Stefan Erasumus Masters.pdf - Willem Boshoff

Introduction
In recent years Boshoff has gained recognition as one of South Africa‟s leading
conceptual artist locally and internationally. It is thus surprising that up to the point of
my undertaking of this research project, there is no substantial bodies of text on the
artist that does not mirror the Artist statements on his own work with the exception of
the Taxi Art Book. Vladislavic started to explore aspects of the artist‟s personal
history in relation to his production as well as recording some of the stories Boshoff
would relate about the processes involved in the production of his works. Apart from
this „history‟ of the artist, a great volume of information on the Artist exists in the
form of interviews, newspaper articles and Internet interviews. These sources
however are disappointing in the sense that the authors due to word constraints cannot
dealth deeper than the Artists „official‟ response. In all these cases these responses
seem to be standardized, a mirroring of the artists official response. Arguably, these
responses become a barrier or smokescreen giving the viewer the illusion of
understanding the work. But when one starts to scratch the surface or move beyond
the standard response the viewer is allowed into a secret world, where a Minatourian
monster lives.
I will show in the pages that follows this „wall‟ of understanding becomes just another
hinderness that the artist places in the way of the viewer/reader in an attempt to „keep
out‟ or keep at a distance a „lazy‟ viewer/reader content with superficial
understanding. Or allows in the audacious viewer/reader into a Maze of possible
understandings that might lead to a Labyrinthine centre or to a dead-end. Through my
research, it becomes clear that Boshoff places his viewer/reader at a conceptual
distance with a façade of instantaneous understanding. Whoever once the viewer
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starts to „scratch the surface‟ selected works and exploring the works in relation to
Boshoff‟s personal history, the socio-political landscape surrounding the artist as well
as superimposing the Labyrinthine/Maze format it becomes clear that the façade of
„understanding‟ that one is faced with becomes a challenge to the viewer/reader.
Inviting them to dealth deeper, to work for their „enlightenment‟. For Boshoff this
challenge to the reader becomes crucial as he is attempting to either introduce or
foster a princapal of learning and study as Boshoff uses very particular field of
referance it becomes neccassery for the viewer to read a bit more on the subject in
order for the viewer/reader to understand.
It is because of this that I feel it is important to contribute to the understanding of the
artistic practice of this artist. But not in the same sense as the majority of other
researchers through the dissecting of these standard responses or the over clearifing of
them responces but rather by using the model of the Labyrinth/Maze as a conceptual
frame and Boshoff and the general history of South Africa as a frame work for the
unearthing of meaning in his production.
In the two chapters dealing with Boshoff‟s work I will be looking at two main
approaches utilized by the artist, the first is what seems to be „normal‟ art practice
where the artist works towards a product and the process becomes secondary to the
product, the product becomes key to the understanding. The second of these two
approaches has the process as the focus and the product/artwork as a residue of the
process. In the first process I will be applying the labyrinthine/maze format to the
product/artwork and the second the labyrinthine/maze format will be applied to the
process and product but with more emphasis on the process.
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In my undergraduate studies sitting in a class being thought by Boshoff, I was always
amazed and exhilarated at the variety of sources from which he draws in the
presentation of any class. And it is through notes I have taken and kept from my first
and second year under Boshoff‟s tutelage that it became clear that making any attempt
at generating some kind of understanding about the Artist and his production would
mean drawing on what seemed to be an infinite and overwhelming amount of
information. However in this „journey‟ through the labyrinthine web of meaning
surrounding Boshoff‟s work it is important to note that one needs to narrow the focus
of research as one is bound by restrictions. Thus in many cases where references are
made to historical points I had to mediate between getting the point across and
remaining with in the limits of this research paper.
In interviews and conversations with the artist, he made references to subjects such as
Christianity, Druidism, Shamanism, Alchemy, world history, South African history,
Poetics, Philosophy, Mystisism, Theology, Metaphysics, Semiotics/Semiology to
name but a few, each of these subjects being wide enough to generated a multitude of
research documents. I have attempted to keep these references at a minimum and
focus on a pre-selected reference fields, that of Christianity, Paganism, South African
History and some aspects of Semiotics.
The use of the labyrinth and maze as a framework for the understanding of the work
of Boshoff is significant not as much as a visual reference but rather as a conceptual
tool in what can be termed the encryption of Boshoff‟s „themes‟. The terms labyrinth
and maze has over time become interchangeable which lead to some confusion but are
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two separate and distinct formats as the Kern points out in his book Labyrinths
Through the Ages. The labyrinth is simply a single path revolving around itself
leading to a centre, and the maze is a combination of several paths leading to or from
one another or ending in dead ends. To avoid confusion I have generally used both
formats and where necessary I have made a distinction between to two formats. The
complexity of the labyrinth and maze seems to be underscored with mystical
importance pertaining to birth, death, marrage, understanding and the well
documented battle between the ego and the id. It seems to be the combination these
complex, layered issues, the cross cultural significance and the allowances that these
formats make for an almost game-like interaction between the Artist, the art work and
the viewer that attracts and empowers Boshoff to use this format as a tool in the
achevement of his goals.
