Visual echoes from 165 years

FINE ARTISTS OF INDIAN ANCESTRY

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IDENTITY always comes into question when in crisis, and no community is more often in crisis than the Indian South African, particularly as they have had to navigate various iterations of themselves over the past 165 years.

Crisis is a strange entity to observe with the naked eye, as it operates in the subliminal spaces of culture and society, in the hidden agendas of public platforms, and in the political frameworks of the country.

One space, though, where crisis is clearly visible is in the arts of a community.

Indenture and cultural memory

From their arrival in 1860 under indenture, Indian migrants brought with them all forms of art practices such as devotional music, folk dances, ritual performance and crafts.

These cultural practices served both as comfort in reminding them of their homeland and resistance in preservation amid a shifting new place called home.

These creative practices preserved memories of India, religion and community when colonial and plantation systems sought to reduce lives to labour and discipline.

Over decades in South Africa, Indian religious institutions were cultivated in temples, mosques and churches, and became spaces not only of worship but of cultural education with songs, dance and visual culture shaping early forms of collective Indian identity.

Apartheid's shadow and the silenced canvas

Of course, colonialism and apartheid cast a long and dark shadow over the creative canvas of Indians in South Africa. Yet, as is the nature of creativity, it persisted and flourished even in a country burdened by pariah status.

In many households, dance was sustained by imitation of routines seen in Indian films screened at Durban cinemas such as the Shah Jehan, the Odeon and the Raj.