Abstract
Nicolene Swanepoel exhibited an installation of one hundred, one-foot-high ceramic dogs in Johannesburg, southern Africa’s largest city, where guard dogs have become icons of hate and xenophobia. As a (retired) veterinarian, she was preoccupied for more than two decades with the role of domestic animals, in particular the dog, in historic and contemporary culture. As an artist, she was inspired by a canine Nkisi or power figure from the Democratic Republic of Congo, an artefact designed by a traditional spiritual advisor and made by a crafter for the protection of its bearer. Rather than commemorating dogs as protectors of worldly possessions, her figures invoke indigenous spiritual practices to celebrate them as guardians of our souls.
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Swanepoel, N. (2017). Spirit Guards: A Squad of Ceramic Dogs in South Africa. In: Woodward, W., McHugh, S. (eds) Indigenous Creatures, Native Knowledges, and the Arts. Palgrave Studies in Animals and Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56874-4_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56874-4_5
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-56873-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-56874-4
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