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Visualising the Voices of Redan

Item date(s): 2016

Jo-Ann Chan


Size: 340mm
Collation: Book set - five
Binding: In Perpex cases
Technique: Digital print; Etching
Edition: Unique

Type: Codex; Files
Theme(s): Forensic anthropology; Land; Identity; Rock art

Place publication: Potchefstroom
Publisher: The artist
Exhibition 2017

Reference note:
This is a five-part, landscape-format artist`s book. Each part consists of a combination of loose etchings and digital prints on Rosaspina contained in a Perspex box.

The current era is one of expansion and interdisciplinarity. The range of creative opportunities is rapidly expanding through digital media, breakthroughs in technology and interaction between various fields. It is this potential for collaboration and interaction that interests me - the collaboration of the digital and with the analogue; of the sciences with the arts; of theory with practice.

My current creative practice falls within the context of practice-led research and explores the notion of imbuing a landscape with a personal identity. In light of the current environmental situation, I choose to work with mistreated or forgotten landscapes in the hope of telling their stories. I attempt to apply the principles, theory and workflow of forensic anthropology to these landscapes, repositioning them as victims. 'Visualising the voices of Redan' is a project that falls within this conceptual framework with the Redan rock engraving site as victim. The Redan rock engraving site is a little known national monument and provincial heritage site located in Meyerton, Vereeniging.

Each project is a response to my personal interaction with the landscape; and the production of artists` books provided an open format through which to tell its story. It facilitated the exploration of creative opportunities provided by laser engraving, photogrammetry and Perspex as medium, amongst others, without having to force the outcome to conform to a standard book format. To a certain extent, the artist`s book as genre has allowed my creative practice to be self-indulgent in my exploration of technologies and alternative media, without losing coherence.

Digital photography, etchings and Perspex

Codex and file formats in Perspex cases

340 x 254 x 880mm



Exhibition notes:
‘Booknesses: Contemporary South African Artist's Books’.

FADA Gallery, University of Johannesburg.

Curated by David Paton and Eugene Hon.

24 March - 5 May 2017

'Visualising the Voices of Redan'.

NWU Botanical Gardens Gallery, NWU-Potchefstroom.

Curated by Justin Botha.

15 June - 29 June 2017.

Ref: DP/17035











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