[PeDAGoG] Decomposing the Corporate Colony
Charles Palm
charles at publicworx.org
Tue Jul 30 15:23:02 CEST 2024
Good day all,
I am writing to you from Stellenbosch in South Africa, after some
encouragement from a member within this network. I am currently in the
process of identifying opportunities, possibilities and limitations for
doing interdisciplinary practice based (post-grad/MA) research and
creative work in the visual arts and design fields, conducted primarily
within a de-colonial frame. I am seeking scholars, artist, legal
professionals, designers etc., as well as institutions and collectives
that I may partner/network with and build communities around in support
of the work that I intend to engage with, starting in 2024/'25. I am
particularly seeking connections in, or about regions and ecologies in
the Indian Ocean basin and the African continent that have historically
engaged with the (V.O.C) spice trade as well as contemporary
(neo-colonial) trade discourses along/via the 'Cape of Good Hope' and
the Suez canal.
Please find below a broad description of my work and research interests,
as well as my own positionality.
About My Research & Practice:
I am a (2021) BA Fine arts graduate from Stellenbosch University with a
professional background in architectural design and natural building
technologies. Since 2021 I have been seeking out interdisciplinary
academic spaces and opportunities across the globe (particularly Africa
& Indian Ocean basin) which support critical practice based research
methodologies for exploring and developing effective decolonial
strategies based within an ecological frame through artistic -/ design
praxis.
My early professional practice began in the Architectural field,
focusing on passive systems design and natural building technologies. In
my personal capacity I have also designed and built dry composting
toilets -/ and systems for large festivals and residential use. These
explorations along with my early exposure to the work of Vandana Shiva,
Michael Perenti, Naomi Klein and Donna Harraway would later activate and
inform my creative work and this inspired me to pursue academic studies
through a BA(Hons) degree in fine art. My student research focused
primarily on early colonial -/ and settler colonial histories within the
Cape and Indian Ocean basin during the 'Spice Trade' era. My creative
practice often culminated into site-specific immersive experiences using
natural phenomena / physics that include camera-obscura installations,
light projections, improvisational soundscape performances and
sculpture.
I am motivated by perceptions of abject histories of negative
multinational corporate externalities. Particularly how these phenomena
are/were manifested, facilitated and perceived throughout the
development of 'Western' economic, political and ideological hegemonies,
as experienced today. By revisiting my past work in composting toilet
systems design I would like to further explore and develop creative
strategies towards immersive cathartic experiences to this end. I have a
particular interest in studying fundamental legal constructs and
colonial ideologies that guide and regulate global corporate trade
legislation since the V.O.C from the 17th century to the present. My
work will respond to these factors and the urgency of its geopolitical
and material expressions across the globe today. My creative practice
aims to explore effective strategies to deconstruct / decompose these
ideologies, constructs and systems through studies of soil ecology and
natural ecologies of decomposition as a creative medium and bio-mimetic
guide.
About My Positionality:
I was raised during the 1980's as a (Cape Creole, aka 'Coloured') male
within a small community called Pniël between Stellenbosch and
Franschhoek. Pniël was established in 1843 as a Christian mission
station (and labour pool) for previously enslaved individuals,
immediately after the abolition of slavery in the Cape colony. Most of
my ancestry is woven into the historical fabric of 17th cent. Cape
agricultural slavery, settler colonialism, indentured labour in the
early diamond mines of Kimberly, as well as indigenous groups along the
Cape coast.
Growing up in a rural 'working class' village surrounded by über-elitist
wine farms with a high land ownership turnover of mostly foreign
nationals and consortia tugged my interest in socio-economic inequities
from an early age. Observing and engaging with these wine farms and
other dominant local institutions added to a direct lived experience of
how ecological (incl. humyn) inequities and trauma are embodied within a
postcolonial landscape and the mechanisms that enable it to persist.
These immediate inequities along with my own specific challenges have
significantly contributed to the delay and disruption of my personal and
academic development. At 43 I have managed to successfully complete my
undergraduate studies with minimal debt, however, I feel quite isolated
and vulnerable in the pursuit of my particular research interests,
especially within an increasingly hostile neoliberal environment.
Thank you for taking the time to read my email. Please reach out if you
feel compelled to and if think there might be opportunities and
possibilities for us to work together or if you know of
programs/projects, particularly within Afrika or the Indian Ocean basin
that might be relevant to my work. I look forward to hearing back from
some of you very soon.
Bright regards,
Charles Palm
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ourproject.org/pipermail/gta-pedagog/attachments/20240730/a867a929/attachment.html>
More information about the GTA-PeDAGoG
mailing list