After Bayeux: The Keiskamma Tapestry and the Making of South African History

Abstract

Made by isiXhosa-speaking women belonging to the Keiskamma Art Project in the village of Hamburg, South Africa, the Keiskamma Tapestry was completed midway through 2004 and has been on display at the Houses of Parliament in Cape Town since 2006. Inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry, the work takes as its subject matter the history of the Eastern Cape Province where Hamburg is located, including the series of conflicts known as the Frontier Wars (1779-1878), which affected South Africa and its future as fundamentally as the Norman invasion affected England.Linda Hutcheon suggests that parody is a form of repetition “which marks difference rather than similarity” (Linda Hutcheon, A Theory of Parody: the Teachings of Twentieth-century Art Forms. New York and London: Methuen, 1985, p. 6). In other words, points of similarity between two works highlight the distinctions between them and it is these distinctions, more than their points of likeness, which are ultimately often most meaningful. The Keiskamma Tapestry is explored in light of this insight, and it is suggested that its various parallels with the Bayeux Tapestry emphasize that the frames of reference of its makers are South African rather than European. Indeed, paradoxically, their engagement with what is undoubtedly the most well-known example of needlework in Europe facilitated the makers of the Keiskamma Tapestry exploring their own specifically South African context and identities.