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WITS University Press - Jonathan Cane

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177 pages

English

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Civilising Grass is a socio-cultural analysis of the lawn on the South African highveld, exploring the complex relationship between landscape and power in the country’s colonial, modernist and post-apartheid eras. Drawing from eco-criticism, queer theory, art history and postcolonial studies, this book offers a lively and provocative reading of texts and illustrations to reveal the racial and gendered aspects of ‘natural’ environments. It argues that the lawn, an ordinary and often overlooked feature of South African everyday life, is neither natural nor innocent. Rather, like other colonial landscapes, the lawn functions as a site of commonplace violence, of oppression, dispossession and segregation.

This book explores an eclectic archive of artistic, literary and architectural lawns between 1886 and 2017, analysing poems, maps, gardening blogs, adverts, ethnographies and ephemera, as well as literature by Koos Prinsloo, Marlene van Niekerk and Ivan Vladislavić. In addition, Civilising Grass includes colour reproductions of lawn artworks by David Goldblatt, Lungiswa Gqunta, Pieter Hugo, Anton Kannemeyer, Sabelo Mlangeni, Moses Tladi and Kemang Wa Lehulere. Examination of these and other works reveals the organic relationship between lawn and wildness, and between lawn and human/non-human actors – thereby providing rich and unexpected insights into South African society past and present.

List of Plates

Acknowledgements

Author’s Note

Introduction: The Lawn is Singing

Chapter 1 The Lawn Discourse

Chapter 2 Keeping the Lawn

Chapter 3 Planning the Modern Lawn

Chapter 4 No Fucking up/on the Lawn

Conclusion: Saddening the Green

Notes

References

Index

Sujets

Littérature Africaine

Literary Criticism

General officer

Environment

General

Queer

Informations

Publié par	WITS University Press
Date de parution	01 juin 2019
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781776143122
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	11 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0000€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

