Roots | Reincar(nation)
Collage Series
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 milkshake, spices and even sugar and turned them into new artworks that reflect the social, political and cultural landscape of South Africa.
Roots is series of collages that explore my culture and upbringing in order to establish a sense of belonging through seeking out iden fiable South African brands that are reminiscent of my childhood.
Memory can be viewed as a connection between the past and the present and therefore an instrument in crea ng meaning within the now. However, memory is an inconsistent tool as it is fragmented; a trace.
-Willemse, 2010
Roots | Reincar(nation) Graduate Exhibition | Collages | 2018
Through this series I attempted to investigate underlying narratives that form part of photographs, which exist as objects in their own right. The photographs primary function is as a form of memory. Immersed in old family albums I found myself remembering the place, person and experience of each photograph. In doing this, I was constantly linking the place, person and experience to an object. I realized that these objects became just as important as the photograph and memory itself. When I was younger, my father would always carry a matchbox with him. Since I lost my father, whenever I saw the Lion matchbox I would always think of him. Whenever I was at my grandparent’s house, my cousins and I would always be opening the Chappies bubblegum just to read all the Did You Know’s on the inside of the wrapper. Whenever I look at pictures of my grandmother, whom I did not get the pleasure of meeting, my mom and her sisters would always tell me how they learned to cook from her and how she taught them how to make
their own spices.
