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A Digital History of Art

Justine Wintjes and students of Art History at the University of the Witwatersrand are exploring items from the Human Science collections through cutting-edge digital techniques that allow us to see objects in entirely new ways. Doctoral student Anton Coetzee produced two preliminary 3D models. The first is a model of a sculpture of engraved cattle horns made by an unnamed African artist in the 1880s. The engravings depict scenes from the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. The second model is of a rare example of San mobile art found in the Maloti-Drakensberg. A careful look reveals faint images of several rhebuck painted in red, pink and white on one side of the stone.

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Sibhudu

Sibhudu Cave is a large rock shelter inland of the coast north of Tongaat, KwaZulu-Natal. It contains an Iron Age deposit dating between 1000 and 500 years ago, probably laid down by ritual specialists such as doctors (herbalists) or rainmakers. Beneath this upper level are deep Middle Stone Age deposits dating between 35,000 and at least 100,000 years ago. Dry conditions in the shelter result in remarkable preservation of bone and plant remains. Research at Sibhudu, first by Aron Mazel of Natal Museum, then by Lyn Wadley of the University of the Witwatersrand, and now by Nick Conard of Tübingen University, has contributed significantly to our understanding of ancient human technology and the thought patterns that generated it. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibudu_Cave

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Ntshekane

Ntshekane is an Early Iron Age site near Muden in central KwaZulu-Natal. Tim Maggs excavated there in 1973. We returned to the site in 2009 and have excavated there annually since 2015. Our interest is two-fold. First, we aim to rescue archaeological material from severe erosion. Secondly, we believe the site still offers significant research value. Our work is contributing to a better understanding of African farmers between 1400 and 900 years ago, notably their linkage to the Indian Ocean trade network, as well as providing information on contact between two different groups of farmers around 1000 years ago.

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1989 Aron Mazel photographing

Aron Mazel

Exhibition Bio

In the 1980s and 1990s, I worked as an archaeologist at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum. At the time, people in Pietermaritzburg and surrounding areas were fighting hard against the forces of apartheid. Many people were killed and injured, but only a few pictures were being taken to show what was happening. As part of my own fight against apartheid, I photographed anti-apartheid events and injustices.

Some of my photographs were published in newspapers and magazines. Sometimes I left the museum during work hours to photograph political actions.

References

Mandela, N.R. 1991. Foreword. In: The Poster Book Collective/South African History Archive. Images of Defiance: South African resistance posters of the 1980s. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.

McQuiston, L. 1993. Graphic agitation. Social and political graphics since the sixties. London: Phaidon.

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A Digital History of Art

Sibhudu

Ntshekane

Aron Mazel

Exhibition Bio

References

Opening Times