CLASSICS RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM
DATE: Thursday, 6 June 2024
TIME: 14:15
VENUE: Committee Room, Classics Department, Room GO 12A, Ground Floor, MTB, Howard College Campus
SPEAKER: Dr Samantha Masters (Ancient Studies, Stellenbosch University)
TOPIC: ‘Venus’, the Graces, and the Furies: the reception of classical themes and forms in African contemporary art
ABSTRACT:
Classical
mythology is a well-known topic of classical reception, and artists
from a number of African countries are still using classical myth as
well as forms, and allusions of varying kinds in their contemporary
artwork. But why does the Classical world keep cropping up and to what
end? In most readings the intermingling of European culture/aesthetics
and Africa in such art is disruptive and aims to ask important questions
about the legitimacy of the western canon and its role in the
subjugation and ‘othering’ of all who fall outside its parameters. Using
the evocative paintings by the artist Roméo Mivekannin (Ivory
Coast/France/Benin) ‘Hottentot Venus’ (2020) and Series Les Modeles de l’histoire de l’art, Orestes attaque par les Furies d’apres Bouguereau (2022)
as two examples, in this paper I will explore questions and
contributions made by contemporary artists from the African continent
and their reception of classical antiquity.
ALL STAFF AND GRADUATE STUDENTS ARE WELCOME!
For further information, please contact:
Dr Elke Steinmeyer
Classics Programme
University of KwaZulu-Natal
Durban 4041
South Africa
Tel: +27 31 260 1306
Fax: +27 31 260 7286
Email: steinmeyere1@ukzn.ac.za