The Place of Shade [The Place of Shade (Draft) - 2024-01-11 21:37] by Dibble and Bjarne

At first, the plan was simple – to be home by Christmas. To begin to view the very concept of home as built upon nostalgia. Imagining home is a pastime of any immigrant. If, as Breton suggests, ‘The imaginary is that which tends to become real,’ what were our imaginings bringing to life? The Place of Shade is an artistic research inquiry into contemporary Norwegian culture in South Africa. Norwegians began operating within the British colonial framework around 1840—the same period as the migration to America. Lutheran missions, whaling, farming, business and family characterise this almost 200-year Afri-Norge diasporic heritage. It has been almost entirely overlooked in visual culture, until now. Following the depletion of Whales in the Nordic seas, Norwegian immigrants almost single-handedly established the whaling operations in Durban from 1908 onwards. Their legacy remains an integral component of the city and the province's socio-cultural fabric to this day. With this in mind, we sought out the ghosts of Larsen, Hermansen, Egeland and more from New Pier to Kwambonambi; we found them. The project is an act of psychogeography, insofar as it hinges upon ‘the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals.’ The images and text that make up the exposition are the culmination of this process. The attempt by a disparate group of individuals, at once insiders and outsiders, to understand how legacy takes shape and how it has reshaped our understanding of Home. By living with and meeting Norwegian decedents on their farms and homesteads this project was possible. We thank all who were so kind and eager to connect again with their roots.

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EXPOSITION CONTRIBUTORS:

Artistic Relfection

ANTHONY MORTON

ARTIST AND RESEARCH DIRECTOR

Anthony Charles Morton (*1992) is a visual artist and art theorist based in Bergen, Norway.He has exhibited in Bergen, Shanghai, Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban. Anthony has an MA in Philosophy (2023) and a MA in Contemporary art practice in (2019) from the University of Bergen.

In Morton's imagery, myriad departures beckon toward potential narratives; an endeavour of the helmsmanship of space, where images are becoming and have left the scent of seared steak

www.anthonycharlesmorton.com

Research Meditations

HJEMME

Theoretical framework

RAY FRANZ

LITERARY PROSE AND RESEARCH

Ray Franz (*1989) is a writer based in Durban, South Africa and London, England. His work is centred on the legitimisation of imagined identities in a post-colonial context. This exposition contains the prologue to his literary work based upon the research conducted in The Place of Shade. His work has informed the literary, research, narratological, and design aspects of the project. The initial short stories in his forthcoming collection 'Myopia' have featured in ‘New Contrast Literary Magazine’, ‘Kinda Weird Magazine’, and ‘A Thousand Word Photos’ respectively.

HJEMMEFRA

wwww.rayfranz.co.uk

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