Sites of Identity and Resistance: Urban Community Murals and Rural Wall Decoration in
South Africa
Author(s): Sabine Marschall
Source: African Arts, Vol. 35, No. 3 (Autumn, 2002), pp. 40-53+91-92
Published by: UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3337862
Accessed: 16/10/2009 16:33
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1. "Human Rights Wall,"Durban, South Africa.
Executed by CommunityMuralProjects in 1997.
Photo: Sabine Marschall, 1998.
Urban community murals have flourished since
the end of the apartheid era. Unlikethe traditional
ruralhomesteadmural,the urbanversiongener-
ally appears on public buildings and is executed
a group of artists who agree on a subject and
COPIRIGHTby
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n 1977 Thomas Matthews wrote:
> E painting in South Africais a
|"Mural
domestic art, identified with the
dwelling and made by the woman
who inhabitsit" (Matthews1977:28).
t: '~. 1~ * Since then a vibrantand very different tradition of mural painting has
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emerged: community mural art. Before
the 1990s this genre was practiced on a
: rather small scale, not least because of
political repression and a conservative,
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rigidly regulated bureaucracy.l Now,
however, it is flourishing in virtually all
of South Africa'surban centers.
While mural artists and coordinators
define the term "communitymural" in
variousways, they agreethat the practice
involves the local community to some
[v.degree and that the process of painting
;?~d~
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-
mural is as importantas its imagery.
of these factors distinguish it from
Both
:
commercial or merely decorative urban
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wall paintings.2Community murals are
often painted by groups that are highly
diverse in termsof race,gender,age, and
level of artisticcompetency.They can, by
and large,be seen as partof a largercommunity arts movement in South Africa,
which emerged in an attemptto provide
an alternativeart education program to
ordinary people and to reach out into
previously disadvantaged communities
(Peffer1995;van Robbroeck1991).
This topic has attracted surprisingly
little serious attentionby arthistoriansto
date, but it has been extensively covered
by journalistsand researchersfromother
disciplines. These writershave looked at
this urbanart phenomenon in relationto
the traditional homestead mural and
even the historical rock painting of the
San (Bushmen)of southernAfrican (e.g.,
Frescura1989; Loubser 1989, 1991; Felgine 1997;Deliry-Antheaume1997).While
some see these practicesas largely independent of one another,othershave been
tempted to emphasize tneir linKs, even
to the point of establishinga grand,more
or less continuous tradition of southern
African mural art, spanning thousands
of years.3
41
Thispage:
2. An unidentifiedNdebele woman paints the
wallof her home in Mpumalanga,
SouthAfrica.
Photo:PaulChanguion,1973.
The ruralhomesteadmuralis the workof a single woman,and as such it can be viewedas an
expressionof personalidentity.
Oppositepage:
Top:3. Sotho homestead in Free State, South
Africa.Artist'sname not recorded.Photo:Paul
Changuion,1976.
Bottom:4. An unidentified
Sothowomanrenews
the litemapatternson her walls in Free State,
SouthAfrica.Photo:PaulChanguion,1975.
Intriguing as it may be to view the
current community mural as an extension, albeit much transformed, of the
rural southern African tradition of wall
painting, it is important to acknowledge
the significant points of divergence.4 In
the rural practice (Fig. 2), a woman decorates the walls of her own homestead
(Matthews 1977), and it becomes an
extension of herself, a mark of her identity (Matthews 1979; Changuion 1989).5
By contrast, urban murals appear rarely
on private homes, but rather on public
buildings and highly visible enclosure
walls. They are usually collaborative
efforts dominated by male artists, particularly in black communities. Individual
self-expression is suppressed in favor of
a mutual style and a theme agreed upon
by the artists, usually in consultation
with community representatives, sometimes with a sponsor.
Likewise, the visual evidence reveals
few commonalities. Urban murals are almost always figurative, often aiming for
academic realism, while the rural paintings, especially those by the Sotho-Tswana
(Figs. 3, 4) and Ndebele (Figs. 5, 6), are
composed of predominantly flat, geometric designs. Even where figurative
elements appear in the homestead murals,
the artistic approach is very different.
For example, the Ndebele images of
objects such as airplanes, electric pylons,
lamp posts, telephones, and Western
homes are highly geometricized. Venda
(Figs. 7, 8) and Xhosa (Fig. 9) line drawings of organic motifs, mostly plants, are
also stylized.
There are certainly connections between the rural and the urban mural
based on the inherent properties of the
medium. Mural painting, constantly
exposed to the elements and dependent
on the structural quality of its wall support, is by nature ephemeral. In rural
areas it is traditionally a seasonal art
form, renewed annually or with every
new plastering of the house. Likewise,
urban murals, although often executed
with great effort and possibly financial
expense, are not anticipated to last for
more than a few years. Since a mural is
considered a temporal work, it is rarely
42
restored when damaged, but rather is
painted out or over.
Stylistic
Borrowing
Despite their broad differences, one stylistic connection between traditional African
and contemporary urban murals can be
observed. In an attempt to give urban
murals or the spaces they adorn an
"African" or "ethnic" character, indigenous mural traditions are sometimes appropriated in a literal or freely modified
form. The sources are both San rock paintings and African homestead decoration,
most notably Ndebele patterns (Figs. 10,
11). Such murals frequently address a
tourist audience, as seen at a Durban
beach pavilion, where Bushman figures,
painted in traditional rock-art style, are
depicted enjoying themselves sunbathing
and surfing (Fig. 12).
