Writing Desire and History: Collecting as Postcolonial Feminist Methodology in South African Art

Abstract

This article explores the work of Dineo Seshee Bopape and Stephané E. Conradie through a postcolonial feminist lens by reading it in counterpoint to the literary fiction of Bessie Head. The visual and literary texts are examined through a “surface reading” of the figurations contained therein, whilst attention is paid specifically to the methodology of collecting as a decolonial and feminist strategy which seeks to re-imagine history and memory. Furthermore, it is shown how these two artists, through their engagement with both history and collected materials, move from “being” towards “doing”, thus becoming active agents in constructing their personal and collective histories.