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Minnette Vári
Revenant
Goodman Gallery Cape | 21 April - 19 May 2012
Minnette Vári’s new body of multimedia work on show at the
The Baubo figures immediately strike one as absurd, the absurdity of
Goodman Gallery is built around the concept of the uncanny return –
a violated body. Their legs lead one’s gaze upwards, to the decorous
of repressed sexualities, identities, returns to earth from beyond it,
suggestion of a vulva, indistinguishable from a slight cleft in – a chin?
and returns from beyond death itself, in a new cycle of work that
And then up to a face. Much larger than the legs it sits atop, the face
features vibrant departures into relatively unfamiliar media for the
is variously screaming, laughing, in repose... but where is the
artist.
middle?!A closer look changes the feeling of absurdity to one of
unease at this absent middle. Physically impossible, it demands an
Building on a recent showing of drawings that explored ancient
explanation, a palliative analysis.
depictions of pre-pagan female deities around the world, Vári depicts
!
the goddess Baubo as an almost narrative presence pulling the
One origin story of the Baubo has her exposing her genitals to
strands of the show together, weaving weirdly in and out of various
provoke the laughter of the inappropriate response, as she causes the
landscapes, situations, objects and interactions.
goddess Demeter to suspend her mourning of her missing daughter
Persephone and to laugh instead. The unbidden nakedness that
Dating from at least the 5th Century BC, Baubo became one of the
attracts immediately the unavoidable gaze is, in short, an uncanny
first "sacred fools" and her image of a jesting, sexually liberated,
response, the same uncanniness revealed when one cannot explain
wise woman has informed the identities and practices of many
what is funny in the joke, one can only laugh.
subsequent cults of worship.!Baubo has been celebrated as a positive
!
force of female sexuality and the healing power of laughter, which is
In these figures narrative is delicately but unyieldingly subverted, in
why the series of drawings featuring the figure is named ‘apotrope’:
the profound way that art can make possible. Vári’s masterstroke is
a ritual or object to ward off bad luck.
to make this goddess/jester the viewer’s guide through the
!
exhibition.
The show comprises a variety of work, most connected to or
megalithic and other South African landmarks, and actual items of
featuring the Baubo. ‘The Life of Baubo (Apotrope!series)’ introduces
'space junk' that have fallen back to earth.
the figure to the audience, and is extended in a series of storyboard
drawings placing the goddess in different and strange environments
Lastly, the show features a video projection based on Victorian/
and landscapes. There are large studies of the Baubo lapsing into her
Edwardian memorial photography. In this narrative, figures wake
own curious narcissism, playing in front of a Victorian mirror, a period
from their deathly slumber (or take turns to be the 'dead one'). They
motif that will itself re-emerge in the work.
are ‘revenants’, returning from the dead. While referencing how
technology would be applied in the search of the paranormal, and
The show also features a series of seven jewel-like sculptural
the world of spiritualism in the late 19th Century in its visual lexicon
objects, the ‘Charm Series’, another reference to the Baubo’s
of double exposures, images of ectoplasm etc., it is also set against
reputed apotropaic magic; 'that which turns away harm'. Each is
the backdrop of Johannesburg of the Randlords era. The historical
based on a piece of space debris (parts of satellites, rocket booster
frame gestures to going into the belly of the earth, like Persephone
gear etc.). The reference to the number seven is to seven days of the
whose mother Demeter was cheered up by Baubo, and returning with
week, where each day corresponds to a heavenly body and its related
precious goods – referencing both mining and the creative
metal, gods & goddesses; eg. Wednesday = Mercury (Mercredi) =
process).!A series of photographs will accompany this video work.
Wodin/Mercurius/Hermes. This collaboration with jeweller and
master goldsmith Cronjé Grobbelaar also evokes alchemical
principles of change, transformation and return.
The last two sets of works are in a more familiar medium for the
artist – video. The first is a video work in 7 channels, featuring an
extended panorama within which the Baubo acts out a 'creation
myth'!of sorts. This time the goddess interacts with characters and
objects in an ever-evolving landscape, including well-known
The Charm Series
Sunday’s Child (fine gold and chalcopyrite)
Monday’s Child (sterling silver)
Tuesday’s Child (iron and steel)
Wednesday’s Child (mercury, sterling silver and silicone rubber)
Thursday’s Child (tin)
Friday’s Child (copper)
Saturday’s Child (lead)
All: hand blown glass bell jars, black velvet and African mahogany
Life of Baubo (Apotrope Series) (1-7)
Ink on Fabriano
Life of Baubo (Apotrope 1)
Life of Baubo (Apotrope 2)
Life of Baubo (Apotrope 3)
Life of Baubo (Apotrope 4)
Life of Baubo (Apotrope 5)
Life of Baubo (Apotrope 6)
Life of Baubo (Apotrope 7)
Apotrope Study Series (1 - 5)
Ink on Fabriano
Baubo on the Shore (The Unforgetting of Being)
Ink, oil and pastel on Fabriano
Baubo on the Shore (The Unforgetting of Knowing)
Ink, acrylic and pastel on Fabriano
Night Philtre
7-Channel Video Installation
Duration: 2’ 15”
The Revenant
Single Channel Video Installation
Duration 3 minutes
The Revenant
Photo Series (1 - 9)
Lambda Prints
Thanks to:
The Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Trust and Northwards curator Dr. Neil Viljoen
David Ross of PVision
Designer goldsmith Cronjé Grobbelaar
Photographer Sally Shorkend and Danny van der Merwe
Duncan Houghton,!Herlo Janse van Rensburg,!Lynn Joffe,!Itumeleng Mokgope, Thandi Moyo,!Tracy Murinik,!
Samantha and Tyra Ngwenya,!Nelson Perreira,!Mia Pillay,!Indra Wussow (sitters for The Revenant project)
All staff at the Goodman Gallery