The concept of sojourn—encompassing temporary dwelling, the state of “in-between” worlds, and the undertaking of spiritual journeys—provides a critical framework for examining contemporary South African visual arts.
Through the diverse and thought-provoking artworks in the Artbank of South Africa’s contemporary collection, this article, in conjunction with the exhibition Sojourn: A Contemporary Exhibition from the Artbank of South Africa Collection, explores the intricate interplay between transience and permanence. These works challenge established perceptions of time, place, and identity while revealing the multifaceted dimensions of spiritual and cultural sojourning in contemporary society.
This investigation unfolds through three interconnected themes: sacred transformations and growth; the navigation of sacred landscapes in relation to loss and self-awakening; and the complex dynamics of female identity and resistance within patriarchal structures. Each theme illuminates different aspects of the sojourning experience while contributing to a broader understanding of contemporary South African artistic practice.
Sacred Transformations and Growth
The exploration of sacred and divine ideologies within specific cultural realms forms a crucial aspect of contemporary artistic practice. As DeWitte (2020: 579) observes, “Spirituality encompasses our sense of being connected to others, our awareness of both mind and body, and our wish to understand life’s meaning in the world and beyond”. This understanding of spirituality as both connective and transformative provides a theoretical foundation for examining how contemporary artists navigate sacred themes through their distinct cultural perspectives.

ArtbankSA Contemporary Collection. Photo credit: Lebo Thoka.
Lebo Thoka’s Ko Meriting (In the Shade) (2023) exemplifies this engagement with the sacred through its sophisticated reinterpretation of religious iconography. The photograph presents five female figures in white robes, arranged in meditative poses within an ethereal forest setting, each crowned with a luminous halo. This composition deliberately evokes and transforms Christian iconographic traditions, particularly Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper (1495–1498), while embedding them within an African spiritual context.
Drawing inspiration from Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower (1993), Thoka explores themes of paradise, home and community through a decolonial lens. Butler’s assertion that “Paradise is one’s own place, one’s own people, one’s own world, knowing and known, perhaps even loving and loved” provides a theoretical framework for understanding Thoka’s reimagining of sacred space and community.
In Thoka’s work, the complex interplay between cultural memory and contemporary reality manifests through a dialectic of presence and absence, culminating in a vision of paradise that is simultaneously historical and futuristic. The central female figure, whose veiled or disguised face creates an initial ambiguity, serves as a powerful metaphor for the tension between preservation and loss of cultural identity. This deliberate obscuring of individual identity transforms the figure into a universal symbol of both erasure and potential restoration. The integral relationship between artistic expression and cultural memory becomes particularly poignant in this context, as the veiled figure embodies both the remembrance of the lost identity and the possibility of its reclamation. Mieke Bal’s assertion that the past and present exist in an umbilical relationship, where each gives life to the other while demanding acknowledgment of what has been lost, provides a theoretical framework for understanding these dynamics. As Bal argues, this interconnection insists that we “…settle accounts with the past – within ourselves” (1992: 560–561), suggesting that cultural memory operates not as a mere historical record but as an active force in shaping contemporary identity formation.
Navigating Sacred Landscapes: Between Lost Spaces and Self-Awakening



Audrey Anderson’s triptych The Yesterday, The Today, The Tomorrow (2017) presents a sophisticated exploration of spiritual transformation through the metaphor of natural metamorphosis. The work draws parallel symbolism from two distinct sources: the nightshade Brunfelsia pauciflora flower, known for its daily chromatic transformation from purple to white, and the Buddhist and Hindu unalome symbol, which represents the spiritual path to enlightenment. This dual symbolism creates a rich framework for understanding the journey from spiritual displacement to transcendental awareness.

