Fine Art students reflect on Self-Identity



NASIPHI GIGABA


Seven third-year Fine arts students held a group exhibition at the Durban University of Technology’s Art Gallery recently. Titled, Know Thyself, the exhibition formed part of the students’ assessment for the Communication Studies subject where they are tasked with organising and curating their own exhibition. 
Students showcased work ranging from paintings, photographs to sculptures- all which spoke to the theme of self-identity.
Explaining the purpose of the exhibition, one of the students, Taryn van Wyk said: “As artists we put together the exhibition called “Know Thyself” collectively to encourage self-reflection as a catalyst for the exploration of issues that question culture, identity, gender, religion and feminist objection,” said group member.”
Even though Van Wyk and her colleagues, Mfundo Mhlongo, Mfezeko Gumada, Halalisani Mpunzana, Londiwe Mtshali, Star Govern and Silindile Dlamini come from different backgrounds, they combined their differences to intertwine each other’s interpretations and expressions on self-reflection.
“We chose to work within the framework of self-reflection to express our diverse backgrounds that are bound by common questioning of cultural issues,’ she added.
Halalisani Mpunzana’s work explored gender fluidity and culture through the use of ceramics and printmaking.
“My work explores the identity of homosexual men in a heteronormative society,” he said.
He added that it is important to know who you are and what you stand for in order to know where you are going and how you will handle the world.
Govern stated that the exhibition was a huge learning curve in terms of arranging work around an art gallery, how to measure and place the works in a way that they are at eye level and speak to each other.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fashion’s Khaya Mchunu receives award from DUT Council

Department of Fashion and Textile lecturer, Khaya Mchunu was awarded the Council Award in the engagement category at the Durban University of Technology’s Staff Awards held at Steve Biko Campus. Mchunu facilitates a community engagement project where second-year students collaborate with a sewing circle from the Durban CBD called sewing for Africa. The sewing group comes to Brickfield campus and partner with students for design development. The previous projects were done Mchunu himself whilst he was mentored. “The DUT version was a paradigm shift where I switched roles to being the mentor, he said.” The learning objective that he had for the project was to enable his students to see themselves beyond design students but most importantly as active citizens and agents in social change (which is a graduate attribute of the institution) said Mchunu. “A method to exercise such an objective, I imagined, is by breaking the notion of the university structure as an ivory tower...
Read more

Graphic Design Third Year and BTech students showcase their work

Image
Btech student, Karl Ludick. Graphic Design programme recently displayed their 3rd year and Bachelor of Technology (BTech) students’ final exhibition held at City Campus. The third year final exhibition consisted of 13 projects. Namely, DUT Art Gallery rebranding and awareness campaign, gender based 30 second advert, OXX T-shirt design, courier packaging, animated gif and online campaign, Baron Samedi Spiced rum campaign, Poetry Africa poster, editorial spread, IJusi Afrika Typographika, history publication, Durban map, Goldpack packaging, Instagram diary, self-branding and Behance online portfolio . Third year student, Samela Hlophe said, “The approaches on each project differed depending on what the brief required. But I maintained my style throughout, which is use of balanced colour themes and layout.” Hlophe said he learned a lot from DUT and is ready for the field. “I learned about strategy, concept is key, be authentic, hard work beats talent, never compare yours...
Read more

Interior Design holds year-end exhibition and student awards

Image
 Interior Design third year student, Thabiswa Nkonyeni who was named Top Student for 2018. NASIPHI GIGABA  Durban University of Technology’s (DUT) Interior Design students’ year culminated in style as their hard work was rewarded during the programme’s year-end portfolio exhibition which coincided with recognition awards where excelling students were awarded for their hard work. The exhibition which was held at City Campus yesterday, featured works by third year and BTech students who were beaming with joy as attendees marvelled at their offering. Interior Design’s Programme Coordinator and Lecturer, Susan Barrett said the programme is pleased with the end results of the students work, considering the challenges they faced throughout the year. “We are glad the year is over and that it was a fairly successful one despite the interruptions due to protests at the beginning of the year. Overall though, we were very pleased with the end result,” she said. Barre...
Read more