https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/28773 2026-06-27T02:58:39Z https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/32602 Agency of Objects Miller, Gwenneth A three-month residency in Europe culminated in an itinerant solo titled “Agency of objects”. The research embraced the challenge to imbue objects with anecdotes and stories that I encountered in the brief visits to Ponte de Mucela, Porto, and Madrid and the extended stay in Paris. The experience sensitised me to the lives of individuals immersed in times of interruption whilst striving to sustain a livelihood. As I identified objects of interest, I questioned the way these objects suggest socio-cultural context and searched for ways to mediate an impelling presence of belonging. The research probed the extent to which objects can reveal something about relationships between people in transit and looked for modes of presentation that could suggest the agency of objects. The aim to immerse myself in situ, further searched for ways to respond empathically to place and engagements, therefore probing the ability of inanimate objects to enable socio-cultural capacity. Archaeologist Christopher Tilley (2001:260) wrote that meaning is generated “out of situated, contextualised social action which is in continuous dialectical relationship” within structures, through media and with an outcome of action. It is thus from the use and context of objects that their agency arises, and furthermore, writing suggests that recontextualised objects can have the ability to enact change. This also alludes to the dialectical nature of art methodologies applied. The series of twelve small drawings emerged through observation of discarded tools, damaged by the wildfires of 2017 in Portugal – tools used by local inhabitants to work the land and build their shelters. The “Tool” series is site-specific for more reasons: the ink was made from disintegrating walnut husks by my host and current resident artist Celia de Villers. She created the ink on the site where the walnut tree grows and where the recent fire scorched these tools. The selection was also conceptual and metaphoric, as the objects and their shadows speak of transience and people passing through a place with hope for a future. Lexicons of cyclical regeneration occur in the paintings I studied in Madrid: a gutted fish or a skull in Dutch still-lives, an empty paper plate of a passer-by, or the disappearing person in a faded tapestry. The wall of sketches and prints on “Agency of objects” evidenced thinking through objects as markers of time, acknowledging comfort and discomfort in the finitude of life. The “agentive turn in social theory” can be linked as a scholarly framework within this theme, as it contextualises agency of humans and objects as relative (Tilley 2001:109, in Ethnography and Material Culture). Furthermore, body of work contributes to discourse around material culture, mirroring critical reflection of contemporary value systems as discussed by Appadurai (1986) in The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective. Living on-site in Paris, where artists come and go, I also become aware and very moved by the refugees of the city. The elongated structure of the Citè building offers a roof over the refugees as they pitch their tents every evening, just to dismantle them every morning. My exhibition carefully considered placement as part of the composition; for example, a floor installation of paintings particularly pondered the 'throw-away' existence of the tent dwellers. The body of work contributes to reflection of the tension between belonging and not belonging of objects in relation to global currencies and shifting uncertainties. Grouping of two- and three-dimensional works further presented abstracted objects on stilted structures. The constructed objects express the action of chopping, hammering and cleaving to contemplate the context of labourers who eke out a living. Working with the material of breakfast cereal packaging suggested a continuation of the cycle that started with implements used to work the land. The 3-D sketches became animated in their suggested movement and were further developed through mixed media collages and an elongated 3.6-metre painting. The well-attended exhibition opening of “Agency of Objects” took place at the Cité internationale des arts, Paris (April), and a second rendition of the show was held at Gordart Stokvel Gallery in September 2025, with the addition of several etchings and ink drawings. Stokvel Gallery is in one of Melville Centre's 27 storage containers – a space conceptually extending the theme of transitory nature. For more information see the link to the artist's webpage above: https://www.gwennethmiller.com/agency-of-objects 2025-04-02T00:00:00Z https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/32600 omgekeerd Miller, Gwenneth The exhibition “omgekeerd” flickered to life when returning home after an extended sojourn outside South Africa. The title of the exhibition “on the contrary” also related to the Momentum Aardklop25 festival theme of “What Lies Beneath". My research and encounters with homeless people in makeshift dwellings in Paris begged for a new perspective upon my return. Homecoming was an experience of disorientation – a feeling of being suspended. New work towards 'omgekeerd' challenged the emotional understanding of the sanctity of home. The problem of an anchored existence is globally highlighted by issues of social disruption, often by factors beyond an individual’s control. However, there is also a legacy of willingly surrendering comfort for the purpose of understanding unfamiliar worlds. The discomfort of travel raises personal questions and may offer new insights into one’s sense of belonging. In my own studio, I delved into memories of my navigation via maps in the Drakensberg. These artworks include places where my late husband and I had hiked. Linear elements echoed my collection of old “Slingsby” maps and my memory of walking the mountains. My multiple experiences of hiking and travelling challenge the perception of space and one’s ego in the larger scheme of things. The images of tents being blown away in “Makeshift” and “The Trail" became metaphors for our world of unease and discord. These works expressed my strong awareness of our malleable identities and how we constantly tinker to find our position in society. In “omgekeerd” this iterative process reflects on the impact of place and relations as constantly evolving. When hiking in unfamiliar terrain, one seems hyper-alert to find the way, often reliant on devices and co-travellers. Eventually, you flow into meditative silence. I used the tortoise shell in “Becoming Mountain” as a metaphor for slow time and sight. Both this drawing and “The Trail" extended beyond the images, as the paper was a collaboration with Phumani Papers. I embedded snippets of drawings, layering the paper into an organic ‘terrain’. Colour drawings were made on rice paper, gifted by another artist; thus, the action of creating material was contemplative and interwoven. The installation "Al lê die berge nog so blou" consisted of an ‘isodome’ tent, used over two decades whilst camping. This tent, in its apparent flimsy materiality, was a place of safety. The six panels, rendered in charcoal and beeswax, tracked walking routes and contour lines referencing trails. In the tent were often-used maps, a backpack and mattresses. The tent installation with chair became an interactive resting space for festival viewers, where many people shared their stories of the ‘berg’. Here the diverse recollection with a public beyond the art world formed a kinship and was an opportunity for newcomers to learn about how art conveys lived experiences. In preparation, I visited ‘Snowflake’ in Potchefstroom and recorded details of this historical venue dating back to 1921. Documentation of the scars and scratches on beams is an abstract record of history. The patina and marks on the pillars of the building resonated with topographical maps in the artworks in the installation. The exposed bricks and metal fixtures recall the old mill as a site of labour and human relationships. The mounting on 30cm threaded rods of the painterly drawing “You will always be in contact” created an ethereal rendition of my personal history and took cognisance of the unknowable stories of other lives that had passed through this space. The artworks underscore the philosophy of "revitalising effects” but not resemblance, as phrased by Martin Crowley (2013:372, in Deleuze on Painting 67:3, July:371-385). My aim was to contribute to the resonance and energy of specific spaces and facilitate socio-cultural reflection. The well-attended exhibition opening of “omgekeerd” at the Snowflake Venue in October 2025 was opened by Dr Combrink. Network24 published the review titled “Snowflake will turn your earthbeat upside down” and in Afrikaans “Dié visuele kuns by Snowflake sal jou Aardklop omkeer.” The exhibition “omgekeerd” took place alongside a group exhibition “Vice Versa”, which I curated with the concept of a dialogue between worlds. Both my curated and solo exhibitions were nominated as best exhibitions alongside those of Clinton Lubbe and Jaco van Schalkwyk, who eventually was the winner. Further information can be found at the artist's webpage https://www.gwennethmiller.com/omgekeerd-2025 2025-10-07T00:00:00Z https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/32158 The Measure of Matter Miller, Gwenneth The travelling solo exhibition “The Measure of Matter” consists of 21 new works reimagining spines and objects to consider being bound by time and matter. The first installation was in the two front rooms of the Tina Skukan Gallery and the second installation took place at the White River Art Gallery, where the narrative flow was reconceptualised. The research was triggered by the physical problem of struggling to walk due to Spondylitis. In the months before the pending operation, the artist studied the anatomy