The unalome’s spiralling journey from confusion to clarity provides a conceptual foundation for understanding the triptych’s progression, where each image functions as a discrete yet interconnected moment in the passage of the human spiritual journey. This symbolic relationship between human consciousness and the sacred landscape has profound historical precedent in various cultures. Stonehenge, constructed during the late Neolithic period (c. 3000–2000 BCE), exemplifies humanity’s enduring drive to create sacred spaces that merge symbolic meaning with natural phenomena. This prehistoric monument’s circular design operates as a manifestation of unity and cosmic order, functioning simultaneously as a ceremonial ground and astronomical calendar. Carl Jung’s (1969: 6) definition of symbolism offers insight into such sacred spaces, describing them as “expressions of the inner unconscious drama of the psyche which becomes accessible to man’s consciousness by way of projection – that is mirrored in the events of nature”. This theoretical framework illuminates how Anderson’s triptych, like ancient sacred sites, functions as a projection of internal spiritual processes onto the natural landscape.
The triptych’s progression reveals the complex stages of spiritual awakening through the progressive dissolution of figure into landscape. In The Yesterday, the stark confrontation between a black-clad figure observing another in red, punctuated by crimson spatters, embodies the unalome’s initial spiral of confusion and spiritual turmoil. This emotional turbulence mirrors the Brunfelsia pauciflora’s intense purple bloom stage, suggesting the beginning of transformation.
The Today presents a transitional state where a solitary figure integrates more harmoniously with the landscape. The figure’s contemplative stance and the ochre-tinged environment suggest the unalome’s meandering curves—a necessary phase of questioning and seeking that parallels the flower’s transitional lavender stage. This middle work serves as a bridge between chaos and resolution.
The sequence culminates in The Tomorrow, where the human presence becomes nearly indistinguishable from the landscape itself. The ethereal greens and whites suggest the unalome’s final straight path to enlightenment, corresponding with the Brunfelsia pauciflora’s white phase. Anderson’s masterful handling of the monoprint medium, particularly in her progressive abstraction of form, reinforces the Buddhist and Hindu concept that enlightenment emerges through cycles rather than linear progression.
The relationship between sacred landscapes and human consciousness has deep historical precedent. As Barrie, Bermudez and Tabb (2016: 167) note, “sacred landscapes are manifestations of nature and places possessing power with the ineffable capacity to confer this potency to those who behold them. They recharge our spiritual energy and purify the soul”. This understanding of landscape as both physical space and spiritual catalyst illuminates Anderson’s approach to representing transformation.
Between Loss and Reclamation: Female journeys of Identity and Resistance in the Face of Patriarchal Structures
In Dimakatso Mathopa’s thought-provoking work Individual Beings Relocated VII, the artist interrogates colonial photographic traditions through a contemporary decolonial prism. As Laydon and Thomas (2006: 29) observe, “It has become common to regard nineteenth-century photographs of indigenous people as trophies bagged by the colonial hunter… showing how the discourse of colonial photography maps the West’s strategies of knowing and controlling indigenous peoples”. Through her sophisticated manipulation of the cyanotype process and self-portraiture, Mathopa transforms this historically oppressive medium (colonial photography) into a tool for reclamation and empowerment.

The work presents a confident Black female adorned in traditional garments, positioned before a circular mirror that notably reflects nothing—a potent metaphor for colonial erasure of indigenous identities. This deliberate void operates on multiple levels: as historical commentary on systematic cultural obliteration and as a space of potential for new narrative construction. By positioning herself as both subject and creator, Mathopa inverts traditional power dynamics. Her direct gaze challenges the viewer, asserting agency where historically there was objectification.
Moving from Mathopa’s explicit confrontation with colonial looks, Ilene Bothma’s Conditional Threat explores another dimension of female identity erasure through the lens of domestic constraint. The work’s ethereal portrait structure suggests both presence and dissolution, materializing what Bothma terms the “meeting-point of dualities”.

Bothma’s meticulous attention to texture and form—achieved through the combination of oil paint, enamel, and glue—creates a portrait that seems simultaneously emergent and dissolving. This technical approach mirrors the complex nature of female identity within domestic spaces: both constrained by and resistant to societal expectations. The pale flesh tones and organic, porous texture suggest a body in flux, neither fully present nor entirely absent, reflecting the liminal space many women occupy within patriarchal structures.
In traversing the tapestry of contemporary South African art through the lens of sojourning, this exploration reveals multiple dimensions of transformation, loss, and reclamation. These works, in their diversity of approaches and unity of purpose, chart multiple paths through loss toward reclamation. They suggest that the sojourn—whether spiritual, cultural or political—serves as a catalyst for introspection and dialogue. This understanding challenges us to reconsider our relationship with place, time and identity within our increasingly interconnected world.
References
Bal, M. 1992. Telling, Showing, Showing Off. Critical Enquiry 18(3): 556-594. https://doi.org/10.1086/448645
Barrie, T., Bermudez, J. & Tabb, P. J. 2016. Architecture, culture, and spirituality. 1st ed. Routledge. https://www.perlego.com/book/1631723 (accessed 5 November 2024)
Butler, O. 1993. Parable of the sower. USA: Grand Central Publishing.
DeWitte, D. 2020. Gateways to art. 3rd ed. Thames and Hudson Ltd. https://www.perlego.com/book/2057747 (accessed 1 November 2024)
Jung, C.G. 1969. Archetypes and the collective unconscious. Contributed by R.F.C. Hull. 2nd ed. London, UK: Routledge Kegan Paul. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315725642
Lydon, J. & Thomas, N. 2006. Eye contact. Duke University Press Books. https://www.perlego.com/book/1465071 (accessed 5 November 2024)
Thoka, L. 2024. Artwork details. E-mail letter to De Kock, Y. (fs1@artbanksa.org), 21 October 2024.
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