) of the concept for my current work. It evolved from my interest in the intricate relationship between psyche and soma, mind and body; and the effects or consequences of external influences. On the other hand, the manner and processes by which the artworks physically manifest, has been a 10 year long exploration and experiment of material and form.

From 'of things unseen'(2011) by Farieda Nazier

Writings on the ontological problem of mind-body dualism can be traced back as far as Plato, Aristotle and Aquinas. A major contribution in the study of ‘forms’ can be attributed to Descartes, a philosopher, physiologist, and mathematician; who in the 1600’s discovered the reflex theory. This discovery in combination with the aforementioned precursors, laid the foundations of Cartesian Dualism; which speaks of the mind as an independent entity to the physical body. Descartes argued that the brain was merely the organ of the mind and that these distinctive ‘materials’ interacted. However, even though these two entities were considered separate they related through causality - body affecting mind and the mind affecting body. Subsequently, many other philosophical psychological and oppositional theories developed. Psychoanalysis, for instance, predominantly referenced bodily experiences in a number of its concepts. In the contemporary novel ‘Something to tell you’, Hanif Kureishi quotes Proust within the context of a psychoanalysts’ reflection on his sessions: “Every hour of the past is inscribed on the human body, indeed makes up the body (Kureishi, 2008:147).

My current work evolved from my two previous exhibitions which explore a planar shape and its transformation into form (a body). The preliminary examples presented mainly ‘virgin’ or ‘unscathed’ forms and the endless physical possibilities of unaltered basic geometric shapes. Later on in the work, the shapes were symmetrically incised on major intersections and angles. By assigning symbolism to these geometric shapes, the process of manufacture evoked and gave rise to new metaphors and narratives. This methodology and approach provided the groundwork for my present concept.

Within the South African context as with many other analogous contexts, personal histories are undeniably engrained with discrimination and its consequent wounding in one form or another. The premise for the exhibition is rooted in the broader investigation of South Africa’s oppressive socio-political history and its traumatic effects on the lives of the individuals exposed to it. The project aims to contribute to this discourse by attempting catharsis: visually unravelling, unpacking and tackling the process of wounding and its aftermath.

“While there was therapeutic value in the cathartic release of emotions ...this notion of ‘catharsis’, crudely involves an oral purging of a sick body riddled with traumatic ‘secrets’, which can enable victims to ‘master the past’”.
(Field, 2007: 5)

Sculpture Exhibition...Coming soon!!!

I am currently working on a metal sculpture exhibition opening in August 2012, hosted by the Apartheid Museum.

Watch this space for updates on my progress and previews/snippets of the works.

'looming'

‘Looming’
Farieda Nazier
Aluminium and wax
40 x 40 x 20

This work, a wall sculpture, was made for a group show called 360 Degrees Johannesburg, that opened on December 3, 2011; at the Artspace gallery situated in Jan Smuts Street Johannesburg. The work is one of two pieces - the second titled 'looming 2' is a animated video work produced in collaboration with Mocke J Van Veuren. Both pieces are still on display at the gallery until 13 to 28 January 2012.


“From the top of Africa’s tallest building, the 50 floor Carlton centre in Johannesburg, the panoramic view is disquieting....Hidden by the variegated surface level mosaic of Johannesburg land use patterns, extremely deep rooted political and economic dynamics have spawned classic competitive struggles over urban space.”
(Smith, 2003)


David M. Smith, in his book on urbanization and social change in South Africa, discusses the ongoing classed and raced struggles for space in the inner city. ‘Looming’ is an aptly titled abstract sculpture that depicts an aerial view of the east end of Johannesburg’s inner city. The Carlton is a key focal point of the piece; forged from the eastern edge of a circular disk and representative of its exaggerated scale (in comparison to its surroundings). The use of an aluminium skeleton and a skin-like wax covering furthers its links to the relational notion of architecture as macrocosmic reflections of the human body.
Furthermore, the work is an investigation and visual illustration of the transformative process of manufacturing in terms of inscription of a personal history on a form. Each successive action that occurs in the manufacture process yields incremental changes on an internal and external level. Consequently, it acts as a gradational visual record; a timeline mapping a progression of moments within the object’s lifecycle.

