The context for the Keiskamma Art Project is explored on site in the Eastern Cape in the rural and coastal city of Hamburg. Through the fieldwork and research on the Keiskamma Art Project, the context of the art project is examined (chapter 5).
Introduction
Understanding Beauty
Ross says women's contributions to "the beauty of the earth have gone unnoticed and unappreciated." He points out that when the beauty of the earth is destroyed, it is inevitably the poor men and women who pay first.
Spirituality and its link to Art
She formulated a general definition in which she proposed that spirituality as a subject or material object of the discipline is “the experience of conscious involvement in the project of life integration through self-transcendence towards the ultimate value one perceives” (Schneiders 2005: 5). According to Schneiders, art facilitates “self-transcendence” and integration through the creative process and aids in the desire to evolve toward “the ultimate value one perceives” in God (Schneiders 2005:6).
Christian Feminist Theology and its Spirituality
This meant that the life situation of women in Africa worsened due to Christianity. African women's theology recognizes the importance of context, cultural differences and challenges, and is therefore critical to the work of feminist theology.
Themes in Christian Feminist Spirituality
- Integration and Bodiliness
- Experience and Storytelling
- Transformation and Justice
- Hope
Physicality has been neglected in the Christian spiritual tradition and is now part of an understanding of a contemporary contextual spirituality. The art of storytelling is seen not only in the content of women's stories, but 'in their texture' and method – the way the writers construct them through myths, poems, dreams, song, dance and proverbs” (Buckenham 2010: 63).
A Creative Spirituality Assists in the Work of Transformation
They sacrifice themselves for their children and families, believing that hope will triumph in a concrete way and bring wealth, prosperity and harmony to their communities. They pin their hopes on concrete realities and refuse to give up hope for an improvement in life.
Conclusion
Visual art is a creative way to give concrete expression to new ideas and allows the creation of images that support women's storytelling. Visual art is a medium for expressing new ideas for public consumption and can reflect the collective consciousness of people and witness change and transformation.
Introduction
Art as Culture and a Vehicle of Transformation
According to Aguirre, the post-modern understanding of the purpose of art is to create an aesthetic experience that allows us to identify with others. Visual art is a field of arts, which is an important tool in expressing culture and forging its identity.
Protest and Resistance through Visual Art and its Expression in South Africa
Protest gives voice to the silent and powerless, and art provides a vehicle for their expression. Visual art is a component of culture that provides iconographic power for protest and resistance.
The Emergence of Resistance Art
33 During the struggle against apartheid, Protestant art expressed the reality of life in the townships and the struggle that people of color experienced in trying to recognize their identity within a dehumanizing political order. Laws of restitution then followed, an example of which is the exhibition in 1988 in the Johannesburg Art Gallery called "The Neglected Tradition" which showcased the work of black artists.
Art Activism in South Africa in the time of HIV/AIDS
Their art-making has been undervalued in terms of its aesthetic potential, and a process of re-identifying, renaming and relocating the art of indigenous peoples and women has been undertaken to redress the injustices of the past in order to give greater recognition to their art-making. Although these community-based proactive activist strategies were intended to communicate the effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, they have also succeeded in challenging the arts/crafts debate and highlighting the aesthetic value of Indigenous women's art-making.
Finding the Hidden Discourses of Oppressed People
James Scott on Hidden and Public Transcripts
The greater the power differential between dominant and subordinate groups, and the more arbitrarily or threateningly it is used, the thicker the mask (Scott 1990:3). Scott suggests that much of the “active political life of subordinate groups has been ignored because it takes place at a level that is rarely recognized as political.
Creating a “Safe Space” for Women
41 it happens that the oppressed group must find a safe place to meet and agree on a "hidden note". Second, he argues that the "hidden record" will emerge most readily when people are "in their shared subjection," finding themselves together in this safe place (Scott 1990: 120).
The Medium of the Aesthetic offers Art Projects a Locus for Safe Expression and
This study argues that by using the aesthetic medium, hidden discourses gain a public space, which helps the transition from hidden to public transcription, thereby empowering the marginalized group. Groups that meet regularly and include people with similar concerns create a site for the emergence of the hidden discourses.
Conclusion
Introduction
Ecofeminism as Protest
The goal of ecofeminism is the radical transformation of "how we as human beings see ourselves, our relationships with other people and the earth itself" (Rakoczy 2004:302). Therefore, ecofeminism is a contemporary political movement with goals that protest the oppression of women and the natural environment, seek to end these oppressions, and articulate a vision of what the world would look like with the implementation of liberatory practice.
An Introduction to Ecofeminist Theology through some Ecofeminist Theologians
Rosemary Radford Ruether was one of the first theologians to articulate a theology challenging the dual dominance of women and the natural world that developed out of ancient Greek philosophy. Her contribution is her challenge to outdated patriarchal and triumphalist metaphors for God and the implementation of new metaphors that support an ecofeminist vision that looks at how to better sustain life on the planet.
Exploring Ideas that Contribute to the Themes in an Ecofeminist Spirituality
- Integration and Bodiliness
- Experience and Storytelling
- Transformation and Justice
- Hope
Body affirms our bodies and the role they play in our expression and experience of the world. This image of the cosmic womb is a feminine image that suggests God as the source of all life.
What Characterizes an Ecofeminist Spirituality?
