Department of Visual Arts

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Browsing Department of Visual Arts by browse.metadata.advisor "Conradie-Huigen, Stephané"

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    Walking woman: how can walking, drawing and writing be used to reclaim public space; both physically and virtually?
    (2021-12) Coerecius, Mikhaila Amyone; Kaden, Marthie; Conradie-Huigen, Stephané; Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Visual Arts.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South African women and queer individuals are continuously fighting for freedom of mobility through forms of activism and protest in order to combat high statistics of gender-based violence. In this thesis, I explore how women and queer individuals use walking, drawing and writing as activist methods in reclaiming space. These methods are seen in the case studies I discuss throughout such as the Women’s March in 1956 and satellite Slut Walks. I positioned my practice-based research through the trope of the flâneuse, a fictional urban wanderer who characterises the exclusion of women in public space during the time of modernity. In the context of my thesis, I use the term flâneuse as a contemporary figure who embodies the subjectivity of the societal ‘other’ – women and queer individuals. Through positioning myself as a flâneuse, I used this trope as a way of exploring the narratives of the ‘other’ in public space and used walking, drawing and writing as ways to assert my own intersectional identity in my creative practice. In this thesis, I investigate the practice of reclaiming public space against the backdrop of apartheid, systems of patriarchy and gender-based violence in South Africa. I began to question the limitations of freedom of mobility and expression in public space itself and looked towards alternative spaces where women and queer individuals are able to assert themselves. With the recent surge of increased internet activity as a result of Covid-19, much of the gender and identity discourse moved towards online spaces. Therefore, I began to expand the scope of my research and started exploring activist methods of walking, drawing and writing within cyberspace. By exploring the dualities of public and cyberspace, along with the concepts and performance of gender in public and private spaces, this thesis aims to investigate how women and queer individuals assert their identity and embody their own gaze while drawing and writing in both public and cyber space. Because my research delves into themes of gender and identity, I positioned my online investigation through Instagram. Instagram, as a social media platform, provides an alternative cyberspace whereby women and queer individuals are able to claim agency of their intersectional identities in ways that may not be possible in public space itself. Through analysis of narratives found on Instagram, I went on digital walks as a data collection method and explored how women and queer individuals would use this online platform as a way of reclaiming space.