While Ndebele murals are usually
characterized by a design that covers the
entire surface, in most other rural walldecorating traditions (such as Xhosa,
Pedi,Hlubi,and Sotho-Tswana)the painting tends to be used as an accent, confined to specific parts of the homestead
(Fig.9). Ndebele doors and windows are
surrounded by a painted frame, and
the lower part of the dwelling is distinguished by a dado-like splash zone (Fig.
6). The concept of framing or bordering
wall openings or the entire mural is
frequentlyseen in urban mural art. Very
often it is Ndebele patterns, literally
copied or freely adapted, that are used
for such bordering.
What distinguishes Ndebele murals
fromothersouthernAfricanwall painting
practices,and what at least partially accountsfortheircommercialsuccess,is their
thematicflexibilityand adaptability.They
are a model of cross-culturalfertilization,
incorporatingfigurativeWesternimages
and, sometimes, popular icons that are
reinterpretedand translatedinto the typiafrlcanarts ? autumn
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cal stylized designs and patterns. Ndebele
designs are constantly adapted to a range
of different contexts. Nationally and internationally publicized and disseminated in
everything from tourist brochures to souvenir objects, the wall paintings have
become a visual cliche for South Africa. Of
the various homestead mural traditions
found in southern Africa, that of the
Ndebele is are exceptionally well suited for
appropriation for not only the designs'
easy recognizability but also their formal
and practical advantages. Ndebele women
consistently use commercial paints, whose
bright colors are more appropriateto usage
in a moder urban setting than are earth
colors. Furthermore,contrary to the equally attractive geometric Sotho-Tswana tradition of wall decoration (Fig. 3), which
needs fairly large areas to unfold, Ndebele
designs can easily be reduced to small sizes
and narrow strips, making them ideal for
borders and small areas (Fig. 10).
Figurative imagery in Ndebele murals
is highly stylized, with areas of color
delineated by heavy black outlines. Its extreme simplification and flatness facilitates the desired visual fusion with the
overall geometric design. Many urban
murals in South Africa display similar
characteristics: black outlines, generally
simplified flat shapes, and minimal overlapping. This is, of course, not necessarily
an indication of Ndebele influence, since
murals all over the world tend to manifest
this style-either because the artists are
not academically trained or because they
deliberately choose to increase the legibility and poster-like quality.
In South Africa, however, only the
more ambitious and technically sophisticated examples of mural art-such as the
gigantic AIDS-awareness mural in Port
44
Elizabeth-consciously employ flattened,
outlined images that convey their educational messages. The somewhat crude
style of many of the community murals
may be attributed to the participation of
children or largely untrained artists. Interviews with artists and mural coordinators6 furthermore suggest that this style
seems to carry connotations of primitivism and authenticity, as contrasted
with the three-dimensional modeling
perceived as representative of the Western academic tradition. It even appears
that urban artists on occasion deliberately
adopt the flat, outlined Ndebele style to
achieve a more "African" look. Some
mural groups reject the idea of providing
mural-painting workshops, in order to
avoid imposing Western standards.
Meaning and Identity
While urban community murals are usually site specific-their content as well as
their imagery obviously inspired by the
Thispage:
Top:5. Ndebele homestead, Middleburg area,
South Africa. Artist'sname not recorded. Photo:
Sabine Marschall, 1998.
Ndebele murals are typically covered with bold,
brightly colored geometric designs outlined in
black. Some motifsare stylized representationsof
modern or Western images, such as the Westernstyle buildings on the wall of the thatched-roof
house on the left.
Bottom:6. Ndebele homestead in Mpumalanga,
South Africa. Artist'sname not recorded. Photo:
Paul Changuion, 1973.
A stylized representation of a traditionaldwelling
appears at the lower left.
Opposite page:
Top: 7. Unidentified Venda woman next to her
decorated homestead in Zimbabwe. Photo: Paul
Changuion, 1982.
Bottom. 8. An unidentifiedVenda woman stands
in the doorway of her decorated house in Zimbabwe. Photo: Paul Changuion, 1982.
Although the plant imagery is recognizable, it is
nevertheless highly stylized. The mainlyabstract
designs of homestead murals contrast with the
figurative realism of urban community murals.
2002
alricanarts * autumn
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particular surrounding (e.g., Fig. 13)homestead murals with their colorful,
decorative patterns hardly appear to reflect their environment. But like most
forms of African visual art, they are highly conceptual and symbolic. Academic
research on this aspect of homestead wallpainting has been obstructed, as Annette
Loubser (1991) has pointed out, by the
reluctance of practitioners to discuss their
work freely with outsiders, especially
white researchers.
Only more recent studies have pushed
such aspects as function and symbolism
into the center of the debate (e.g., Changuion 1989; van Wyk 1993). What appears
to be strictly ornamental, most notably the
geometric designs of the Sotho-Tswana
(Figs. 3, 4) and the more organic but highly stylized motifs of the Xhosa (Fig. 9), is
often based on plant and floral forms, signaling a concern with agriculture, growth,
and fertility (Matthews 1977; Changuion
1989;van Wyk 1993).7Even more obviously inspired by their immediate surroundings are the architectural murals of the
Ndebele. Matthews (1977:28) cites an example that symbolizes an entire village,
depicting a landscape with houses, courtyards, steps, flowers, trees, and water. In
short, what looks like mere decoration
may be a landscape, a complex symbolic
representation of the environment and a
particular world order. The homestead
mural-like its urban counterpart-is thus
inspired by and closely identified with
its environment.
Recent research, most notably by Gary
van Wyk (1993), has exposed the close
symbolic association of the traditional
homestead mural with woman, the land,
fertility, and the cosmic order. In a society
that gives women little power in the larger
decision-making processes, this art form
often reflects the individual woman's view
of the world (Loubser 1991:54).
