Unearthed : personifications of widowhood and acts of memory : volume 1 and 2

• Main Author: Arbi, Linda Margaret
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Rhodes University 2009
• Subjects: Widowhood > Social aspects > South Africa; Widowhood > Social aspects > Cape of Good Hope (South Africa); Widows in art > South Africa; Widows in art > Cape of Good Hope (South Africa); Memory in art > South Africa; Memory in art > Cape of Good Hope (South Africa)
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002225

By researching visual traditions of representing widows in relation to a social role, I explore how these may be related to processes of mourning and memory. My study begins with an historical reading and, along with an analysis of Renaissance widow portraiture, I trace the experiences of widows in the Cape of Good Hope. For the purposes of this thesis, I have selected images of widows to investigate memory-work particularly when speaking of loss. I re-view these memory processes through recent historical and art historical discourse with reference to contemporary South African artworks in order to understand how public memory is formed by way of visual documentation. These narratives around widowhood have informed the subject matter for my Master’s exhibition and shed light on my own experience as a widow. The interaction between objects and memory are of particular interest and manifest in my studio art practice.