and contemplated frailty. Images of the skeleton and the spine transmuted into an interest in the spines of old books, existential mapping devices and objects associated with mortality and the interrogation of what really matters. The artworks address a shared reality: we are all bound by time and matter and the anxieties of an uncertain future. The preliminary research considered how the artist could extend personal experiences into works that would resonate with the audience, bringing its own history and realities to the exhibition. The painting “Platteland” was a reworking of the brush art created the previous year, but here the artist added water to suggest a journey of the object as ‘body’ on the way elsewhere. It was the work that triggered the association and link with weathered bones. Drawing the past into the present, alchemic yellow tones were applied in works such as “Map to nowhere (becoming something)" and the darkly humorous dancing “Salome I” and “Salome II”. Interestingly, the Biblical Salome is vilified by Jung in his Red Book (2009), although he equates her with the soul. Initially anatomy was approached as a mechanistic system of levels until the body’s incredible ability to grow new bone was experienced, restructuring the old into something new. Bridgman’s (1972) “The human machine” introduced the artist to the atlas bone that supports the human skull. It is named after the titan Atlas, who, in Greek mythology, supported the world on his shoulders. The painting "Atlas" was accompanied by “Load Bearing", depicting an overloaded truck – begging the question of burden – albeit with some sense of humour. Bridgman’s images of the human spine reminded of weathered books kept intact by a network of stubborn threads, like tendons binding muscle and bone. These inspired the creation of “All that matters” and “The spine study” series. At Skukan Art Gallery, the series was positioned to form a dialogue with the permanent sculptural works that related to objects of labour, but the installation was reformatted and retitled at White River Art Gallery, to “A library of time from Göttingen”, as the space seemed to demand a different reading. In high-resolution photography the books were treated as if they were portraits, commemorating time with subtitles such as “Becoming wood” and “Dictionary of the disappearing”. Conceptually, weather mapping was considered to contemplate fresh winds blowing life into matter. The chronicle flow was a method to renew thinking about illness as a cyclical part of life. Visual associations were layered until the medium and material began to communicate meaningful new associations. Torn layers of paper and thickly applied charcoal evidenced awareness as embodied thinking. Much like the atlas bone, our spiritual compass decides what matters and what does not, and how we measure its bearing and influence. These works form an interdisciplinary conversation with reflections on psychology, new-material culture and research on ‘falling upwards' in life, to borrow Richard Rohr’s words. In this sense the work contributes to new understanding, bridging the above fields in visualisation. “The Measure of Matter” exhibitions and several walkabouts were well attended at both Tina Skukan Gallery and White River Art Gallery. Opportunities for academic talks were optimised as the audience attended the solo and the solo of Elfriede Dreyer, which were presented alongside each other but as separate research. Both spaces have a good following and are well-established institutions. Bridgman, GB. 1972. The human machine. New York: Dover. Jung, CG. 2009. The Red Book: Liber Novus. Edited by S. Shamdasani. New York: Norton. See the link to the artist's website at the top of this page 2024-09-14T00:00:00Z https://ir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/32067 Moment Dreyer, Elfriede The Moment project (2024) consists of ten new artworks, each paired with a unique sound composition, culminating in two solo exhibitions: one at Tina Skukan Gallery in Pretoria and another at White River Gallery in Mpumalanga. As an invited artist at both venues, I developed these works specifically for this exhibition, building on my exploration of sound initiated with The Piano at the beginning of 2024. Thematically, Moment investigates the processes of transmuting sound into word, image into sound, and word into image. I collaborated with Seoul-based experimental visual and sound artist Johan van Huyssteen, composing sounds on my piano, which he then post-produced. In The Piano, my piano—both as an object and an instrument that survived the 2017 Knysna Great Fire—became a vehicle for exploring themes of loss and recollection. Selected works from that series were included in Moment, which further extends these inquiries by specifically examining the interplay between image, word, and sound. Each work is accompanied by a sound composition, accessible via QR codes displayed at the exhibitions.The visual language of Moment incorporates imagery of sound