Source work:
0930/88
J H Pierneef (1886-1957)
Untitled (Landscape)
1951
Oil on canvas
Keepsake - Vulindlela Nyoni
Vulindlela Nyoni (b.1976)
Keepsake
Linocut
R6 000
My choice to respond to the Pierneef painting was spurred by my interest in current discourses on identity and the meaning of nationality and nationalism.
Pierneef arrived, as did many others of his background, in South Africa as a foreigner, a settler, a person for whom home was distinctly not what Africa was at the time. The initial impetus of the move, of course, was the driving notion of imperial colonialism and developments in European industrialization.
Pierneef's painting reflects the colonialist's ideal of 'terra nullius' when portraying the African landscape. The subject of his painting being home to 'other', Pierneef purposely exploits his artistic license in making the landscape devoid of 'otherness' to the point of creating/portraying an idealized new home for settlers. Preserved in Pierneef's brush-mark is the Afrikaner's notion of nationalism. This is the new country, the 'God given' home and land for their rule.
The significance of this form of nationalism and the construction of such is fascinating to me particularly in contemporary constructions of identity. South African identity and nationalistic identifiers are of course the focus point of this work. Pierneef's time has passed but some thing still remains of his notions of wanting to belong to a place, identify with, own, and dictate individual and social interactions with that particular place. This affects contemporary South African notions of self, home, place and memory. Today a variety of symbols and items typify South African identity. These items, be they as tangible as a protea, a jar of marmite, or as intangible as political affiliation, are inherent to a South African's understanding of a complex identity. How we choose and keep these items and their significance to us is the crux of this piece.