Becoming Other Series
The Animal that Therefore
I am Series
The posthuman identity is constantly shifting, flexible and in a constant state of decay (falling/failing). This corresponds to the posthuman condition as a process of becoming Other1.
The Becoming Other Series deals with the concept of the ‘Other’ on a satirical level; traditional South African effigies are presented as malleable and fluid identities while still clinging to rigid roles. Portrait of Paul Kruger as a Posthuman (2016), Portrait of Jacob Zuma as a Posthuman and Portrait of Jan van Riebeeck as a Posthuman speaks to issues of gender and race, as concepts used within the liberal humanist tradition to define who might be classified as ‘Other’. Portraits of Jan van Riebeeck and Maria de la Quellerie were digitally manipulated to merge the two into a single entity. The resultant image was digitally printed and transferred using the acrylic transfer technique. The result is a whimsical rendering of identities that defies classification in their ambiguity.
In The Wisdom of the previous generation (after Kiefer), lino cutting, digital printing and painting were combined into a hybrid technique; linocuts were carved portraying each of the non-binary 2 identities from the Becoming Other series (2016). Oil paint was used on a digital printed canvas and the composition was arranged in systematic lines to form a grid which refers to the systematic nature of division. This visual effect is a startling binary system emblematic of the separation characterised by the process of ‘othering’ evident in systems such as apartheid and colonialism. The monochromatic portraits are juxtaposed against a vividly polluted sunset. This work is influenced by Anselm Kiefer’s Wege der Weltweisheit: die Hermansschlacht 3 (1978). As Kiefer used barbed wire to create connections, I superimposed razor wire lines over the prints. The only unifying factor, the connecting lines, also ironically becomes what separates us.
The series, The Animal that Therefore I am consists of three paintings and focuses on the concept of becoming animal/becoming hybrid, relating to the totemic quality of South African statues, their histories and continued controversies. Broken Monsters features a figure 4 (inspired by the sculptural tableaux of Jane Alexander) wearing a nonhuman animal mask obscuring the face, leaving the identity completely open to interpretation. The figure, neither victim nor perpetrator, becomes abject: a dynamic metaphor for the posthuman identity. In Portrait of Jan van Riebeeck as “die duiwel van die kinderbybel”5 and Portrait of Paul Kruger as Asterion6 , an ironic and satirical approach emphasises the absurdity of ascribing monolithic qualities to statues. The title points to the irrationality of demonising a statue, by effectively turning the effigy into a Bogeyman. The statues in this series, are not cast in stone, they have morphed into hybrid creatures, signifying how, in the posthuman era, the meaning assigned to an identity has become entirely flexible and fluid.
The #PostFall series concludes the concept of the narrative unravelling throughout the body of work. Where the early work is presented as controlled in composition and style, the later paintings become increasingly less formal to mirror a narrative becoming undone. This process is paralleled in the composition becoming less claustrophobic, more open and eventually chaotic, as the painting process become less controlled. Though the glazing technique is still predominant in the final stages, the underlying texture is presented as riven and fragmented, signifying an unmaking of the process which mirrors the unravelling of the posthuman identity.
1 Other here refers to Julia Kristeva’s (1982) work whereby “Otherness” is described as the defining quality which renders one as different or “other” to that which is considered the norm encompassing all identities that differ from the liberal humanist definition of identity.
2 Because the lino cutting process relies mainly on the carving away of a fixed substance, this echoed the gradual carving away of the systems emblematic of the liberal humanist paradigm. When printed (in black and white as I have done here), the result still yields a very high contrast binary product which speaks to the binary nature of systems. The overprinted sections were moved slightly over the shadows to create a dual image - the blurring of lines suggesting the posthuman break with binary logic.
3 Anselm Kiefer; Wege der Weltweisheit: die Hermansschlacht (1978) Woodcut with acrylic and shellac mounted on canvas. 343.54 cm x 348.62 cm
4 This figure was mirrored in news media by protestors wearing similar hoods during the Fees Must Fall protests at UCT (Stoddard, E. 2016).
5 “Duiwel van die Kinderbybel” in Afrikaans translates to “the devil depicted in a children’s Bible”
6 Asterion is a pseudonym for the minotaur from Greek mythology (Kerenyi 1960:110-111) and serves as a metaphor for the abuse of power, the beastly nature of man and therefore becomes the embodiment of evil
©2019 by Laurette de Jager