The research paper is divided into four chapters. The first chapter becomes an
introduction/brief explanation of some concepts that will be dealt with in the
following two chapters. This is done in order to introduce certain ideas to the reader
before starting with an exploration of Boshoff‟s work. Some readers might be familiar
with some of the ideas but as previously, mentioned Boshoff draws on and references
an extremely wide variety of resource material. It becomes necessary to briefly
introduce these selected fields outside the body of text that deal with the selected
artwork as introducing these subjects with in these texts would become distractive to
the train of thought that s followed in the exploration of the work.
The first chapter is subdivided into two subheadings, the first KYKAFRIKAANS
and the second 370 DAY PROJECT, these subheadings places the seemingly
random information in order of „appearance‟ if I may use this borrowed term.
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The Second chapter looks at KYKAFRIKAANS, and explores different „paths of
understanding‟ while exploring each of the selected poems. In this chapter, I will be
exploring the following:
A brief history of the creation of KYKAFRIKAANS as well as a description of the
work.
A brief introduction to the Literary and Visual references that is prevalent in the
exploration and understanding of the body of work such as visual poetry that was
created before and after KYKAFRIKAANS, including much earlier examples of
visual poetry.
The works that will be discussed in this chapter are divided into three sections visual
poems, Literary poems and poems that form a combination of the two. The more
visual poems are: VERDWAALKAART, GETIKTE KWASHALLE,
SWAKSKAKKEL, OUDERLIGPILLETJIES, ROSCHACH KLATTOETS and
KERKKERK KERKKERK
The third chapter looks at 370 DAY PROJECT, in the first section a brief description
of the work. A description of the manufacturing process. In the next section, I will be
looking at the tasks that Boshoff set himself as part of the process in the creation of
this work in more depth. The documentary nature and function will be looked at next
with examples of other artist that work in a similar fashion. In the following section I
will be looking at the encryption process and investigating the symbolism that appears
when the work is placed under scrutiny. Once the general symbolism of the work has
been introduces the next section will look at the appearance of a strong tower and
grave symbolism inherent in the work. The next section is entitled „The Problems in
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370 DAY PROJECT‟ this heading might seem a bit misleading as this section deals
with the problems or hurdles that Boshoff placed before himself in the completion of
the project. The next section entitled „370 Days of devotion‟ will explore the project
in relation to a pilgrimage, which is symbolized in the Labyrinthine/ Maze format.
The last section in this chapter will briefly explore the relationship between the
particular creative activity present in the work and its correlation between aspects
present in a much older understanding of the Labyrinth.
The Last Chapter entitled Requiem for a Cipher will explore my own production in
terms of the labyrinth and maze concept. I will be looking at the conceptual matrix of
the body of work as well as several works as manifestations of this thought matrix.
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Chapter 1: Background
Figure 1: Herman Hugo (1558 – 1629) The Christian Soul in the Labyrinth of the world.
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As discussed in the introduction this Chapter is devided in to smaller sections, each
section will briefly look at background information concerning the chapters that make
up the rest of the research document. The back ground discussed in this chapter might
seem disjointed and uncoherent, however, the exploration of these ideas will become
more clear within the investigation of each chapter.
1.1 KYKAFRIKAANS
1.1.1 Brief Historical Background
KYKAFRIKAANS may be seen to respond to, or to be a meditation on, the social and
religious conditions that aided in maintaining the political climate in South Africa
under the rule of the National Party, which implemented and upheld policies of
Apartheid/Separate Development. These conditions have become a faded memory or
a part of history to younger generations and it is important to reflect briefly on the
circumstances under which KYKAFRIKAANS was created in order to understand the
purpose of the text and how it was formulated in a response to the broader South
African context. The impact that this period had on local artistic practice is well
documented in Sue Williamson‟s Book “Resistance Art in South Africa” (1990).
