Clothing and identity - recent exhibitions

African Arts, Autumn, 2001 by Barbara Buntman, Shannen Hill

CLOTHING AND IDENTITY

Gertrude Posel Gallery University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa February 28, 1998-December 15, 2001

University galleries are sites of instruction where curators can push the conventional boundaries of exhibition politics by exploring innovative display practices. Curators at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), have embraced their situational possibilities, and its attendant responsibilities, by creating a semi-permanent exhibition, "Clothing and Identity." This review considers its usefulness as part of interactive teaching by the Department of Art History at Wits.

"Clothing and Identity" has seven curators: Rayda Becker, Julia Charlton, and Fiona Rankin-Smith, from the Gertrude Posel Art Gallery; Anitra Nettleton of the Department of Art History at Wits; Veliswa Gwintsa, Nessa Leibhammer, and Debbie Lutrin, previous M.A. candidates in art history at Wits. Jan Hughes and Sipho Ndabambi provided assistance. The exhibition examines the ways in which people clothe themselves and the effects of dress as self-representation or as group identity. The subject is readily comprehended by viewers; thus, personal relevance is assured. Challenging questions, however, arise from the materials in several cases, which are of a known type but unfamiliar either in context or presentation. The curators designed eight installations, each different in material and approach. Displayed in wall cabinets that surround the gallery's lower floor, the installations serve two key learning functions: the range of contexts and materials suggests that clothing expresses or conceals identity in myriad ways; the varied presentations provoke discussion of exhibition methodologies.

The exhibition's many lines of inquiry have been explored, among others, by first- and second-year students of art history as an integral component of their courses. In South Africa's still unequal educational system, many students new to Wits have never visited a gallery. "Clothing and Identity" thus offers a new experience for them. In that it honors differences, deconstructs presentations, and readily links to personal experiences, it is an excellent tutorial vehicle for those making the transition to university life. Second-year students, more engaged with the politics of display, write essays that set two or more cases in dialogue. The most promising writers are encouraged to propose a new case for the exhibition.

Three cases have elicited the most student enthusiasm. Rayda Becker's "One One = Many" explores how a person's dress communicates different identities within different contexts (Fig. 2). A pair of bright-green worker's overalls emblazoned with the Wits logo is pinned flat against a neutral-colored wall with the costume of a Tsonga nanga (healer)--xihuba (wig), timpandu (beaded cross-chest band), and a siyanda (beaded wraparound skirt)--suspended in front of it, approximating human form. Objects surround the two uniforms: a mop for the cleaner; a fly whisk, medicine containers, and a drum for the nanga. Since the attire worn by cleaners at Wits is familiar to students, it acts as an easy access point for discussion. (1) Some have not, however, given thought to these workers' identities outside of their job on campus. Few students know the meanings associated with a nanga's dress, but those who are culturally familiar with the healer's practice share insights and information about the significance of the rituals and costume. The compelling juxtaposition of the two garments prompts discussion of boundaries encoded by differences in society, culture, and ideology. The uniforms' different functions are explored. One meets secular demands; the other, ritual and spiritual needs. The display is important for the way it encourages students to see manual laborers as people with complex identities beyond that marked by their work attire.

[FIGURE 2 OMMITED]

Anitra Nettleton's "Inside and Out: African Masks" is also a popular installation (Fig. 1). It complicates identity communicated via objects of a type--masks--by staging the multiple boundaries attendant upon them. The case is divided in half. The left side, enclosed in grass mats, suggests the private, secretive sphere of lodgings known only to male initiates who wear masks like those inside from west and central Africa. To see into the enclosure, viewers look through a "tourist" mask suspended outside the glass. A mirror affixed to the back wall reflects one's masked face, suggesting the limited knowledge voyeuristic viewing allows. The right side of the case is not enclosed, offering accessible views of the west African masks displayed, which are either static or in motion on a turntable. Western interest in purely aesthetic objects is pitted against African performance of masks in motion. The divided case illustrates how masks are seen differently in private and public spheres and reminds viewers that power and knowledge are culturally defined. Students favor this case in their essays; they are challenged by the ideas of altering their own identity through viewership and by the implications of distanced observation on the study of objects.