waves, comic-book conventions such as dialogue balloons, and mountain landscapes. A technique of layered polyphony—applied across physical and digital media—evokes a sense of consciousness extending across physical, mental, and virtual realms. The project also includes an online exhibition catalogue, three artist walkabouts, and international collaboration. The works remain permanently available for viewing at www.elfriededreyer.com/2024-moment. The newly produced works for this exhibition were inspired by my experimentation in 2024 with intermediality in my solo exhibition, The Piano. In Moment, I collaborated with Seoul-based experimental visual and sound artist Johan van Huyssteen to compose sounds on and within my piano, while he handled post-production after the paintings were completed. The Piano explored my instrument—my only possession to survive the 2017 Knysna Great Fire—not only as a sound-producing object but also in terms of themes of loss and remembrance.Twelve works from that series were selected to create sound compositions for and be included in the Moment exhibitions, to further extend the inquiry into the interplay between image, word, and sound. Initially, these works were presented without sound, but for Moment, they acquired a sonic dimension. Imagery of fire, sound waves, comic-book conventions such as dialogue balloons (Tonk, Moment, and Die trane die rol oor jou Bokkie), and mountain symbolism (Speak to the Mountain) are central to this body of work. A technique of layered polyphony—employed across physical and digital media in both image and sound—suggests consciousness extending across physical, mental, and virtual realms. Conceptually, this dialogical polyphony aligns with Heidegger’s ([1927] 1962) notion of Dasein, which describes the human condition as fundamentally situated within a world of relationality. Dasein is always Being-with-Others, an ontology of interconnectedness. Sound, with its vibrational materiality, embodies this interconnectivity, reinforcing the fluid boundaries between self and environment. Heidegger’s concept of Geworfenheit (being ‘thrown’ into existence) extends to all living beings, encompassing their relationship to temporality and death. In Moment, a pivotal work in the series, life is framed as an ephemeral instance—captured within a transparent dialogue balloon—expressing the existential condition of Being-in-Time. The new Moment works explore the connections of image and word to sound, and each work is accompanied by its own sound composition. The sounds are accessible via QR codes, shown during the exhibitions for the public to access. Some sounds simulate child-like simple consonant melodies and others are more dissonant and emotional, attempting to capture a particular existential moment. An existential scream materialises through image and sound in Ebony, narrating the trauma of the ebony tree’s felling—its wood repurposed into the black keys of the piano. In the moment of its ‘death,’ the inner heart of the wood reveals a vivid red, gradually darkening to black as it withers. Engaging in an intermedial idiom cultivates a dynamic interplay where meaning emerges through the interaction of media rather than within isolated forms. As Rajewsky (2005) posits, intermediality is a transformative process in which media actively reshape one another. The intermedial fusion of sound, word, and image in the exploration of fire and loss employs sensory layering, dissolving boundaries in a polyphonic dialogue. In works such as Fermata (‘Pause’), Saving Grace of Sound, and Boom! Ting!, physical burning was used as both process and metaphor, enacting a symbolic fusion of media. This intermedial approach operates through oscillation between forms, echoing the flickering nature of fire—a force that simultaneously consumes and creates. The inherent loss within fire’s destructive capacity extends beyond the visual into the sonic, contributing to what Voegelin (2010) describes as the “productive body of sound”, where sound is not merely an auditory phenomenon but a material force that shapes perception and meaning. In the Moment series intermediality becomes a methodology for articulating the existential condition of connectedness. These works exemplify the idea of ‘intermedia’, a space where traditional distinctions between artistic disciplines collapse, fostering new modalities of expression. Sources quoted Heidegger, M. [1927] 1962. Being and Time. Translated by John Macquarrie and Edward. Available: https://altair.pw/pub/lib/Martin%20Heidegger%20-%20Being%20and%20Time%20(translated%20by%20Macquarrie%20&%20Robinson).pdf. Accessed 3 September 2024. Rajewsky, IO. 2005. Intermediality, Intertextuality, and Remediation: A Literary Perspective on Intermediality. Intermédialités 6: 43–64. Available: https://doi.org/10.7202/1005505ar. Accessed 3 September 2024. Voegelin, S. 2010. Listening to Noise and Silence: Towards a Philosophy of Sound Art. New York: Bloomsbury Academic. 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z