Williamson encapsulates the sentiment of white artists of the 1970‟s by quoting the
South African poet Breyton Breytenbach:
―The white artist… cannot dare to look into himself. He cannot be bothered with his
responsibilities as a member of the ―chosen‖ and dominating group. He withdraws
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and longs for the tranquility of a little intellectual house on the plain by a transparent
river.‖
(1990: 8)
Breytenbach‟s observation above addresses white artists specifically but black artists
were equally, if not more, deprived of critical agency under these conditions:
―Dependent on sales through art galleries to a white market, black artists tended to
produce carefully non-confrontational work – scenes of jostling township life or
traditional rural vistas‖
(ibid: 8)
In the introduction Williamson quotes self–exiled artist Thamsanqa Mnyele:
―I have often been asked why, in South Africa, when… whole communities suffer
dismemberment through forced removals, when the majority of the people are
declared foreigners in the country of their birth, when people are crudely and
ruthlessly suppressed… there has been disturbingly little visual arts output which is
organically related to these community efforts‖
(ibid: 8)
In this chapter I will attempt to show how Boshoff‟s KYKAFRIKAANS works can be
seen to be an attempt to negotiate a way through the limitations imposed on critical
artistic expression during the 70‟s. In themselves, the collection of works that make
up KYKAFRIKAANS represent a labyrinthine/maze-like path by way of the
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complexity in the layering of text and its reading through which the participant is lead
into the conceptual matrix. Boshoff has put together a mysterious arrangement of
visual poems in a book format, but he challenges the conventional liniar read by
compiling untitled visual poems that allow for multiple access points. On „entering‟
the reader/viewer has to become a willing participant in working his/her way through
multiple layers, literally within the layers of text and also in terms of a multitude of
possible approaches to these texts. The works are meant to tantalize the curious and to
urge the „pilgrim‟ along various pathways. The challenges placed along the way, for
example by Boshoff‟s use of encryption, are as much obstacles as they are
enticements to take the next step for those who accept the challenge. The original
notion of the labyrinth as the House of the Double Axe, 1 denotes this double-edge
nature of the labyrinth where secrecy and encryption cut both ways; where the
concelement not only entices the curious but can also deny access to one who does
not take up the challenge. It is only through the effort and struggle of deciphering and
a consideration of Boshoff‟s particular context and visual language that the texts will
reveal some form of enlightenment.
In the KYKAFRIKAANS collection he often employs labyrinthine formats in order to
meditate and comment on the state of the country and it is thus important to briefly
consider the socio-political context in which Boshoff created these works.
1 The word „labrys‟ is connected to a pre-Minoan culture that was assimilated into Greek culture and
was used to describe the double axes as well as forming the origin for the name of the Labyrinth. As
such the Labyrinth can be described as the House of the Double Axe.
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1.1.2 Apartheid
In order to contextualize Boshoff‟s KYKAFRIKAANS I will briefly outline some of
the features of Apartheid: Apartheid/ Separate Development encompasses policies
used by the Nationalist government to further its agenda of disempowering the non-
European South African population by way of legislation and religious indoctrination,
limiting the rights of the non-European section of the South African population.
―Nobody can be good for South Africa if he is not first an Afrikaner‖
Dr Koot Voster (former moderator for the Dutch Reformed Church) Sunday Express,
21 September 1980.
This quotation sums up the staunchly conservative Afrikaner‟s sense of patriotism.
Everything that fell outside of the official definition of patriotism was demonized as
„communist‟, „satanic‟ or as „terrorist activities‟. This pre-occupation with
„demonization‟ everything „non-afrikaaner‟ is discussed in Carolize Jansen with
respect to popular music in an essay entitled Pop Paranoia in South Africa
(http://www.postfun.com/pfp/features/98/aug/pop_music.html) where she states;
“During the eighties one of the favourite haunts of the cloven-hooved one was in pop
and rock music. He had supposedly always resided there, since it has been claimed
that music was thrown out of heaven with Lucifer (Ezekiel 28:13-15), but it was in the
paranoid period of the eighties that pastors and laymen alike excelled in finding his
hoof prints riddling pop music and consequently, the tender minds of the youth of
South Africa. However, it has to be said that their concern was primarily for the white
youth of South Africa since they targeted the music that white teenagers listened to
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and black teenagers were part of the Communist danger anyway.” 2 The South African
government enforced legislation through several public institutions and mechanisms
to ensure the success of Apartheid. I will briefly mention three of these as they pertain
to my discussion of Boshoff‟s art production, namely; Cultural Control, Education
and the Dutch Reformed Church.
1.1.2.1 Cultural Control
The First of these lines of attack was focused on cultural production within South
Africa. The legislation designed to control criticism of the governmental policies
within the black population had a big impact on the white population as well. Where
the policies that will be discussed below were designed to limit cultural development
within the black community, it also very clearly demarcated the route of production
for the white creative community. In “Resistance Art in South Africa” 1990
Williamson paints a rather frightening picture for the contemporary cultural
practitioner:
―Before 1976 a trip round South African art galleries would have given very little
clue to the socio-political problems of the country. Strangely divorced from reality,
landscapes, experiments in abstraction, figure studies and vignettes of township life
hung on the walls.‖
(1990: 8)
2 She continues: “The sources are […] anti-pop preachers - Mike Hills, an unknown preacher whose
tape on the subject dates from 1980, and Rodney Seale, the prince of pop paranoia in South Africa”.
