Department of Art and Music

Mrs L Van der Merwe

College of Human Sciences
School of Arts
Department: Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology
Lecturer
Tel: 012 484 1011
E-mail: vdmerm1@unisa.ac.za

Qualifications

  • MA (FA) (2015)
  • PGCE (UNISA) (2008)
  • BA(FA) (2012)
  • MA (FA) (2015)

BComm (UP)(2003

Currently teaching

  • Art History II, III, Honours and MVA

Fields of academic interests

  • Gender & Sexuality
  • African feminisms
  • Post-colonial literature
  • Contemporary South African art
  • African modernisms

Field of Specialisation

  • Feminist South African art history

Journal articles

  • Van der Merwe, L. 2014. Sacrificial bodies as corporeal articulations of violence in the work of South African female artists. Image and Text 24:8-30.

Paper presentations

  • Van der Merwe, L. 2017. African feminism, white artists and the specters of silence. SAVAH conference, Tshwane University of technology.September 2018.
  • Van der Merwe, L. 2016. Bessie Head and the idiosyncrasies of history and locale: Towards an African feminist theory of art. Paper presented at the 31st annual conference of the South African Visual Arts Historian in Johannesburg, 29-31 July 2016.
  • Van der Merwe, L. 2013. Sacrificial and hunted bodies as a corporeal articulation of violence in South African Society. Paper presented at the 28th annual conference of the South African Visual Arts Historians, 6-8 September 2013.
  • Van der Merwe, L, Grobler, N, Bowie, A, Cassim, F and Taub, M. 2013. Giving character to conservation: collaborative strategies in arts education. Mellon lecture held at the University of Pretoria on 28 October 2013 as a part of the Visual Technologies Mellon research theme.
    • Van der Merwe, L. 2012. Corporeal feminism in the work of Penny Siopis. Paper presented an the 27th annual conference of the South African Visual Arts Historians, 4-7 July 2012.

Professional positions, fellowships & awards

  • Member of the South African Visual Arts Historians Association (SAVAH)
  • Member of the African Studies Association (UK)
  • Finalist of Absa Atelier 2012.
  • Awarded the Euverard Trust Scholarship for Post-graduate Study (2012-2014)
  • Awarded the Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Scholarship for Phd Study in 2017.

Projects

  • SANPARKS Honorary Ranger / University of Pretoria project (2012-2013) – “Giving character to conservation”
  • UNISA / Gauteng Department of Education teacher training initiative (From January 2017)

 

Other

2014 – Co-curated and took part in the Visual Encounters exhibition in the Rautenbach hall, Pretoria, August 2014.

2013 – Curated the Hidden Urban Histories Exhibition in the Rautenbach hall, Pretoria, in August 2013.

2013 – Presented creative work as part of the Metromusings exhibition in the Rautenbach hall, Pretoria, July 2013.

2012 – Group exhibition, Pretoria Arts Association, March 2012.

2012  – Absa Atelier Finalists exhibition – ABSA gallery, Johannesburg, July 2012.

2012 -  Took part in a group exhibition at the Fried Contemporary Art Galley, entitled Terra Firma, March – April 2012.

2011– Group exhibition, entitled Swift Transitions at the Pretoria Art Museum, November 2011.