Restless imagination: material, urban space and contemporary art practices in postcolonial Harare
- Authors: Zhang, Lifang
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: Uncatalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/467061 , vital:76811 , DOI htps://doi.org/10.21504/10962/467061
- Description: The use of everyday objects as art materials has evolved into a contemporary phenomenon in Africa, deeply rooted in specific contexts and possessing global relevance. Despite limited scholarly attention, existing discussions tend to revolve around individual artists or particular mediums. Many discourses are associated with either the prevailing universalist perspective that views the trend as Western avant-garde derivation or the reductionist narrative that attributes it merely to local material scarcity. There exists a critical need to investigate historical genealogies and explore the theoretical frameworks essential for comprehending this phenomenon. Through a combination of visual analysis, fieldwork and interviews, this thesis conducts an in-depth examination of the use of found materials in Zimbabwe, exploring its historiography, mechanism, impact, and visual achievements. This thesis situates the investigation in postcolonial Harare, the city that profoundly shaped the evolution of the phenomenon of using found materials. Regarding timeframe, this thesis examines contemporary Zimbabwean artists’ practices, with a special emphasis on the period following the Redefinitions movement in the early 2000s. However, it also explores the pioneering material innovations of Tapfuma Gutsa and Keston Beaton, as well as analyses the importance of the Pachipamwe workshop between the 1980s and 1990s. Among the artists, it highlights those who consistently engage with found materials and delve into their interactions with urban spaces in their practices. With the city as the analytical framework, this thesis draws on debates centring on contemporary African art and theories about materiality and urban studies. Approaching found materials as the materiality of both art and the city, it reveals a convergence of various interrelated artistic practices in Harare. The multidimensional relationships are manifested in the artistic processes, where the collection of materials, the creation of artworks, and collaboration with diverse urban groups, are intricately linked to urban spaces in Harare. By unfolding this process and emphasising the labour of artists, this thesis transcends conventional perceptions of artworks as mere visual objects, revealing the societal and spatial interactions inherent in artistic practices involving found materials. This thesis also explores the visual and semantical interactions between art and the city, centring on a curated array of artworks which is not merely a visual representation or reflection of the city but also provides critical thoughts on and dialogues with the city, as well as (re)imaginations and aspirations of the urban landscape. The relationship between art and the city is further deepened through iii artistic practices, extending beyond the creation of artworks and involving art infrastructure building in Harare. This thesis conceptualises artists’ practices of working with found material as restless imagination, a term drawn from the name of the city, which refers to “no one sleeps” in the Shona language. The restlessness embedded in its naming has characterised the city in various dimensions and across time, with the haunting colonial legacy, ongoing urban crises, ubiquitous movements and the ordinary people’s unwavering efforts for liberation and survival. Artists residing in postcolonial Harare also adopt and cultivate restlessness as a working strategy not only to cope with but also to transgress such conditions. The evolution of found materials has been unfolded through a continuous process of restless imagination and innovative manoeuvres, which are embodied in the continual re-imagination of the convention of art materials, the expressive capacities of specific materials, and a commitment to labour throughout the transformative process. This open-ended though productive process of exploration perpetuates and extends to the re-imagination and reclaiming of urban spaces, transforming them into artistic spaces that foster artistic creation and the reproduction of artists and imaginations. This thesis argues the potential framing and comprehension of Harare city as the site of restless imagination pursued, embodied and materialised by artists through their artwork and engagement with urban spaces. Contemporary Zimbabwean artists have redefined their artistic practices, interacting with the materiality of everyday urban life, urban matters, urban spaces, and urban communities, and, concurrently, the relationship between art and city, art and society. By doing so, they open up space for possibilities to refashion the restless city, negotiate urban citizenship, and recreate themselves as agentive subjects in postcolonial Harare. It could be argued that artists, as urban citizens, akin to other residents grappling with everyday life in the city, also exercise their arts of citizenship through their creative innovations in artistic expression and practices. Therefore, this thesis not only delves into the contextualisation of artistic practices in Harare but also contributes to broader discussions on everyday practices in African cities through the lens of art. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Fine Art, 2024
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- Date Issued: 2024-10-11
Visualising Chinese presence: an analysis of the contemporary arts of Zambia and Zimbabwe
- Authors: Zhang, Lifang
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Art, Modern -- 21st century , Art, Modern -- 21st century -- Chinese influences , China -- Relations -- Zambia , China -- Relations -- Zimbabwe , Art and society -- Zambia , Social practice (Art) -- Zambia , Art and globalization -- Zambia , Art and society -- Zimbabwe , Social practice (Art) -- Zimbabwe , Art and globalization -- Zimbabwe
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146618 , vital:38542
- Description: With the revival and rapid growth of relations between China and African countries in the present century, the “China-Africa relationship” has become a topic of close attention globally and the media and politicians have been dominating the mainstream discourses with dichotomised narratives. China-Africa engagement has also spurred academic research, most of which is oriented toward large-scale economic, political, and strategic concerns. In this context, it is significant to conduct in-depth research exploring specific engagement between Chinese and African people on the ground. Contemporary artists based in Africa have started to represent, through artworks and performances, their experiences and expressions of relations between China and various African countries. However, an examination of twenty-first century connections between Africa and China in relation to the contemporary visual arts is a new area of study and only a limited number of scholarly works exist. To contribute to the research in this area, this thesis explores the ways in which artists engage with specific realities and lived-experiences of Chinese presence through their artistic practices, with a focus on a selection of artists from Zambia and Zimbabwe. Through visual analysis, interviews and field work, this thesis provides a systematic investigation of contemporary arts of Zambia and Zimbabwe in relation to Africa- China encounters, engaging with four aspects: the discursive field, the material presence, individual experiences of encounters, and the broader relational connections within the arts. This thesis argues that, motivated by the histories and realities of African societies, artists from Zambia and Zimbabwe, through their artistic practices, form part of the Africa-China engagement and insert their agencies in the south-south relations between Africans and Chinese. Therefore, this thesis demonstrates the value in approaching the broader discussion on Africa-China engagements from the perspective of contemporary art, arguing that, with the social concerns of the artists and the expressive capacity of creative forms, visual arts are able to embrace diversity, dynamics, complexities and contradictions, and, therefore, can develop the topic beyond the stereotypical narratives about Africa-China relations to a more nuanced understanding of African-Chinese encounters in specific contexts.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Exhibition review: Site of memory: Berni Searle’s-aplace-in-the-sun
- Authors: Muvhuti, Barnabas , Zhang, Lifang
- Date: 2019
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/146937 , vital:38578 , https://artthrob.co.za/2019/07/31/site-of-memory-berni-searles-a-place-in-the-sun/
- Description: Commissioned by the National Arts Festival, Berni Searle created a four-screen multi-channel video installation, A Place in the Sun, which cooperated perfectly with the four wall compartments of the rotunda-shaped Gallery in the Round in the basement of the 1820 Settlers Monument. With the shifting of lights, the video symbolically indicates a full day at a drained swimming pool, from morning to sunset until the whole scene turns into ashes and darkness.
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- Date Issued: 2019