Ian Van Coller
www.ianvancoller.com
Rita Ncube
Mapateng Stephina Mogaphe
Nenyane Lena Marapole
Daisy Angy Kekae
Zanele Ndlovu
Agnes Kelekegile
Agnes Ngwenya
Dikeledi Stephina Moshidi
Mokgaetse Elizabeth Moshasha
Ramadimentja Sara Selana
Ian Van Coller
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My portrait collage series combines several influences that have personally been relevant to my art-making process. The work grew out of my experimentation with the use of quilting techniques based on traditions from Africa and Gees Bend, Alabama as a way to tell stories and record oral histories, especially as they relate to my experiences of growing up in apartheid-era South Africa. The manner in which individuals in these portrait collages are presented, is heavily influenced by posters from the period of resistance against apartheid (particularly the1980s and early 1990s). The union posters are now iconic examples of the strong printmaking tradition that grew out of resistance and artistic movements that began in the townships, and which often created “heroic” figures out of ordinary people. The individuals portrayed in my portrait collage series are primarily female domestic and farm workers, many of whom work for my family.
The collages themselves consist of a multi-layered, two-dimensional piece. I print the photographic images on Japanese paper, which is then soaked in shellac to provide a transparency that allows me to rework both the front and back of the image. This enables me to layer images on top of one another so that the final piece is essentially multidimensional. The original images were cut and reassembled as a method that evokes the basis of memory and oral history, and has since evolved into a formal aesthetic approach to creating the portraits.
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