Abstract

In this article, I explore how a widely celebrated African philosophy of being, Ubuntu, is artistically expressed and imagined. I provide a formative theorisation of Ubuntu aesthetics, or an aesthetics of Ubuntu, through an analysis of selected artworks produced by black artists depicting urban black life in South Africa during the twentieth century. The complicated and polarised experiences of black people who resided in colonial and apartheid cities provide a persuasive case for understanding the creative visualities of Ubuntu. To navigate the segregation of the colonial and apartheid city, black people adopted forms of existence that obscured and questioned the centrality of Ubuntu as part of the modern African experience. Nevertheless, equally undeniable is that the characteristics of the artworks created by black artists who captured and documented urban black life throughout the previous century were some of the most salient aesthetic embodiments of Ubuntu at work. In the main, I argue that the creative choices and visual languages adopted by the black artists discussed here are imbued with an Ubuntu sensibility or an Ubuntu aesthetics that reveals the nuance of humanity among urbanised black people. I also discuss an artwork that complicates the performance of Ubuntu in the urban context.

摘要

在本文中，我探讨了广为人知的非洲存在哲学 Ubuntu 是如何以艺术形式表达和想象的。通过对描绘二十世纪南非城市黑人生活的黑人艺术家创作的精选艺术品的分析，我提供了 Ubuntu 美学或 Ubuntu 美学的形成性理论。居住在殖民和种族隔离城市的黑人的复杂和两极分化的经历为理解 Ubuntu 的创造性视觉效果提供了一个有说服力的案例。为了应对殖民和种族隔离城市的隔离，黑人采用了掩盖和质疑 Ubuntu 作为现代非洲体验的一部分的中心地位的存在形式。尽管如此，同样不可否认的是，黑人艺术家在上个世纪捕捉和记录了城市黑人生活，他们创作的艺术作品的特征是 Ubuntu 在工作中最突出的美学体现。总的来说，我认为这里讨论的黑人艺术家采用的创造性选择和视觉语言充满了 Ubuntu 感性或 Ubuntu 美学，揭示了城市化黑人中人性的细微差别。我还讨论了一件使 Ubuntu 在城市环境中的表现复杂化的艺术作品。我认为这里讨论的黑人艺术家采用的创造性选择和视觉语言充满了 Ubuntu 的敏感性或 Ubuntu 美学，揭示了城市化黑人中人性的细微差别。我还讨论了一件使 Ubuntu 在城市环境中的表现复杂化的艺术作品。我认为这里讨论的黑人艺术家采用的创造性选择和视觉语言充满了 Ubuntu 的敏感性或 Ubuntu 美学，揭示了城市化黑人中人性的细微差别。我还讨论了一件使 Ubuntu 在城市环境中的表现复杂化的艺术作品。