Gum Gods | Reincar(nation)

•

Mixed Media Collage Paintings

Reincar(nation) is a body of work that explores the complex search for identity within the South African post-apartheid narrative. It embraces the rich and diverse iconography of South African consumer culture as well as popular Indian symbols and motifs. Reincar(nation) explores the idea of branding, cultural visual coding and the search for a visual identity of some sort. Growing up in South Africa and having an Indian heritage has allowed me to absorb the content of the cultures around me and through collaging various elements of both cultures, I have been able to visually construct my own view on identity, specifically the Indian South African identity.

“I was trying to provide some guidelines, a roadmap, some inspiration to develop a new [visual] language that was based on the South African experience as a graphic designer. [I was trying] to say this was not a new visual language – it is heading towards a new language”

-Garth Walker, 2014

Reincar(nation) is a mixed media body of art works. The work is made up of various printmaking techniques such as, woodcut, linocut, screen-printing and digital prints. By combining various printmaking techniques along with collage and painting has helped me in creating works that are intense, bold, colourful and don’t take on the form of the traditional print. I have taken everyday consumer items that many South Africans are able to recognize such as, Chappies bubblegum, Lion matchboxes, Steri Stumpie milk-shake, spices and even sugar and turned them into new artworks that reflect the social, political and cultural landscape of South Africa.