'more'

about 'in and around'

Below, find a highly belated post providing a snippet preview of my latest portfolio. I am planning an exhibition - titled 'After Math' in late 2012 which will be based on this concept. The work will comprise of abstract sculpture, wearables and collaborative videowork.

I will update in the near furure.

Greetings

'in and around'

My current work evolved from my two previous exhibitions which explore shape and its transformation into form. The preliminary examples presented mainly ‘virgin’ or ‘unscathed’ forms and the endless physical possibilities of unaltered basic geometric shapes. Later on in the work, the shapes were symmetrically incised on major intersections and angles. By assigning symbolism to these geometric shapes, the process of manufacture evoked and gave rise to new metaphors and narratives. This methodology and approach provided the groundwork for my present concept.
I am currently undertaking a visual exploration of the ongoing mind-body ontological problem. It unpacks the idea of the inscription of a personal history on an entity. It does not endeavour to take a specific stance; it merely aims to evoke dialogue by highlighting causalities which are often hidden. The work is rooted in and references the mind-body duality by recording the ‘residue’ or result after physical impact.

'earrings'

'Earrings', is an example of a type of 'everyday design', which is referred to in the text below. The image depicts a display 'object' composed by a jewellery vendor, and constitutes earrings (for sale) in a range of materials which is suspended on a cloth covered surface to create an eye catching 3D object in a busy shopping mall. Only on closer scrutiny of the display 'object' does the viewer become aware of the components which make up this 'object'. Often, the final aesthetic of 'everyday design pieces' is based on available resources (material and tools), relevant artisanal and cognitive skills levels, inherent and socially defined ideas of beauty, practicality and the functionality of the product within the given context.

Reflections: Design (ing)

"Design as an everyday process: Who designs?
“Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones." Herbert Simon
Thus, design as a type of problem solving involves an array of cognitive skills which include both systematic and chaotic thinking. It can deal with very precise and rather vague ideas; and requires linear or rational and imaginative calculation. It has been acknowledged that the design process comprises definite steps, but these steps do not necessarily occur in any specific sequence (Lawson, 2006). At some point the process involves identifying a problem and coming up with as many possible solutions in order to build a bridge between the problem and the solution; thus developing a clearer understanding of both of these simultaneously. Briefly described it can be summarized as an adhoc “pose-search-generate-test” model.
However, many have suggested that there is a clearly defined linearity to the process. There are many recorded models which can be viewed as flexible and adaptable outlines created to assist problem solving efficiency. These were constructed from a compilation of data collected in studies of the problem solving process in a variety of fields.

About everyday design: Problem solving is an everyday activity because problems are an everyday occurrence. Design is an activity that occurs on a daily basis and within every facet of life. Everyone designs: from preschool kids, self starters to doctors, housewives, artist and teachers. Design is about ‘…finding the optimum solution in a particular set of circumstances’ (Hanks, Belliston and Edwards, 1978). It involves using what we know and our available resources to make a plan or come up with a relevant strategy or solution. An example of an everyday design activity would be human communication: stringing elements together, be it words, numbers, sounds or visuals, in order to deal with the problem of communicating our ideas, wants or needs.

about 'circle & triangle'

The piece 'Circle and triangle' is a metaphor for the tensions between the human spirit and intellect.In Sufi philosophy, circles often depict spirit or spirituality, while the triangle symbolizes consciousness or awareness.
The 'circle' in this instance, becomes manifest or visible only when the elongated diamond shape (created by two adjacent triangles joined at their base), is placed under tension by hammer forming it around a mold...

'circle & triangle'