Can art deconstruct dogma?
AUCKLAND PARK - Drop by the UJ Art Gallery to view their current exhibition, Deconstructing Dogma. This exhibition features incredible art from private collections that might never be seen again.
Today is the last day of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Arts and Culture 07exhibition featuring Christian iconography in their art gallery. The exhibition is entitled Deconstructing Dogma. Works by prominent South African artists such as Conrad Botes, Wim Botha, Majak Bredell, Christiaan Diedericks, Christine Dixie, Gordon Froud, Lawrence Lemaoana, Julie Lovelace, Jacki McInnes, Diane Victor and Derek Zietsman are on display.
These works address the manifold ways religious iconography connects with the regulation of society, the construction of gender and racial identities, political and social change, abuse of power by role models and politicians and violence.
The exhibition curator, professor Karen von Veh says the history of Christianity can be read as a history of power and regulation of the masses. Christianity in South Africa has a history of underpinning Nationalist state policies that reinforced the censorship laws and largely informed Afrikaner dominance under apartheid. By parodying sacred imagery, these artists are able to engage with inherited religious sensibilities in order to disturb complacent viewing.
The exhibition features some spectacular works that have been borrowed from private collections and will never be seen in public again, so do go and have a look, while you have the opportunity.
