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ART IN SOUTH AFRICA
The Future Present
Sue Williamson and Ashraf Jamal
David Philip Publishers, Clarement, South Africa, 1996. 159 pp., color photos, index. $34.95 softcover.
WOMEN AND ART
IN SOUTH AFRICA
Marion Arnold
St. Martin's Press, New York, first published by David Philips Publishers, Clarement, South Africa, 1996. 186 pp., 40 pp. of color photos, bibliography, index. $59.95 hardcover.
Reviewed by Janet Goldner
The two books under consideration, published in 1996, two years after the election of Nelson Mandela, celebrate the end of the cultural boycott which had isolated South Africa since the 1980s. The boycott had not prevented the growth of a thriving domestic art scene, and after it was lifted, South African artists quickly and forcefully became participants in the international discourse. The use of art as a weapon against apartheid gave it a place of importance and honor in the culture at large that is not seen in the United States. The following are the impressions of an American artist examining the minefield of the South African cultural and political legacy.
Williamson and Jamal's book is an exuberant celebration of this emergence from isolation. Serious, but fun to read and beautifully illustrated, it presents forty major contemporary South African artists in short individual sections composed of essays, interviews, and many color photographs of each artists work. The format emphasizes individuals, but there are several instances of collaborations between artists. I appreciate the directness of the tone and the opportunity to hear from the artists themselves. The works presented in the book examine many current issues-changes in identity and social position, forgetting and remembering.
Many of the artists showed their work in at least one of several exhibitions held...