The paintings express not only the
artist's identity but also-and perhaps
46
more importantly-an ethnic group identity, particularly in situations where that
identity may be threatened. This idea is
most evident and best researched as it applies to the Ndebele,8 whose mural practice was strongly encouraged after their
defeat by the Boers in the 1880s and subsequent indenture to Boer farmers, which
resulted in their forced dispersal over a
large area. Further disruption and relocations occurred during the second half
of the twentieth century as a result of
apartheid policies and the creation of
the homeland KwaNdebele (CourtneyClarke 1986; Loubser 1991; Berman 1993;
Powell 1995; Schneider 1999). The murals
became a highly visible assertion of
Ndebele identity.9
In urban community murals, the issue
of identity plays a different but no less
important role. Franco Frescura (1989:47)
argues that in the anonymity of urban life,
one's individuality becomes obscured,
and people no longer feel the need to
display affiliation with an ethnic group
in mural paintings. Community murals
offer those living in urban areas, especially the townships, new models in
Thispage:
Left:9. Xhosahomesteadin EasternCape (the
formerTranskei),
SouthAfrica.Artist'sname not
recorded.Photo:PaulChanguion,1973.
Theplantimageryon the wallsof thisdwellingis
renderedin bas-reliefratherthanpaint.
underpass,Esplanade,Durban.
Right:10.Railway
MuralProjectsin 1996.
Executedby Community
Photo:SabineMarschall,
1998.
Some urbanmuralshave borrowedfromthe traditionof ruralwalldecoration.TheNdebelestyle
in particular
is easilyadaptedto smallor narrow
spaces.
Oppositepage:
11.Mural
forBartelArtsTrust(BAT)
Centre,Durban.
MuralProjectsin 1995.
Executedby Community
Photo:SabineMarschall,1998.
/7
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their search for identity, an identity that
is influenced by the forces of modern development and Westernization.
This process can take different forms.
Some murals focus on an identity based
on pride in manual labor, featuring heroicized, often monumental representations
of black workers, dressed in their typical
blue overalls or in mining gear (Fig. 14).
These images acknowledge the contribution of South Africa's skilled and unskilled
black labor force and celebrate their significance in construction and development,
both physically and in a metaphorical
sense-building a new nation (Figs. 1, 15).
Despite this heroicizing theme, it is
striking that these murals do not follow
the mold of murals in the international
social-realist style as found in Mexican
wall paintings. By comparison South African community murals lack a sense of
urgency, a propagandistic voice, and a
clear socialist ideological direction. Many
present a more bourgeois identity for the
country's black majority. Largely dressed
in Western clothes and sometimes with
fashionable hairstyles, the young and old,
men and women, are shown interacting
with one another in typical urban settings
(Figs. 16, 17). These city dwellers shop,
sell, play sports, or spend time in a park.'0
Yet other murals explore cultural
issues, traditional heritage, and aspects
of ethnic identity: images of rural life (Fig.
18), of people wearing beadwork attire,
and of traditional African craft and utili48
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tarian objects remind township residents
of their roots and cultural heritage. There
are also murals that nurture pride in
national identity. They invite people to
identify with the new South Africa, represented by popular and often cliched symbols such as the flag, portraits of the
president or respected political leaders,
peace symbols and, of course, the ubiquitous rainbow meant to signify the concept
of the new South Africa's multicultural
"rainbow nation" (see Marschall 2001).
Regardless of what these paintings
represent, they are almost always intended to beautify their site or the surrounding area. Murals can give character
to a place; they can fundamentally change
its identity. The Durban landmark now
known as the Human Rights Wall, for
example, depicts the clauses of the Bill of
Rights (Figs. 1, 15). Painted on the wall of
the former (now demolished) central
prison-symbol of the apartheid regime's
history of human-rights violations-it has
become a highly symbolic memorial of
the successful struggle to overcome that
legacy. By reinterpreting its negative associations, the mural has given this site a
new identity.
Like the traditional rural mural, usually painted in times of renewal and
associated with rites of transition and
change (Frescura 1989:4), urban community murals are used to uplift and renew
decaying or degraded areas of the city.
They can function as a catalyst for com-
munity development and change, creating a sense of belonging, an identity for
the local community.
Resistance
Community mural art is associated not
only with renewal of the physical urban
environment but also, more broadly, with
renewal in a social, economic and political
sense. Internationally, community mural
movements tended to emerge in periods
of political or socioeconomic upheaval;
they were closely associated with the
desire for change. In nearby Mozambique,
for example, mural art emerged in the
1970s-in the context of the revolutionary
struggle and then the transition to a postcolonial society (Sachs 1983).
Thispage:
12. Muralon a beach pavilion,Durban.Executed
of Leoni
by a muralgroupunderthe coordination
1999.
Hallin 1997.Photo:SabineMarschall,
AncientSan rockartis the basis forthiscontemof the pleasuresof the beach.
poraryportrayal
Opposite page:
13. Muralat Rahmanijeh
School,WoodPrimary
stock, Cape Town,South Africa.Executedby
ArtsProject(CAP)withteachersand
Community
pupilsin 1998. Photo:SabineMarschall,1999.
Urbanwall paintingsare usuallysite specific.
Theyaregenerallyexecutednotby an individual
butbya groupthatmayincludeuntrained
painters
and even children.
afrlcan arts
.
autumn2002
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In South Africa, many wall paintings
created during the late 1970s and 1980s
were clearly about political protest, but
they were usually of a very informal and
ephemeral character (Williamson 1989;
Sack 1989). The flowering of urban community mural art in the early 1990s is
closely linked with gradual political liberation and the end of the apartheid
regime. The murals' themes deal in various ways with the visions, problems, and
daily reality of a country in the process
of transformation.
