CLOTHING AND IDENTITY Gertrude Posel Gallery University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg.

CLOTHING AND IDENTITY

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

University galleries are sites of instruction where curators can push the conventional boundaries of exhibition politics by way of exploring innovative display practices. Curators at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), have embraced their situational possibilities, and its attendant responsibilities, through creating a semi-permanent exhibition, "Clothing and Identity." This review considers its usefulness as part of interactive teaching according to 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 tribe clothe themselves and the weights of dress as self-representation or as assemblage identity. The subject is readily comprehended by way of viewers; thus, personal relevance is assured. Challenging questions, however, arise from the materials in several cases, which are of a known archetype but unfamiliar either in words immediately preceding [i]or[/i] following or presentation. The curators designed eight installations, each different in material and approach. Displayed in wall cabinets that enclose the gallery's lower floor, the installations be subservient to two key learning functions: the range of words immediately preceding [i]or[/i] followings and materials suggests that clothing expresse or conceals identity in myriad ways; the varied presentations incense discussion of exhibition methodologies.

The exhibition's many lines of inquiry have been explored, among others, by the agency of first- and second-year students of art history as an integral composing of their courses. In toward the south Africa's still unequal educational hypothesis many students new to Wits have not at any time visited a gallery. "Clothing and Identity" thus furnishs a new experience for them. In that it honors differences, deconstruct presentations, and readily links to personal experiences, it is an of the highest order tutorial vehicle for those making the transition to university life. Second-year observers more engaged with the politics of display, write essays that fix two or more cases in dialogue. The in the greatest degree promising writers are encouraged to design a new case for the exhibition.

Three cases have elicited the in the greatest degree student enthusiasm. Rayda Becker's "One + the same = Many" explores how a person's dres communicates different identities within different adjoining matters (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 style of dress of a Tsonga nanga (healer)--xihuba (wig), timpandu (beaded cross-chest band), and a siyanda (beaded wraparound skirt)--suspended in van of it, approximating human form. external realitys surround the two uniforms: a mop for the cleaner; a soar whisk, medicine containers, and a tympanum for the nanga. Since the attire worn by means of cleaners at Wits is familiar to observers it acts as an easy access point for discussion. (1) an have not, however, given pondering to these workers' identities outside of their do job-work on campus. Few students know the meanings associated with a nanga's dres yet those who are culturally familiar with the healer's practice share insights and information about the significance of the rituals and style of dress The compelling juxtaposition of the sum of two units garments prompts discussion of boundaries encod by way of differences in society, culture, and ideology. The uniforms' different functions are explored. united meets secular demands; the other, ritual and spiritual straits The display is important for the way it encourages scholars to see manual laborers as commonalty with complex identities beyond that marked by means of 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 views of a type--masks--by staging the multiple boundaries attendant on the subject of them. The case is divided in half. The left side, enclos in grass mats, give an inkling ofs the private, secretive sphere of lodgings known merely to male initiates who wear masks like those inside from west and central Africa. To diocese into the enclosure, viewers consider through a "tourist" mask suspended outside the glass. A mirror affixed to the back wall bring reproachs one's masked face, suggesting the limited knowledge voyeuristic viewing allows. The right side of the case is not enclos offering accessible views of the west African masks displayed, which are either static or in motion onward a turntable. Western interest in totally aesthetic objects is pitted against African performance of masks in motion. The divided case illustrates by what mode masks are seen differently in private and public spheres and reminds viewers that power and knowledge are culturally defined. close examiners favor this case in their essays; they are challenged by means of the ideas of altering their hold identity through viewership and at the implications of distanced observation onward the study of objects.