October 12, 2024 - November 05, 2024
The Viewing Room Art Gallery
"Blue lips, Blue veins''
By Daniel Voster
Being different is both a challenge and a problem which we deal with every day. South
African’s in particular struggle with difference due to our history of division and separation.
Our reaction to the difference we see is at best fear, and at worst aggression. We struggle to
see the person as they are and so miss seeing the similarities.
My response to the problem of difference is to portray as many South African born
individuals in a primary blue colour. Why blue? Firstly, it is a neutral colour not commonly
associated with self portraits and secondly, because we all have blue veins regardless of the
colour our skin. At a deeper level we all share the colour blue.
By using one colour it becomes a challenge to the viewer to try to differentiate between
individuals. Viewers often struggle to apply stereotypical categorizations of race, gender, etc.
when confronted with blue-coloured faces. My intention is to remove the some of the
superficial differences in order to encourage the viewer to look deeper.
“Blue lips, blue veins” is a line borrowed from a song by Regina Spektor referring to blue being
the most human colour.
Kleurvol" memories
By Bougaard
Bougaard is a Johannesburg-based artist who uses explorations of language, childhood games and artisanal papermaking to speak about hybrid identities in post-apartheid South Africa. In particular, her work deconstructs and re-examines notions of “Coloured” identity, unpicking the cultural traces and practices that have been, and still are, associated with “Colouredness” today.
The term “Coloured” is an apartheid-era racial classification used to refer to individuals of mixed racial heritage. Bougaard proposes an alternative version of the word “Coloured”, the phonetically approximate “Kullid”, as a liberating creolisation of the bureaucratic language of apartheid. Rather than a new way of categorising individuals according to their race, Bougaard sees the word “Kullid” as a linguistic vessel for her own lived experience of hybrid identity. In her work she activates and acknowledges the language Afrikaaps specifically using phrases from the slang dialect Gamtaal, which is associated with the “Coloured” community.
Nicknames play a significant role in Kullid culture, known for their creativity and playfulness. The titles of her works, such as Madam Fifi, Poenakies, and Geitjie Tollie, reference Afrikaaps and evoke the diminutive, elaborate, and whimsical nicknames commonly used within the Kullid community. These names are typically given based on an individual's distinct features or mannerisms, reflecting the community’s tradition of endearing and descriptive naming practices.
