Copyright

Brent Arthur Meistre;

Published On

2025-01-06

Page Range

pp. 57–89

Language

  • English

Print Length

33 pages

2.The Whiteboard

Reflections on a Personal Archive of Apartheid-era Items from the Security Police of a University Town

Chapter of: Being in Shadow and Light: Academics in Post/Conflict Higher Education(pp. 57–89)
This chapter considers the witnessing of the activities of the Apartheid Security Police by the artist/son of the head of that unit in a small university town in South Africa. A particular focus is on state oppression and surveillance of university staff and students by means of informants and spies, and the covert monitoring of communication and the strict control of literature. A personal archive from the authors’ father−of objects including a photograph, stamps and banned books−are used as autobiographical triggers to explore notions of being an ‘implicated subject’, representation and knowing.

Contributors

Brent Arthur Meistre

(author)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3396-7424

Brent Arthur Meistre is a South African artist, curator and independent scholar. He has created numerous one-person exhibitions, including photography and film installations exhibited internationally, and is a recipient of prestigious awards such as the inaugural Nelson Mandela Biennale Award. He is the founder and curator of Analogue Eye, a mobile drive-in and pop-up cinema that showcases African video artworks to rural audiences. He was previously a Senior Lecturer at Rhodes University, South Africa, and is currently based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, undertaking his PhD independently.