The Monstrous Feminine: Minnette Vári's Chimera (White Edition) (2001) and the Voortrekker Monument

Abstract

For her artwork Chimera (White Edition) (2001), Minnette Vári digitally recorded the panels of the Hall of Heroes found within the Voortrekker Monument and later edited the footage, inserting her own body within these scenes while performing as the mythological Chimera. In so doing, she constructs a hybrid monstrous figure which merges in part with the existing relief sculpture while simultaneously disrupting it. Through Chimera (White Edition) the artist draws a parallel between the Chimera of Greek mythology— the fire-breathing she-monster comprised of a lion's head, goat's body, and dragon's tail—and the monstrosity that is South Africa's political legacy. Moreover, the term “chimera” has come to describe anything which may be perceived as wildly imaginative or implausible. The work then also comments on the racial biases imbued within representations of the Great Trek on the walls of the Voortrekker Monument and the ideologised portrayal of this event as an ode to Afrikaner nationalism. In this article I discuss how, in parodying classical mythology and deploying self-representation, Vári critically addresses her gender and racial identity in a post-apartheid context. I examine whether her representations subvert traditionalist notions of South African femininity, particularly the volksmoeder (mother of the nation) model. I suggest it is a patriarchal construct which Chimera (White Edition) effectively unsettles by means of the monstrous feminine trope.