Nomusa Makhubu is one of five outstanding female artists to be profiled in the #5WomenArtist Campaign. The campaign is powered by the National Museum of Women in the Arts, New York. Oliewenhuis Art Museum is participating in this global campaign and has identified five artworks by female artists from the Permanent Collection to participate in the campaign.
The five female artists are Nandipha Mntambo, Nomusa Makhubu, Mmakgabo Mmapula Helen Sebidi, Penny Siopis and Diane Victor. They were selected for their extraordinary career achievements. In addition, they speak up and address contemporary debates, relating not only to South Africa, but also current issues globally.
2007 Self portrait project: Lover Self portrait project: Ubuhle (beautiful) 2007
Digital print on Fabriano paper Photo credit: Kobus Robertse
Cape Town-based artist, researcher and lecturer, Nomusa Makhubu, is affiliated tothe University of Cape Town’s Michaelis School of Fine Art. Amongst many others, this talented artist received the ABSA L’Atelier Gerard Sekoto Award in 2006. Makhubu obtained her formal qualifications, MA and PhHD in Fine Arts at Rhodes University. Makhubu is the Chairperson of Africa South Art Initiative and a member of the South African Young Academy of Science. She was also an Abe Bailey fellow and was a research fellow of the Omooba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Art Foundation in Lagos, Nigeria, where her doctoral research was based. She co-curated and participated in many exhibitions in South Africa and abroad such as in Saatchi Gallery in London, Manoir de la Ville, Martigny, Switzerland, the Photographic centre in Kuopio, Finland and Lagos, Nigeria.
2007 Self portrait project: Ntombi (girl) Self portrait project: Omama Bencelisa 2007 (the one who breastfeeds)
Digital print on Fabriano paper Photo credit: Kobus Robertse
Oliewenhuis Art Museum is proud to house six photographic prints of Makhubu titledThe Self Portrait Project (2007) where she challenges the viewer with the relationship between the past and present. Unsettling historical photographs of black women were drawn from archival images. These photographs are evidence of typical and stereotypical artefacts of colonial anthropology to portray Africans men and women as mere ‘subjects’.
The photographs were enlarged with a projector and the artist deliberately inserted her own image on these photographs by moving in between the projector and the screen. She imprints herself as a ghost image disappearing into and erupting out of the resulting image. As Makhubu states: “The patronizing visual language in colonial photography had to be rudely interrupted” (Makhubu 2017: 30).
Self portrait project: Gogo Inkosikazi (Queen) Self portrait project: Umquela 2007 Nombhaco (beautification scar) 2007
Digital print on Fabriano paper Photo credit: Kobus Robertse
The photographs resurrected from colonial scrapbooks seem more real than the flesh and blood of the artist who attempts to disrupt their space. The present is, therefore, overwritten by past representations. Makhubu further claim that “The Self Portrait Project is an unfortunate title for the work. Rather than being explorations of the self, the project explores representation of African women. Colonial photography is the documentation of violation and the terror of dispossession. Re-enacting colonial photography is to come close to this terror and to realize its present manifestations. For me, post-memory is lived memory-it is a way of coming to terms with the persistence of the same repressive structures” (Makhubu 2017: 30).
The Self Portrait Project was purchased by Oliewenhuis Art Museum at Erdman Contemporary in 2009 and forms part of the Permanent Collection.Oliewenhuis Art Museum is a satellite of the National Museum in Bloemfontein, an agency of the Department of Arts and Culture, South Africa.
Bibliography
Croucamp, A. 2009. Mmakgabo Mmapula Mmankgato Helen Sebidi: Educational Supplement Taxi Art Books Series, Taxi 041. Johannesburg: David Krut publishing.
Louw, E, Beukes, M & Van Wyk, L. 2013. Visual Arts Learners Guide. Mowbray: Future Managers.
Makhubu, N. Intertwined: A selection of photographs by Nomusa Makhubu 20015-2017. Cape Town: Erdmann Contemporaries.
Simbao, R & Elliott, D. 2011. Nandipha Mntambo, Johannesburg: Stevenson.
Smith, K. 2004. Penny Siopis. In Perryer, S, Bedrord, D, Broodie, T & Goiwe, T. 2004. 10 Years, 100 artists. Art in a democratic South Africa. Cape Town: Bell-Roberts.
All photographs are available at the Oliewenhuis Art Museum archive
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