CIVILISING GRASS

Published in South Africa by:
Wits University Press
1 Jan Smuts Avenue
Johannesburg 2001
www.witspress.co.za
Copyright © Jonathan Cane 2019
Published edition © Wits University Press 2019
Images and figures © Copyright holders
Cover artwork: David Goldblatt, Saturday afternoon in Sunward Park, Boksburg,
April 1979 . Courtesy David Goldblatt Legacy Trust and Goodman Gallery,
© David Goldblatt Legacy Trust
First published 2019
http://dx.doi.org.10.18772/12019073108
978-1-77614-310-8 (Paperback)
978-1-77614-311-5 (Web PDF)
978-1-77614-312-2 (EPUB)
978-1-77614-313-9 (Mobi)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, Act 98 of 1978.
All images remain the property of the copyright holders. The publishers gratefully acknowledge the publishers, institutions and individuals referenced in captions for the use of images. Every effort has been made to locate the original copyright holders of the images reproduced here; please contact Wits University Press in case of any omissions or errors.
Project manager: Lisa Compton
Copyeditor: Alison Lockhart
Proofreader: Lisa Compton
Indexer: Sanet le Roux
Cover design: Jonathan Cane
Typesetter: Newgen
Typeset in 10.5 point Plantin
To Gerrit, who taught me to write, and to André, who was patient
The front lawn lay spread like a huge welcome mat, inviting me into the nooks and crannies of their private spaces. But I was afraid …
— Ivan Vladislavić, Flashback Hotel: Early Stories
I envisioned all sorts of dramatic deaths: a woman strangling herself to death after being overwhelmed by hot flashes in one of the kerosene lamp-lit tunnels of the asylum; another one drowning in her night sweat; a man standing for hours on end against the wall in another tunnel masturbating himself to death; men and women writhing on the sprawling lawns dying from melancholia.
— Zakes Mda, Cion
CONTENTS
List of Plates
Acknowledgements
Author’s Note
Introduction: The Lawn is Singing
1 The Lawn Discourse
2 Keeping the Lawn
3 Planning the Modern Lawn
4 No Fucking up/on the Lawn
Conclusion: Saddening the Green
Notes
References
Index
List of Plates
1 . David Goldblatt, Saturday afternoon: bowls on the East Rand Proprietary Mines green. June 1980 . (Photograph by David Goldblatt. © David Goldblatt, courtesy of the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.)
2 . Moses Tladi, The House in Kensington B . (Image reproduced from The Artist in the Garden: The Quest for Moses Tladi by Angela Read Lloyd [Publishing Print Matters, 2009]. Courtesy of Mmapula Tladi-Small and Print Matters.)
3 . Anton Kannemeyer, Splendid Dwelling , 2012. (© Anton Kannemeyer, courtesy of the Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town.)
4 . Brett Murray, The Renaissance Man Tending His Land , 2008. (Image courtesy of Brett Murray. Photograph: Sean Wilson.)
5 . David Goldblatt, Saturday Afternoon in Sunward Park. 1979 . (Photograph by David Goldblatt. © David Goldblatt, courtesy of the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.)
6 . David Goldblatt, Miriam Mazibuko waters the garden of her RDP house for which she waited eight years. It consists of one room. Her four children live with her in-laws. Extension 8, Far East Alexandra Township. 12 September 2006 . (Photograph by David Goldblatt. © David Goldblatt, courtesy of the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.)
7 . W. A. Eden, Photomontage of Blenheim , 1935. (Image from Architectural Review , March 1935. Courtesy of EMAP.)
8 . P. H. Connell et al., Native Township General Site Layout , 1938. (Courtesy of the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand.)
9 . D. M. Calderwood, NE 51/9 , 1953. (From D. M. Calderwood, ‘Native Housing in South Africa’, PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 1953. Courtesy of Wits University Press.)
10 . D. M. Calderwood, Proposed New Residential Centre , 1953. (From D. M. Calderwood, ‘Native Housing in South Africa’, PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 1953. Courtesy of Wits University Press.)
11 . D. M. Calderwood, Analysis of 50’ x 70’ plots , 1953. (From D. M. Calderwood, ‘Native Housing in South Africa’, PhD thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 1953. Courtesy of Wits University Press.)
12 . Joane Pim, site of the garden of the Western Deep Levels hospital for mine workers in 1964. (Image from Joane Pim, Beauty is Necessary [Cape Town: Purnell & Sons, 1971].)
13 . The hospital garden three years later. (Image from Joane Pim, Beauty is Necessary [Cape Town: Purnell & Sons, 1971].)
14 . Roelof Uytenbogaardt, Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK) Welkom Wes . (Original in possession of University of Cape Town Libraries. Courtesy UCT, Special Collections.)
15 . Jane Alexander, Security/Segurança , 2006. (© 2018 Jane Alexander/DALRO. Photograph: Juan Guerra.)
16 . Lungiswa Gqunta, Lawn 1 , 2016. (Image courtesy of Lungiswa Gqunta and Whatiftheworld Gallery.)
17 . Kemang Wa Lehulere, Do not go far they say , 2015. (© Kemang Wa Lehulere. Courtesy of Stevenson, Cape Town and Johannesburg.)
18 . Edwin Lutyens, Site plan of proposed layout and extent of Joubert Park . (Redrawn by author.)
19 . Terry Kurgan, Park Pictures: Aerial map showing the fixed positions of forty photographers working out of Joubert Park in 2004 . (Image courtesy of Terry Kurgan.)
20 . Terry Kurgan, Park Pictures: Photographer Godfrey Ndlovu’s unclaimed portrait, 2005. (Image courtesy of Terry Kurgan.)
21 . Terry Kurgan, Park Pictures: Photographer Varrie Hluzani’s unclaimed portrait , 2005. (Image courtesy of Terry Kurgan.)
22 . David Goldblatt, Sleeping man, Joubert Park, Johannesburg. 1975 . (Photograph by David Goldblatt. © David Goldblatt, courtesy of the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.)
23 . Sabelo Mlangeni, A space of waiting , 2012. (Image courtesy of Sabelo Mlangeni.)
24 . Pieter Hugo, Aerial View Dainfern Gated Community , 2013. (© Pieter Hugo. Courtesy of Stevenson, Cape Town and Johannesburg/Yossi Milo, New York/Priska Pasquer, Cologne.)
25 . Pieter Hugo, Aerial View Diepsloot , 2013. (© Pieter Hugo. Courtesy of Stevenson, Cape Town and Johannesburg/Yossi Milo, New York/Priska Pasquer, Cologne.)
Plate 1: David Goldblatt, Saturday afternoon: bowls on the East Rand Proprietary Mines green. June 1980 . From the series ‘In Boksburg’ (1982), Goldblatt’s photograph of elderly white ladies on the bowling green exemplifies both the photographer’s interests in ‘everyday’ life under apartheid and the seemingly genteel culture of the lawn. (Photograph by David Goldblatt. © David Goldblatt, courtesy of the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.)

