Representations of the "Other" in Southern African Art Praxis

Abstract

This article considers if it is possible to move past the impasse of the political, the specifically cultural, religious and other constructed categories and structures that influence the identity of the non-human and human animal in contemporary South African society. Is it possible for the visual arts to contribute to a "discussion", an emerging sensibility and understanding of what it means to be part of a specific species group, the human animal, cohabiting with the non-human animal? What role could the aesthetic representation of the non-human animal, of the "other", play in the unfolding reality of a post-apartheid South Africa?

Opsomming
Hierdie artikel bevraagteken of dit moontlik is om verby die politieke dooiepunte asook die spesifiek kulturele, godsdienstige en ander kategoriee wat die identiteit van menslike en niemenslike diere in die hedendaagse Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing be"invloed, te beweeg. Kan die visuele kunste bydra tot 'n "bespreking" van die etiese probleme van wat dit beteken om deel te wees van 'n spesifieke spesiegroep, naamlik die menslike dier wat saam met niemenslike diere woon? Watter rol kan die estetiese heraanbieding van die niemenslike dier in kontemporere Suid-Afrikaanse kuns speel in die ontwikkelende werklikheid van 'n post-apartheid Suid-Afrika?