An exhibition of portraits of Nelson Mandela questions the role that art plays in the construction of power Yvette Gresl Janet Wilson’s debut exhibition, Icon and Index, is an engrossing exploration of portraiture in post-apartheid South Africa. The subject of Wilson’s portraits is Nelson Mandela, unquestionably South Africa’s most ubiquitous political and cultural icon. I was struck by the way in which Wilson chose to engage with this revered, larger- than-life symbol of the “new” South Africa. In her work, Mandela’s normally stable status as political icon is made curiously ambiguous. Moving through the exhibition I noticed that the figure of Mandela, his presence, gradually disintegrates and at times disappears, becoming almost secondary to the artist’s intensely personal exploration of the technical and formal processes of her chosen medium, the screenprint.
As you enter the exhibition space you are confronted by an imposing portrait of Mandela. This portrait evokes the grandiose depictions of the political subject through history except for the fact that Wilson fragments Mandela’s image through the imposition of a grid. As you progress through the exhibition Wilson’s systematic use of the grid technique together with her manipulation of colour and texture gradually obfuscates Mandela’s image. In Mandela Nine Segments Wilson adapts the structure of the grid to a monumental scale. Here Mandela’s image is fragmented into nine individual squares composed of different colours and textures. As I stood close to the image I found myself forgetting Mandela and focusing on every segment as though each were an artwork in itself. As I moved backwards, away from the work, the nine individual segments formed one composite image, that of Mandela. I was intrigued by the ambiguity suggested by the blurring of Mandela’s iconic status. In Wilson’s similarly structured For M each segment is a vibrant colour-field. The image of Mandela is evoked only in the title that it stands for – For Mandela. This “disintegration” or dissolution of Mandela’s image is provocative given the representation of political figures in South African visual culture during the apartheid era. During this period, portraits, whether in the form of an oil painting, public sculpture or “resistance” poster, functioned to imbue leaders, from either side of the political spectrum, with power and authority. The success of the political portrait is dependent on its ability to communicate the attributes of the subject in an accessible and direct manner. The kind of abstraction employed by Wilson would have undermined the objective of these portraits. Many South African artists during the 1980s felt a responsibility towards “the struggle” and set themselves against the regime of the day creating posters or art works that engaged criti-cally with the ideology of apartheid. The subject-matter of these “resistance” artists was clearly defined and unambiguous, as was the message conveyed by their work. With the heightened ambiguity of the post-apartheid condition the role of these same artists has shifted. South African politics is no longer defined by the confrontation of two opposing ideological systems. Wilson’s simultaneous foregrounding of Mandela (he is her only subject) while undermining his iconic status through the dissolution of his image behind grids, colours and textures suggests a heightened consciousness of the complexity of representing the political subject in the current political context. Despite the somewhat bland exhibition space of the African Window Museum Wilson’s work remains both intellectually and visually stimulating.
Icon and Index is on at the African Window Museum, 149 Visagie Street, Pretoria, until October 29. For more information Tel: (012) 3246082