Plate 2: Moses Tladi, The House in Kensington B . Tladi’s painting of his home, from which he was evicted in 1956 under the forced removals, is a counterpoint to his grander paintings of ‘Lokshoek’ in Parktown, which depict the garden he worked for Herbert Read. (Image reproduced from The Artist in the Garden: The Quest for Moses Tladi by Angela Read Lloyd [Publishing Print Matters, 2009]. Courtesy of Mmapula Tladi-Small and Print Matters.)

Plate 3: Anton Kannemeyer, Splendid Dwelling , 2012. A leitmotif in Kannemeyer’s work, the lawn is depicted strikingly as red dashes on a lurid green background. This unsettling visual treatment is suggestive of his scepticism towards the polite conformity of the suburbs. (© Anton Kannemeyer, courtesy of the Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town.)

Plate 4: Brett Murray, The Renaissance Man Tending His Land , 2008. In the artist’s self-portrait, Murray presents himself in ironic fashion as the landed gentry. Wearing a powdered peruke and in blackface, the shirtless gardener mocks the leisurely presentation of whitely gardening. (Image courtesy of Brett Murray. Photograph: Sean Wilson.)

Plate 5: David Goldblatt, Saturday Afternoon in Sunward Park. 1979 . The heroic, muscular gardener that Goldblatt captured mowing his lawn in Boksburg is an archetype of the respectable white suburbanite performing his weekend duty. Mowing here is not ‘work’; it is a claim of ownership through leisure. (Photograph by David Goldblatt. © David Goldblatt, courtesy of the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.)

Plate 6: David Goldblatt, Miriam Mazibuko waters the garden of her RDP house for which she waited eight years. It consists of one room. Her four children live with her in-laws. Extension 8, Far East Alexandra Township. 12 September 2006 . Water is essential to the lawn, a source of stress for many South African gardeners. (Photograph by David Goldblatt. © David Goldblatt, courtesy of the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.)

Plate 7: W. A. Eden, Photomontage of Blenheim , 1935. The montage shows a proposed design for a high-rise apartment block superimposed on top of Blenheim Palace with its iconic eighteenth-century landscape gardens. The modern lawn is the location for revolutionary housing. (Image from Architectural Review , March 1935. Courtesy of EMAP.)

Plate 8: Connell et al., Native Township General Site Layout , 1938. The bold plan by a group of Wits students for a high-rise ‘Native Township for 20 000 Inhabitants’ echoed Le Corbusier and marked the end of a debate in South Africa about the viability of apartment housing for black urbanites. (Courtesy of the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand.)

Plate 9: D. M. Calderwood, NE 51/9 , 1953. Often referred to as the ‘matchbox’ house, the NE 51/9 (Non-European, version 9 of 1951) was devised through studies of existing low-cost houses as well as architectural and scientific experimentation, and became ubiquitous during and after apartheid. (From D. M. Calderwood, ‘Native Housing in South Africa’, PhD thesi