Chapter 17 Atomized Solidarity and New Shapes of Resistance Visual Activism in South Africa after Apartheid

• Main Author: Thomas, Kylie (auth)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 2023
• Subjects: History of art / art & design styles; The arts: general issues; activism, Africa, apartheid, dissent, Haroon Gunn-Salie, homophobia, neo-liberal, resistance, Section27, sexual violence, , South Africa, Tokolos Stencils Collective, visual activism, Zanele Muholi, artists, art history, injustice, social justice, inequality
• Online Access: OAPEN Library: download the publication; OAPEN Library: description of the publication

This chapter provides a concise history of visual activism in South Africa and focuses on how contemporary artists and activists make use of visual forms to intervene in public space, to document injustice, and to express dissent. The chapter argues that visual activism is best understood as a call to those who look to move from seeing and knowing to acting. Through analyses of works by visual activists Zanele Muholi, Haroon Gunn-Salie, and the Tokolos Stencils Collective, and through engaging with a campaign created by the social justice movement Section27, the essay shows how such work draws attention to homophobia and sexual violence; impunity for crimes against humanity; and ongoing inequality in the aftermath of apartheid. The essay also considers what occurs when visual activist works are detached from collective mobilizing and circulate within the neo-liberal art economy, producing forms of atomized solidarity.