Metaphoric visual expressions in African art: an iconographical analysis of selected artworks by contemporary visual artists

Abstract

Contemporary African artworks in their diversity are rich carriers of cultural meaning and values. In African art, there is an evolution in the context of visual metaphors as artists create narratives that are cognisant of global aesthetic developments. This study examines the creation and interpretation of indigenous visual metaphors by four selected contemporary Zimbabwean visual artists. An interpretive research design was used and this informed the use of in-depth interviews with purposively selected artists, studio observations, and artwork analysis to generate data. The diversity of art genres, media, and the creation of metaphoric artworks determined the sampling of artists. Findings revealed that visual metaphoric creations were inspired by community experiences and other artists. Visual metaphors were pronounced as vehicles for transmitting community messages. This study recommends extending the creation and interpretation of indigenous visual metaphors to the art education curriculum to inform culturally relevant and diverse practices.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 African art refers to the visual arts created by artists living in and from Africa, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa countries. It often includes genres such as sculpture, painting, pottery, rock art, textiles, performance art, installations, photography, new media art and mixed media art.

2 Installation art is a conceptual art form that creates an immersive experience through mixed media pieces built specifically for large sites. It is also referred to as site-specific art.

3 Iconography refers to the use of images and symbols to represent ideas or the particular images and symbols in visual art.

4 A visual metaphor is an image or icon used by an artist that the viewer is meant to decipher as a symbol for something else for meaning-making purposes.

5 Iconology involves the study and interpretation of the meaning of these visual images and symbols.

6 A monoaxial sculpture has a single plane of symmetry. The sculpture is characterised by a central axis also called the oro-aboral axis of the body which divides the artwork into two identical parts.

7 The Ndoro is the royal emblem of the. Karanga / Shona people. The Ndoro was commonly used for trade during the height of the Great Zimbabwe Empire. It was initially introduced by the Portuguese and was made either of conus shell or porcelain. The people of Great Zimbabwe adopted the symbol into their culture.

8 The style of an artwork refers to its distinctive visual elements, techniques, and methods. It usually corresponds with an art movement or a school (group) that the artist belongs to. Style is a distinctive manner that permits the grouping of works into related categories. Style can be divided into the general style of a period, country or cultural group, group of artists or art movement, and the individual style of the artist within that group style.

9 Postcolonial art refers to art produced in response to the aftermath of colonial rule, frequently addressing issues of national and cultural identity, race and ethnicity. This type of art is guided by themes of community, interdependence, and cultural changes.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Njabulo Mpofu

Njabulo Mpofu is a lecturer in Arts and Design Education at the University of Zimbabwe. Currently, Njabulo is a PhD candidate at the University of Zimbabwe in the area of contemporary visual art. His research interests are Contemporary African Art, Sub-Saharan African Art, Aesthetics and Art and Art and Design Education.

Attwell Mamvuto

Attwel Mamvuto is a Professor of Art and Design Education at the University of Zimbabwe. His editorial experience includes a referee for journals and an editor of books manuscripts. Professor Mamvuto has been an external examiner to local and regional universities. His research interests include Art Pedagogy, Assessment in Art, the Art Curriculum, Art and Culture as well as Teacher Eduction.

Edgar Nhira-Mberi

Edgar Nhira-Mberi is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Languages, Literature and Culture at the University of Zimbabwe, where he teaches Dialectology, Corpus Linguistics, Language Planning and Cognitive Linguistics. He was Deputy Editor of Duramazwi ReChiShona (1996), a monolingual corpus-aided dictionary.