At first glance, this close relationship
between murals and sociopolitical conditions does not seem to apply to rural wall
painting. Yet this appearance is deceiving.
As mentioned above, Ndebele art began to
flourish in direct response to politically
motivated dislocation and oppression,
first by the colonial and later by the apartheid regime; it was a form of resistance
to the threatened loss of cultural identity.
Annette Loubser (1991) maintains that it
was the self-confidence derived from a
strong sense of group identity that empowered the women to play an active and
often very effective political role in the
struggle against oppression in the 1980s.
Van Wyk's (1993) analysis uncovers
the political content of the Sotho-Tswana
litema design (Fig. 4).11 Resistance, he
points out, is achieved on two levels. The
first relies on Western systems of signification and is thus widely comprehensible by a diverse audience. He gives the
example (1993: fig. 1) of a homestead
painted in the colors of the ANC flag
(green, yellow, and black; the black was
represented not in paint but through
the dark patch constituted by the open
door). The other level is impenetrable to
the Western Other. Drawing on feminist
and psychoanalytical theory as well as
postcolonial discourse, van Wyk argues
that while the mural on a woman's house
is highly visible and seemingly transparent, secrecy is contained in its design.
The Sotho-Tswana woman is "fully selfaware, both of self and of the Western
Other" (van Wyk 1993:93),drawing power
from her knowledge and imperceptibly
inserting herself into history as a political actor.
This relationship between subject and
Other is, according to van Wyk, even more
evident among the Ndebele, who closely
observe the world of the West in articulating their own culture. The Westerner
interprets the figurative elements in their
murals as curious decorations inspired by
Western consumer society or as a simple
i
autumn
2002 ? alricanarts
49
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fromoppositepage top:
Counterclockwise
14.Worker's
facility,
MaydonWharf,Durban.Executioncoordinatedby LeoniHallin 1998. Photo:
1998.
SabineMarschall,
Manuallaborersare oftenrepresentedas confidentand heroic.
15. "HumanRightsWall"(detail),Durban.See
also Figure1. Photo:SabineMarschall,1998.
Ndebele-inspiredmotifsadornthe narrowcolumnsthatseparatethe varioussubjectsof this
mural.
ArtsProj16. "District
Six"muralat Community
ect, Woodstock,Cape Town.Executedby CAP
artistsin 1996.Photo:SabineMarschall,1999.
Communitymuralsoften portrayscenes from
everydaylife.Indoingso, theyreflectand assert
the urbanidentityof blackSouthAfricans.
reflection of materialistic aspirations;12
van Wyk emphasizes, however, that the
Ndebele mural tradition was consciously
promoted as an expression of cultural
pride and of resistance to colonialism.
Traditional African mural art, closely
identified with the land and the female
body, became a site of resistance and an
expression of cultural identity in a coun-
autumn2002 ? alrican arts
try where a large percentage of the population was dislocated from their ancestral territory. The first general elections
of 1994 brought an end to apartheid oppression, but the issue of land is still at
the center of the political debate in the
new South Africa. Many black South Africans are reclaiming their land or property they lost to the implementation of the
Group Areas Act at the height of the
apartheid regime.
Similarly, the claim for land or space is
central to urban mural art. The postelection disillusionment prevalent in many
sectors of South African society indicates
that the formal end of apartheid has not
always translated into profound changes
in entrenched attitudes. The art of urban
wall painting is a way of reclaiming lost
territory-in both a literal and a figurative
sense. It challenges reactionary positions
by publicly asserting and reinforcing
other value systems. Murals appropriate
spaces and buildings, and through these
sites they celebrate cultural difference;
they recover history and aspects of traditional heritage; they offer unpretentious,
candid glimpses into the activities and
environment of daily life. Murals essentially acknowledge and assert the presence of people who were not permitted to
occupy these spaces in the past or whose
identity and cultural heritage were-and
often still are-ignored or discredited.
Popular Art/Traditional Art
In an illuminating analysis, Zoe Strother
(1995) attempts to apply the concept of
popular culture to the realm of traditional art by pointing out the centrality of
audience reception. Her argument is
based on a case study tracing the creation of a new mask type among the
Eastern Pende of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The success of the mask
is measured by its positive audience reception, which leads to its subsequent
imitation and eventually its inclusion in
the wider canon of mask types. Strother
draws an analogy with the launching of
a new television show, whose popularity
is determined by audience response,
which in turn has been shaped by specif-
51
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ic historical, sociological, and political
factors. The same clearly applies to community mural art.
Popular art is often posited in opposition to traditional art, the former being
associated with dynamism, innovation,
fashion, and topicality, while the latter is
perceived to be more static, regulated
from the outside by convention. However,
Strother argues that given current patterns
of migration and trade contacts, one can
no longer separate rural from urban
dwellers; both groups must be considered
as "inhabiting the same world and time,
as grappling with many of the same problems" (Strother 1995:33).
In this sense there are important links
between urban and homestead murals,
most notably with regard to the Ndebele's
incorporation of icons of Western culture.
Second, the products of traditional culture, just like those of urban popular culture, may very well show "a topicality
that may be political and contended"
(Strother 1995:33)-a fact that van Wyk
(1993) has attempted to show with regard
to South African rural wall painting.
Third, analyzing traditional art through
the lens of popular culture studies stresses
invention within the community rather
than influence from the outside, as well as
"collaborative teamwork, competition,
and dialogue with convention through the
52
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audience" (Strother, p. 33). Here again,
one can draw parallels with South African
homestead murals, most obviously with
Ndebele examples. Although Ndebele
mural art is no longer practiced on a large
scale, those who do paint often work
very competitively. Some women, most
notably Esther Mahlangu, have even
established an international reputation
and have crossed over into different
media (e.g., Mahlangu's painting of a
BMW car). Especially in recent years, the
mural artists have also been greatly
spurred on by tourist and media interest.
