South Africa's Indian art: A neglected social history
Date
1991-04-22
Authors
Vajisdar, Monique
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Abstract
The days when Art History was seen as a discipline related to Art and
to none of the other social sciences are long since gone. Art, as a
product of the society which generated it, can inform us about that
society.
So, in the case of my own research, what started as a
straight-forward art-historical documentation process, listing
Indian artefacts in private collections, developed rapidly into
a social historical documentation relating the story behind each
object listed.
In my research, I have chosen to focus on the PWV area of the
Transvaal. Professor Matthews at the University of Durban-Westville
has done some work relating to collections of Art in Durban,but no
work has been done in the Transvaal.
As a lecturer starting a new course in Indian Art History, I
undertook this project to record original artefacts which could
provide source materials for seminars and research.
A second objective of the research, was to make a selection from the
objects discovered, exhibit them at the Gertrude Posel Gallery with a
detailed catalogue, to give them exposure to a wider public.
My research uncovered many items which deserve such exposure. There
are pictures, textiles, carpets, clothing, furniture, architectural
elements in stone and wood, domestic utensils and ornaments. There
are objects of considerable religious importance and others which are
purely secular in function. Some of the items are from India and
others are locally made.
The objects are of interest purely as art objects: they show
considerable technical skill, and enable one to observe the stylistic
developments in Indian Art History. However, it became clear that
considerably more could be learnt from the objects by relating them
to their function and social history context.
As my research began, over a year ago,and I interviewed a range of
collectors, I became aware of the fact that there were a variety of
reasons why these collections were so little known by the wider South
African public. These reasons relate, on the one hand, to the marginalisation and physical relegation to seperate residential
areas, and on the other, to the effective dismissal as inferior, or
"uncivilised" by the South African Government of all non-European
Cultures. These factors have given the Indian community a level of
media "invisibility" astonishing in a community of over one million.
I propose to analyse the factors contributing to this state of
affairs, look at the implications of it for the study of Indian
Culture in South Africa, and then conclude by looking to the future.
Description
African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 22 April, 1991. Not to be quoted without the Author's permission.
Keywords
Art and society. South Africa. Transvaal, East Indians. South Africa. Transvaal. Social life and customs, Art, South African. South Africa. Transvaal, Art, South African. Indic influences