In the ecological context, maturing means maintaining relationships with other life forms and sustaining yourself and others while taking responsibility for the Earth. This model of God offers hope because God is present with us in the world as our “friend and co-worker.”
Conclusion
It creates awareness about the importance of having rules and boundaries that must be respected by members of the earth in order to keep it in good condition for future generations. This conversion must be experienced both personally and socially and requires the sacrifice of one's desires for more luxury and leisure.
Introduction
Selection of the Keiskamma Art Project
The Context of the Keiskamma Project
- The History of Hamburg
- Apartheid and its Legacy of Poverty Particularly in the Eastern Cape
- Rural Location
- Gender
- HIV/ AIDS
- Summary
People rely on firewood for cooking and heating, which causes erosion of native forests. This feminization of poverty has been found to be associated with the feminization of household leadership, and it is often stated that female-headed households are the "poorest of the poor."
An Introduction to and History of the Keiskamma Art Project
These factors contributed to the general impoverishment of Hamburg and the Keiskamma art project, an art initiative interested in HIV/AIDS education, was launched to empower women in the hope of creating an income-generating activity. Keiskamma's art project emerged from a background in fine art and activism.
A Focus on the Keiskamma Altarpiece
Originally on the high altar of the church of the Monastery of Saint Anthony in Isenheim. The frame of the Keiskamma altarpiece was made by Justus Hofmeyer, Carol Hofmeyer's husband.
Reflection on the Keiskamma Art Project
Conclusion
Introduction
Research Design
Interpretivists “focus on meaning” and see it as a “component in the construction and understanding of social reality” (Wilkinson 2010: 962). Interpretivists do not accept the post-positivist approach that states that “the scientific method is a way of learning objectively about the world” and instead they argue that all research is “influenced and shaped by the researchers' pre-existing theories and worldviews” and that research is a socially constructed activity and the reality it describes are also socially constructed (Willis 2007:96).
Research Questions
Literature Review
Data Collection
Participants
- Data Analysis of the Case Study
- Validity, Reliability, Reflexivity and Triangulation of the Research
- Ethics
- Fruitfulness
Triangulation contributes to the reliability of the research and prevents one from drawing unsupported conclusions. In the research relationship, the interviewer can break through the structure of the interview to present their stories.
Introduction
Structuring the Analysis
Themes in support of an emerging contextual ecofeminist spirituality
- Integration and Bodiliness
- Experience and Storytelling
- Transformation and Justice
- Hope
- Contributions to an emerging contextual ecofeminist spirituality
The metaphor of God as mother and friend is present in the women's spiritual experiences. Members of the project have assimilated new skills that are used in the operation of the art project, such as embroidery, applications,.
The Theoretical Framework
I argue that the art created by the Keiskamma Art Project can be described as beautiful. I argue that spirituality is visible in the work of the Keiskamma Art Project and is the basis for self-development.
Talking about Creating and Marketing
It was obvious that members of the Keiskamma art project were often interviewed either by the media or by interested people. It appeared that women were now more skeptical about the success of interviews as a form of marketing.
The Images and Metaphors within the Keiskamma Altarpiece
116 In the first panel of the Keiskamma Altarpiece (see fig.5.5.4) there is the image of the widow surrounded by orphans under the cross. The strength of the tree and its large root system is a metaphor for the strength needed from the community to overcome the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
The Key Question
The narrative was encouraged as a process of Keiskamma's artistic project that contributes to the expression of ecofeminist spirituality. The leadership model used in the development of the Keiskamma art project supports the process towards the rise of ecofeminist spirituality.
Theological Interpretation of the Research Findings
I think that the influence of a contextual ecofeminist spirituality will live on in the lives of the young women who find the Keiskamma Art Project a sanctuary of hope. In this way, the Keiskamma Art Project has created a safe site to explore feminine metaphors for God that come naturally to many of the women because of their understanding of God as immanent, corporeal and living in and through them.
Conclusion
Some of them see themselves as an extension of God's creativity and rejoice in creativity. Images of local women as potential saints suggest that their intuitive understanding of God is a deeply nurturing, life-sustaining God.
Conclusion
Brief Review of the Research
A wide range of skills training and educational topics were introduced through the art project's forum. In chapter six, the methodology of the research design is outlined and begins with an introduction to the theory and its theoretical framework, which underpins the case study of the Keiskamma Art Project, which includes the Keiskamma Altarpiece.
Major Conclusions of the Study
Apartheid has left a legacy of helplessness and powerlessness, but women working in the Keiskamma Art Project appear powerful and full of self-esteem. The Keiskamma Art Project created a community able to experience and create a spirituality far removed from conventional church structures.
Recommended Areas for Further Research
Department of Economics and Office of Economic Research at the University of Stellenbosch. The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a World Renaissance.
Do you feel wonder and awe when you look at the natural world, or other feelings? Has the project encouraged women to be kinder and more supportive of each other and their communities?
147 2008: Take me also for your child Altarpiece on permanent display at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Museum of Art, Port Elizabeth. The Keiskamma Altar at the Make Art/Stop AIDS exhibition, which opens on February 25 in Durban, is co-curated by David Gere and Carol Brown: Durban Art Gallery, Museum Africa (Johannesburg), Iziko Slave Lodge (Cape Town).