Fourth, this approach acknowledges the
"porous" nature of cultural categoriesthe fact that some aspects of cultural production once considered popular art can
later be considered "high art," or vice
versa.13 This presents an interesting perspective on the way some contemporary
community murals may be perceived and
classified in the future.
are to be found in the essential motivation
for painting the walls and in the specific
concerns and conditions that inform their
design. Both types of murals are about
asserting identity and resistance; they create a sense of place and ownership; they
"talk" in a specific language targeted at a
local community audience. Both incorporate themes, imagery, forms and colors
that emerge from the prevailing circumstances and conditions of their sites.
Given that community murals are sitespecific and are influenced by their surrounding environment, one can expect
vastly different visual expression between urban and rural contexts. Ultimately, the fact remains that mural art has
a long tradition in southern Africa. It
deserves more public attention and serious scholarly interest.
D
According to Franco Frescura, "...the artists of the southern African region have
managed to establish a number of distinctive pictorial traditions, each drawing
deep from the economic activities, mystical beliefs, social mores and political concerns of the communities they arose
from" (1989:4/5). In sum, the links between rural and urban mural traditions
Top:17. Muralat Umlazitrainstation, Umlazi
Township,Durban.Executioncoordinatedby
StembisoSibisiin 1998.Photo:SabineMarschall,
1999.
Notes, page 91
Bottom:18.Mural
at KwaMashutrainstation,Kwa
MashuTownship,
Durban.Executioncoordinated
by MaphoyisaMaphosa,1996/97.Photo:Sabine
1999.
Marschall,
Thisbucolicscene remindsresidentsof thetownships of theirculturalheritage.
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2002 * africanarts
autumn
53
I
Stout, J. Anthony. 1966. Modern Makonde Sculpture. Nairobi:
Kibo Art Gallery Publications.
Vogel, Susan (ed.). 1991. Africa Explores:20th Century African
Art. New York: The Center for African Art.
West, Harry G. 1997. "Sorcery of Construction and Sorcery of
Ruin: Power and Ambivalence on the Mueda Plateau,
Mozambique (1882-1994)." Ph.D. dissertation, University of
Wisconsin.
MARSCHALL: Notes, from page 53
[This article was accepted for publication in August 2001.]
1. Many informal murals, which could also be classified as
graffiti, were painted mostly in the townships in the 1970s
and '80s to convey messages of political protest. These murals
were usually painted clandestinely and disappeared soon
afterward. For a fuller discussion of South African mural art
of the 1970s and '80s, see Marschall 2000a.
2. South Africa has a long tradition of muralized advertisement, particularly in the townships, executed by sign writers,
graphic artists, and painters. Many of today's community
mural artists started out as commercial wall painters. A few
murals by individual artists, sometimes executed with the
help of fine-art students, were painted in the 1980s, usually in
the context of urban renewal and city beautification.
3. Matthews (1977:31), for example, argues that Xhosa mural
art was not necessarily derived from the Sotho with the
spread of the rondawel-type homestead; it may well be indigenous and has likely been influenced by San rock art.
4. In fact, it may be argued that the connections between South
African urban mural art and similar modes of expression in,
for instance, urban centers in the Americas and other parts of
Africa are stronger.
5. This may be slightly changing today; for example, Loubser
(1991) mentions that among the Ndebele, men are not barred
from painting. Nevertheless there can be no doubt that the
practice of mural art is still overwhelmingly associated with
women.
6. For a list of all persons interviewed, consult the bibliography section of Marschall 2002.
7. Matthews (1977:31), for example, suggests that the verticals
in Xhosa murals can be read as plant stems, and the dots as
seeds.
8. The Ndebele people are divided into three major groups,
only one of which, the so-called Southern Ndebele (also
sometimes called Mipogga or Ndzundza Ndebele), are associated with the practice of mural painting discussed here.
9. It is unknown how long this tradition has been practiced,
but it appears that the oldest type of homestead decoration
consisted of finger-drawn lines incised into the wet plaster.
Possibly around the turn of the last century or early twentieth
century, fairly simple designs were painted in earth colors
("archaic style"). Only during the middle of the twentieth
century, when commercial paints became available, did the
present practice of bright, elaborate designs, much inspired
by Ndebele beadwork, emerge.
10. For a more detailed discussion of these murals see Marschall
2000b.
11. Litemadesigns are incised or inscribed into the wet plaster
with fingers or other objects. The term is derived from the
word for "plowed field," which the designs clearly resemble
(van Wyk 1993:83).
12. It must be noted that Powell (1995:60-65) presents evidence, based on interviews with Ndebele women painters, that
support such a reading.
13. Strother (1995:33) presents the example of Shakespeare,
whose works were experienced as popular culture in America
during the nineteenth century but are now considered "high"
art.
Referencescited
Berman, E. 1993. Painting in South Africa. Southern Book
Publishers: Halfway House.
Changuion, P. 1989. The African Mural, text by Tom Matthews
and Annice Changuion. Cape Town: Struik.
Courtney-Clarke, M. 1986. Ndebele-The Art of an African
Tribe.New York: Rizzoli.
Deliry-Antheaume, E. 1997. "L'Art des rues: Murs peint en
Afrique du Sud," in AUTREPART:Les Arts de la rue dans les
societes de Sud, eds. Michel Agier and Alain Ricard, Orstom.
Felgine, O. 1997. "L'Art s'installe dans les townships,"
L'AutreAfrique5 (June 18-24):86-89.
