A psychic landscape : reimagining personal identities within local landscapes

Abstract: This research examines unconventional ways in which a sense of belonging can be achieved through landscape as a platform for personal, societal and cultural identity formation. I determine how hierarchical structures prevalent in colonial and, later, Afrikaner landscape representation are contested in postmodern discourses. My focus is on my white, queer, female, Afrikaans identity and how, through embodied and immersive engagements with landscape, I contest stereotypical roles, created in the image of the volksmoeder, set out for Afrikaans-speaking women. My interests lie predominantly in immersive experiences of landscapes where the viewers, and I, are immersed in the experience rather than observing the ‘view’ from a distance. I refer to Deleuze and Guattari’s (1988) notions of moving through “smooth” and “striated” space as modes in which we engage with our environments as well as the spaces within our own minds. I apply these conceptions in my analysis of Olafur Eliasson and Paul Emmanuel’s artworks, where they contest colonial landscape conventions through modes of journeying, atmospheric perception, self-awareness and inscription. With regard to my own landscape installation, Deleuze and Guattari’s (1988) modes of moving (and thinking) “smoothly” and in “striation” help me to navigate complex personal and cultural narratives within a post-colonial and post-apartheid South African setting. Through embodied engagements with my installation as well as with the landscape I am able to unpack the fibres that make up my identity and, thereby, fashion a renewed sense of Self and, therefore, a sense of belonging.M.Tech. (Fine Art