Trauma as a borderland concept in contemporary South African painting

摘要

AbstractudIn this report I explore trauma as a concept in contemporary painting. I interpret certainudSouth African paintings that assert the affective dimension of the painted surface asudparticularly compelling manifestations of a concept of trauma. I frame my discussion inudterms of Mark Seltzer’s (1997:5) theory of trauma as a ‘borderland concept’. I seeudSeltzer’s concept as analogous to certain formal values these South African paintingsuddeploy in relation to the painted surface, primarily the tension between materiality andudiconography, form and formlessness, figure and ground and surface and depth. I draw onudaspects of psychoanalytic theory and discourses on contemporary painting to support myuddiscussion. I analyze selected paintings by Marlene Dumas and Penny Siopis within thisudframework. I also discuss my own paintings and Masters exhibition as pertaining to audconcept of trauma. I argue that trauma as a borderland concept offers a means ofudappraising contemporary painting in a way that resists an overly semantic or purelyudperceptual interpretation.