Frescura, F. (ed.). 1989. From San to Sandton:A Pictorial Survey
of SouthernAfrican Wall Graphicsthroughthe Ages. Exhibition
catalogue. Port Elizabeth: Dept. of Architecture, University
of Port Elizabeth; and King George VI Art Gallery.
Loubser, A. 1989. "Mural Art for South Africa," Art 3
(Feb.):67-72.
Loubser, A. 1991. "Contemporary Mural Art: Urban Dislocation and Indifference," Staffrider9, 4:53-58.
Marschall, S. 2000a. "South African Mural Art in the 1980s
and 90s: Impulses and Influences," De Arte 62 (Sept.):46-61.
Marschall, S. 2000b. "Affirming African Culture: Recovering
Cultural Heritage and Representing Ordinary People's
Lives," Mots pluriels (e-zine, Australia) 16 (Dec.).
Marschall, S. 2001. "The Poetics of Politics: Imag[in]ing the
New South African Nation," Safundi, (e-zine, USA). April.
Marschall,S. 2002. CommunityMuralArt in SouthAfrica.Pretoria:
University of South Africa (UNISA) Press.
Matthews, T. 1977. "Mural Painting in South Africa," African
autumn2002 * african arts
contributors
articles
ELIZABETH
HARNEYis curatorof contemporaryarts at the NationalMuseumof
AfricanArt,SmithsonianInstitution.Her book on Negritudeand Senegalese modernism is forthcomingfromDuke UniversityPress.
is associate curatorforAfricanartin the Departmentof the Arts
ALISALAGAMMA
Museumof Art.She is also
of Africa,Oceania, and the Americasat the Metropolitan
a consultingeditorof AfricanArts.
SABINEMARSCHALL,a German art historian permanentlyresiding in South
Africa, is coordinatorof the Culturaland Heritage TourismProgrammeat the
She recentlypublisheda book on communitymural
Universityof Durban-Westville.
art in South Africa.
STACYSHARPESreceived a B.A. in art historyfromSweet BriarCollege in 1998.
Currentlyworkingin Marylandas a certifiedpublic accountant,she plans to apply
her business expertise to the field of arts management.
HARRYG. WESTis assistant professorof anthropologyin the GraduateFacultyat
the New School University.He has conducted researchin Mozambiquesince 1991.
departments
SUZANNEPRESTONBLIERis professor of Africanart in the Departmentsof
Historyof Artand Architectureand Afro-AmericanStudies at HarvardUniversity.
She is also a consultingeditorof AfricanArts.
DAVIDT. DORIS,a recent IttlesonFellowat the Centerfor Advanced Study in the
VisualArts, is currentlySmithsonianInstitutionPostdoctoralFellowat the National
Museumof AfricanArt,SmithsonianInstitution.In 2002 he received a Ph.D. from
Yale University,where he focused on Yorubaculturalstudies.
JOANNAGRABSKI is assistant professor of African art history at Denison
University.She has conducted research on contemporaryart and artists in Dakar,
Senegal, and Brazzaville,Congo, and is currentlyat workon a manuscriptdealing
with Dakar'sartworld.
WILLIAM
HART,senior lecturerin philosophyat the Universityof Ulster,Coleraine,
NorthernIreland,is the authorof Continuityand Discontinuityin the ArtHistoryof
SierraLeone and many articleson SierraLeone'straditionalart. He also serves as
a consultingeditorof AfricanArts. Dr.Hartwas a lecturerin FourahBay College,
Universityof SierraLeone, in the 1970s.
WORKUNIDA,a doctoral student in the Departmentof Anthropologyat UCLA,
workedat the EthiopianManuscriptMicrofilm
Organizationof the Ministryof Culture
from1984 to 1998.
is curatorof Africanart and head of the Departmentof
NIl O. QUARCOOPOME
African,Oceanic and New WorldCulturesat the DetroitInstituteof Arts.
ROBERTSOPPELSAretiredrecentlyas directorof the MulvaneArtMuseumand
professorof art historyat WashburnUniversity.He lives in Washington,D.C.
VANDYKEis a doctoral student in the Historyof Artand Architecture
KRISTINA
Departmentat HarvardUniversity.Herdissertationwillfocus on architecturalhistory in Mali.
91
$1.20 per word, minimum $30. African Arts box number $15.
Classified ads must be prepaid.
BOOKS
African,ethnographic, and ancient art. Important,
rare, and out-of-print titles bought and sold.
Catalogues available upon request. Furtherdetails from: Michael Graves-Johnston, 54, Stockwell ParkRoad, P.O. Box 532, London SW9 ODR.
Tel.0171-274-2069, fax 0171-738-3747.
AFRICANARTS BACK ISSUES
List of article titles and back-issue order form:
AfricanArts,UCLA,PO Box 951310, Los Angeles,
CA 90095-1310.
Arts 10, 2:28-33.
Peffer, J. 1995. "Selected Reading List of Writing on Community Art Centres in South Africa," in Africus: Johannesburg Biennale. Johannesburg: Johannesburg Transitional
Metropolitan Council.
Powell, I. 1995. Ndebele:A People and Their Art. Cape Town:
Struik.
van Robbroeck, L. 1991. TheIdeologyand Practiceof Community
Arts in South Africa, with ParticularReferenceto Katlehongand
Alexandra Arts Centres. M.A. dissertation, University of
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Sachs, A. 1983. Imagesof a Revolution. Harare: Zimbabwe Publishing House.
Sack, S. 1989. "Garden of Eden or Political Landscape? Street
Art in Mamelodi and Other Townships," in African Art in
SouthernAfrica:From Traditionto Township,eds. A. Nettleton
and D. Hammond-Tooke. Johannesburg: Donke.
