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Arena for Contemporary African, African-American and Caribbean Art

Author: Mirte Haenen

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CHALLENGING THE ‘POST’ IN POST-APARTHEID

searlesnowwhite2001

Mirte Haenen talks about the presence of apartheid in the post-apartheid work of the artists Fred Sam, Chris Ledochowski and Berni Searle. The murals of Sam give deprived and excluded communities a sense of identity and pride, an identity which rather than promoting drugs, guns and ‘bling’, promotes social gains, movement, and mobility. Ledochowski’s photos are an attempt at respectfully revealing aspects of South African township culture that have hitherto remained largely hidden. By altering the tone of her skin in ‘Snow White’, Searle moves between the categories of apartheid hierarchy and counters the value that were and still are attached to the colour of one’s skin.

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