THE ART OF PERFORMANCE |
DAVE MANN
Billie Zagewa Stolen moments, 2017. Silk tapestry, 119cm x 138 cm. Courtesy of the artist and blank projects
The fragmented language of
T
collage
he collage forms an important, but often overlooked
consumption of information, such as self-curated timelines
role in the realms of visual art. It’s provided a
or invisible algorithms that collect our reading or viewing
longstanding metaphor for the advents of mass-
patterns before processing and feeding them back to us in
production and consumption, as well as notions of
the form of adverts, suggested links, or even AI-generated
the readymade, the fragmented, in our daily lives. The writer, academic and theatremaker Jane Taylor
prompts in our Gmail accounts. All of this considered, I think collage can be seen as
recently highlighted to me, South Africa’s particular
a medium that’s crucial to our understanding of history,
preoccupation with archival information, explaining
fragmented realities and experiences, and the ways in which
that this is partly due to our desires to fill in the gaps, or
we engage with various forms and streams of information.
correct the skewed versions of history created by colonial
Collage art in South Africa ranges from traditional cut-
and apartheid legacies. But we also hold a distrust for
and-paste techniques, to the increasingly prevalent digital
the archive, and in this way, the archive can be seen as
collage art. Many of these artists explore notions of history,
something that’s taken in fragments – picked apart and
memory, identity, consumption, performance, and more
rectified, or used for only its more vital parts.
through their work.
Technology, the internet, and social media have also
Cape Town-based artist Jody Paulsen employs felt in
played their part in these fragmentary and disproportionate
his works, many of which have been exhibited both locally
access points to information. Not in the way of an
and abroad. Paulsen’s work is also a stunning example of
information overload, because the world’s libraries were
collage as a direct response and resolution to the notions
just as rich and full before we gained the internet, but more
of consumerism, identity, and mass-production. Through
so how we engage with that information. Social networks
the use of felt, which Paulsen says complements his love for
allow anyone with an internet connection to access or add
play, craft, and hobby, the artist makes use of various pop-
to information archives, contributing their own narratives or
culture iconography, logos, and advertising clichés to deliver
ways of understanding to a particular history or narrative in
a simultaneously wry and flamboyant collage technique.
a way that’s faster and more accessible than ever before. But
Paulsen’s work also includes various fonts, often taken from
there are also factors that can limit our access to a broader
fashion and fast food brands. When I interviewed the artist
70 / Creative Feel / November 2018