Schneider, E.A. 1999. "Ndebele Dolls and Walls," in
Evocationsof the Child:Fertility Figures of the SouthernAfrican
Region, ed. E. Dell. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 139-49. Cape
Town, Pretoria, Johannesburg: Johannesburg Art Gallery
and Human Rousseau.
Spence, B. and B. Biermann. 1954. "M'Pogga," Architectural
Review July:34-40.
Strother, Z.S. 1995. "Invention and Reinvention in the Traditional Arts," African Arts 28, 2:25-33, 90.
Walton, J. 1965. "Mural Art of the Bantu," S.A. Panorama
April:30-37. Reprinted in baNtu, November:396-400.
Van Wyk, G. 1993. "Through the Cosmic Flower: Secret
Resistance in the Mural Art of Sotho-Tswana Women," in
Secrecy: African Art That Conceals and Reveals, ed. M.H.
Nooter, pp. 81-97. New York:Museum for African Art; and
Munich: Prestel.
Williamson, S. 1989. ResistanceArt in South Africa.Cape Town,
Johannesburg: David Philip.
LAGAMMA:Referencescited,from page 75
Bastin, Marie-Louise. 1982. La sculpture tshokwe. Meudon,
France: Alain & Francoise Chaffin.
Bedaux, R. M. A. et al. 1991. "Comments on "Dogon Restudied,"
CurrentAnthropology32, 2:158-63.
Blier, Suzanne. 1998. Royal Art of Africa. London: Laurence
King Publishing.
Cornet, Joseph. 1982. Art royal kuba.Milan: Edizioni Sipiel.
Ezra, Kate. 1983. "Figure Sculpture of the Bamana of Mali."
Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
Ferandez, James W. 1982. Bwiti: An Ethnographyof the Religious Imagination in Africa. Princeton: Princeton University
Press.
Geary,ChristraudM. 1995."PhotographicPracticein Africaand Its
Implicationsfor the Use of HistoricalPhotographsas Contextual
e storiadell'Africa,
ed. Alessandro Triulzi,
Evidence,"in Fotografia
pp. 103-30. Naples: InstitutoItalo-Africano.
Anita.
1981.
Art
and
Death
in
a
Glaze,
Senufo Village.Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Himmelheber, Hans. 1960. Negerkunstund Negerkunstler.Braunschweig: Klinkhardt & Biermann.
Imperato, Pascal James. 1970. "The Dance of the Tyi Wara,"
African Arts 4,1:8-13, 71-80.
Imperato, Pascal James. 1975. "Last Dances of the Bambara,"
Natural History 84, 4:62-71, 91.
Imperato, Pascal James. 1980. "Bambaraand Malinke Ton Masquerades," AfricanArts 13, 4:47-55, 82-85, 87.
Imperato, Pascal James. 1981. "Sogoni Koun," African Arts 14,
2:38-47, 72, 78.
Imperato, Pascal James. 2001. Legends,Sorcerers,and Enchanted
Lizards.New York:Africana Publishing Co.
Johnson, Rev. Samuel. 1921. The History of the Yorubas.London:
Routledge & Kegan Paul. Reprint ed., 1987.
Lamp, Frederick. 1996. Art of the Baga: A Drama of Cultural
Reinvention. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Museum for
African Art.
Maurer, Evan and Allen Roberts. 1985. Tabwa:The Rising of a
92
New Moon. Exhibition catalogue. Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Museum of Art and Washington, DC: National
Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution.
McNaughton, Patrick.1988. TheMandeBlacksmiths.Bloomington:
University of Indiana Press.
Nooter, Mary H. 1991. "LubaArt and Polity: Creating Power in
a Central African Kingdom." Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia
University, New York.
Nooter, Mary H. 1993. Secrecy:African Art That Conceals and
Reveals. With contributions by 'Wande Abimbola et al.
Exhibition catalogue. New York: Museum for African Art.
"Paul Ahyi entre tradition et modernite." N.d. posted:
and "Paroles vives":
www.afrocom.org/ahyi/ahyil.htm
Date accessed 1/02.
www.afrocom.org/ahyi/ahyi2htm.
Roberts, Mary Nooter and Allen F Roberts (eds.). 1996. Memory:
LubaArt and theMakingof History.Exhibition catalogue. New
York:Museum for African Art.
Roy, Christopher D. 1987. Art of the UpperVoltaRivers.Meudon,
France: Alain & Francoise Chaffin.
van Beek, Walter E. A. 2001 Dogon: Africa's People of the Cliffs.
New York: Harry N. Abrams.
van Beek, Walter E. A. 1991. "Dogon Restudied: A Field Evaluation of the Work of Marcel Griaule," CurrentAnthropology32,
2:139-58, 163-67.
Vansina, Jan. 1978. The Childrenof Woot. Madison: University
of Wisconsin Press.
Vansina, Jan. 1985. Oral Traditionas History. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Wilford, John Noble. 2001. "Artifacts in Africa Suggest an
Earlier Modem Human," New YorkTimes,Dec. 2, A16:1.
Wooten, Stephen R. 2000. "Antelope Headdresses and
Champion Farmers: Negotiating Meaning and Identity
Through the Bamana Ciwara Complex," African Arts 33, 2:
19-33, 89-90.
Zahan, Dominique. 1950. "Notes sur un luth dogon," Journal
de la Societe des Africanistes 20:193-207.
Zahan, Dominique. 1970. The Religion, Spirituality, and
Thoughtof TraditionalAfrica. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
Zahan, Dominique. 1980. Antilopes du soleil:Arts et rites agraires
d'Afriquenoire. Vienna: A. Schendl.
