Browsing by Author "Nyoni, Vulindlela Philani Elliot."

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An exploration of drawing as it relates to the realisation of concept in art-making.
(2010) Nobin, Meryl Louise.; Nyoni, Vulindlela Philani Elliot.
Drawing in the Visual Arts has been subject of scrutiny, fragmentation, and interpretation. Whether viewed as an objective academic pursuit or subjective experimental and explorative act, drawing can be perceived as largely changeable and mutable. In reflection on art history and art practice, it would seem drawing has been relegated to an unseen space in Visual Art, its role defined by purposes other than those that lead to drawing for drawing’s sake. The aim of this dissertation is to reaffirm the notion that drawing, with all its breadth and influence, is pivotal to the understanding of art-making. This dissertation examines drawing employed by artists following a historically Western discourse of art-making. From an initial look at Renaissance art practice around drawing, this examination tracks the characterisation of drawing to where its newfound status emerges in the 21st century. As a background to this research is established, reference is made to contemporary artists who have enlisted drawing as a contributing factor in their art practice. I then analyse my own art practice in relation to these artists and themes which I have discussed. Drawing has rarely been subjected to theoretical discourse. This dissertation, through an inherent narrative, aims to acknowledge and identify hidden discourses around drawing with reference to authors such as Phillip Rawson, John Elderfield, and Johanna Burton.
Questioning heritage : colonial ideologies in contemporary museum practice.
(2008) Draper, Jessica Lindiwe.; Nyoni, Vulindlela Philani Elliot.
The research problem to be explored in this study is to what extent colonial ideologies continue to influence museum society and contemporary museum practices. The museological display of non-Western, and specifically African material cultures will be investigated. This study will enter into a dialogue with the construction of the ‘Other’, both in a colonial context and within museological paradigms. The evolutionary nature of culture and heritage will be emphasized, with particular prominence given to the dangers of exhibiting cultures as static and objectified. The Exhibitions Congo. The Colonial Era (Royal Museum of Central Africa, Tervuren) and Zulu heritage: the history and culture of the Zulu people (Msunduzi Museum, Pietermaritzburg) are used as case studies, as both displays raise questions of appropriation and the display of ‘Other’. These exhibitions are analysed and then contextualized within existing museological research. Current debates located in post-colonial discourse, notably those of Edward Said, are discussed in relation to the display of African material culture. In discussing museum exhibitions and readership, the writings of Hooper-Greenhill and Kaplan are considered. An understanding of heritage is generated in relation to the theories of Lowenthal. The paper concludes that by combining a ‘contrapuntal’ (Said) view of the histories surrounding an artefact, with the acknowledgment of the viewer’s lived experience in accordance with Reader-Response criticism, one would create a basis from which the viewer could begin to question and engage with cultural representations of the ‘Other’.
Representations of the "other" in selected artworks : re-membering the black male body.
(2006) Nyoni, Vulindlela Philani Elliot.; Lambert, Michael.
The depiction of blackness in the visual arts is located in the complex discourse of representation. Blackness within western visual art has been, and continues to be viewed as oppositional to representations of whiteness, and is constantly perceived as other. This dissertation analyses the process of othering and the impact of such a process on the production of artwork in southern Africa, where the representation of the black male, in particular has been subjected to racist ideology, supported by its props, stereotype, generalization and the homogenization of black experience. Using poststructuralist theories of identity construction and power, I analyse stereotype, racism and masculinity in the colonial and postcolonial periods, focussing especially on the internalization of white constructions of blackness within black visual culture. I discuss the work of Baines as representative of colonial constructions of black masculinity, the work of Bhengu, Mapplethorpe and Makhoba as illustrative of the internalization of stereotypic identities, and the work of Voyiya, Harris and Nyoni as representative of resistant discourses of representation of the black male body. I situate the latter within the contemporary debate on questions of subjectivity and agency within the Foucauldian concept of power. I have deliberately chosen works by two American artists (Mapplethorpe and Harris) in order to situate discourses of blackness within a wider context.