HART: Notes, from page 88
1. J. Vansina, Art History in Africa (London, 1984), p. 40.
2. "Oeuvres d'art et objets africains dans l'Europe du XVIIe
siecle," in Ouverturesur I'art africain (Paris, 1986), pp. 64-86.
3. Although some will welcome the CD-ROM, I found that a
database of the material would have been more useful. The
facility to enlarge illustrations, which sounded promising,
simply exposed the limitations of the original digital images.
4. These groupings in the catalogue itself correspond to four
groups of items listed in the foreword ("documented and
located," "documented and unlocated," "unidentified," and
"undocumented"); but it is not easy to square the numbers
the
given there-534, 118, 165, and 119 respectively-with
total of 818 items actually listed in the text.
5. Other figures, it seems, were taken to Europe but have not
survived, such as the "idols" and "other different instruments of superstition" ("idoli con altri varii instrumenti superstitiosi") that Father Andrea da Pavia brought from Angola to
Rome in 1692 (no. 519).
6. A particularand descriptiveCatalogueof the Curiositiesnatural
and artificial in the LichfieldMuseum collected (in the space of 46
years) by RichardGreene(Lichfield, 1786).
7. A Catalogueof theRaritiesto beseen at Adams'sat theRoyalSwan
in Kingsland Road (3rd ed., London, 1756). The objects listed
include "a Tomahawk, or Ethiopian's, or Hottentot Man's Suit
of Cloaths"; "Purses of Guinea Grass"; "Queen of Whiddah's
Caps of her own making"; and "King of Angola's Scepter."
A D V ERTI
S ER
IN
D EX
Aboriginals,Artof the FirstPerson,
Sanibel Island, FL 4
DavidA. Ackley,Baltimore,MD outside back cover
GRABSKI: Notes, from page 81
1. For more on this event, see Dak'Art 98 and Okeke 1998.
2. For more problematized discussions of Africanity, see
Figueroa 1995, Grabski 2001, and Oguibe 1999.
Referencescited
Dak'Art 98: Biennale de l'art africain contemporain.Paris: Sarl
Cimaise, 1998.
Figueroa, Eugenio Valdes. 1995. "Africa: Art and Hunger, A
Critique of the Myth of Authenticity," Third Text: Third
WorldPerspectiveson ContemporaryArt and Culture 31: 3-8.
Grabski, Joanna. 2001. "The Historical Invention and
Contemporary Practice of Modern Senegalese Art: Three
Generations of Artists in Dakar." Ph.D. dissertation,
Indiana University.
Oguibe, Olu. 1999. "Art, Identity, Boundaries: Postmodernism
and Contemporary African Art," in Reading the Contemporary;African Art from Theory to the Marketplace,eds. Olu
Oguibe and Okwui Enwezor, pp. 16-29. London: Institute
of International Visual Arts.
Okeke, Chika. 1998. "Dak'Art 98: An Interview with the 3rd
Dakar Biennale Director Remi Sagna," Nka: Journal of
ContemporaryAfrican Art 8: 24-27.
Africa,Vienna, Austria 87
Joan Barist PrimitiveArt,Short Hills, NJ 7
Sharon Caulder, Markof Voodoo 11
ContemporaryAfricanArt, New York,NY 85
Ethnix,New York,NY 87
EthnographicArts Publications,MillValley,CA 11
Gallery DeRoche, San Francisco, CA 83
GalleryWalu,Zurich,Switzerland 3
Charles S. Greco 84
HamillGalleryof AfricanArt, Boston, MA 85
Hemingway AfricanGallery,New York,NY 86
NIDA: Notes, from page 82
1. This cathedral is famous for its large cultural holdings such
as parchments, crosses, icons, and paintings, as well as for
"hosting" the Lost Ark of the Covenant.
2. This effort was undertaken by the Ethiopian Manuscript
Microfilm Organization of the Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota.
The archives are housed in both Addis Ababa and St. John's
University (see Quirin 1982).
Referencescited
Gell, A. 1992. "The Technology of Enchantment and the Enchantment of Technology,"in Anthropology,Art, andAesthetics,
eds. Jeremy Coote and Anthony Shelton, pp. 40-63. New
York:Oxford University Press.
Quirin, James. 1982. "A Preliminary Analysis of New Archival
Sources on Daily Life in Historical Highland Ethiopia," in
Proceedingsof the Seventh InternationalConferenceof Ethiopian
Studies. University of Lund, 26-29 April, ed. Sven Rubenson,
pp. 393-410. Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa
University.
Shelemay, K.K, and P. Jeffery (eds.). 1993,1994,1997. Ethiopian
Christian LiturgicalChant. Madison: A-R Editions. 3 vols.
Silverman, R. (ed.). 1999. Ethiopia:Traditionsof Creativity.Seattle:
University of Washington Press.
Tamrat,Taddesse. 1972. Churchand State in Ethiopia,1270-1527.
Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Ullendorff, Edward. 1960. TheEthiopians.London: Oxford University Press.
Ullendorff, Edward. 1968. Ethiopiaand theBible.London: Oxford
University Press for the British Academy.
Indigo, Minneapolis,MN 83
InternationalWarriSociety, New York,NY 86
Charles Jones AfricanArt,Wilmington,NC 83
Susan Lerer,Images of Culture,Los Angeles, CA 9
Charles D. MillerIll, St. James, NY 6
Pace Primitive,New York,NY inside frontcover
MertonD. Simpson Gallery,New York,NY 1
Tawa, New York,NY 84
Totem Meneghelli Galleries, Johannesburg,
South Africa 5
TribalReality,New York,NY 87
KathyVanderpas* Steven Vanderaadt,
Rotterdam,Holland 6
afrlcanarts * autumn
2002