Jansen continues listing Seale‟s credentials; “And to clinch the argument: "If he isn't an expert on this
subject, why has he been contacted by the Presidential Council and also a number of ministers at
various occasions for his testimony in this matter?”.
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In an Article written for the UNESCO Courier (Feb 1992), Sydney Sipo Sepamla
recreates the cultural limitations that were in place to restrict cultural development to
what the National government saw as desirable. According to Sepamla, the Land Act
of 1913 3 formed the foundation for Apartheid in South Africa, as this Law was
fundamental in controlling the economic development of the black communities. The
implementation of the Land Act also had an impact on the cultural life of people in
non-European locations. The government ensured that there were facilities for the
normal functioning of a community such as the construction of halls for funerals,
weddings and fields for football ―but not for plays, concerts and other cultural events.
The black population had to adapt these halls for all-purpose use. Development of the
arts has thus been controlled in the African townships ever since 1913‖.
http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Apartheid.html
The restrictions placed on the black population became more severe in the 1970‟s.
This tightening of regulation was in response to what Sepamla calls the „Golden Age‟
of cultural activities within Black townships during the 1950‟s. The township of
Soweto is a particularly good example of this cultural „Golden Age‟. Established in
1944 by the forceful removal of blacks from white-only areas, it expanded
extraordinarily in the 1950‟s, becoming a cultural melting pot as it housed
approximately 9 different cultural groups. Soweto became a couldron from which a
myriad of cultural activities sprung. 4 ― … famous singers like Miriam Makeba, an
3 The Land Act of 1913 forced non-Europeans to settle in areas which were predetermined as desirable
for black settlement without option to owning the land, with prescribed laws to carry pass books and
other restrictions to prohibit the free movement of the black population. The implementation of this
act/law has its origin in the conflict that arose from South Africa‟s economically valuable mines.
(Hazlett T. W. Apartheid. http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Apartheid.html
4 These activities were recorded in the pages of DRUM, ―Drum published some 90 short stories by
Can Themba, Bloke Modisane, Casey Motsisi, Arthur Maimane (alias Mogale), Lewis Nkosi, Tod
Matshikiza, Henry Nxumalo, Nat Nakasa, and others. These short stories were peopled with colourful
characters – gangsters, boxers, jazzmen – who were all great drinkers, players and revellers. Their
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active literary scene, and the emergence of political leaders like Mandela and Tambo.
Some people have referred to this period as a golden cultural age.‖
(Sydney Sipo Sepamla) http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Apartheid.html
The Nationalist government saw these activities as a threat and implemented the
Entertainment and Publications Act of 1963. The effects of this law could be felt
throughout the whole of South African cultural development. The law effectively
banned the majority of black writers even if they were not overtly politically assertive
in their writings. Most of the writers left the country and left a gaping hole where
there once were active cultural nodes.
The exiled writers found ways around the above-mentioned law. The law might stop
them from writing in South Africa, but outside South African borders they could write
without restrictions. With the help of international Anti-Apartheid movements, the
texts written by the exiled writers still found their way into South Africa. In response
to this subversion of governmental policy, the Nationalist government instituted the
Publications Act of 1974 5 . This act effectively gave the government more control of
information in printed matter that entered the country and was implemented through
institutions such as the Bureau of Information, the Publications Control Board and the
South African Press Council. These bodies formed the first line of defense against
what the government led people to perceive as „terrorists‟, also commonly referred to
English contrasted greatly with the starchy prose of the rural authors who were educated in the
mission schools. This English was riddled with tsotsitaal (the slang of South Africa's bad boys) and
their language was a conscious imitation of American jive. The United States had had the Harlem
renaissance, and post-war South Africa had Sophiatown, named after Johnnesbourg's "black"
neighbourhood.‖
http://www.africultures.com/index.asp?menu=revue_affiche_article&no=2851&lang=_en
5 The name of the act is self-explanatory, the act effects further control over printed media.
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as the „Swart Gevaar‟ (black threat). Cultural censorship was implemented in the
following ways:
1. The Bureau of Information: The name alone conjures up images of Nazi
censorship or censorship under Communist rule in the USSR. This body
controlled the information supplied to the press relating to „episodes‟ of
unrest. The organization had the power to either black-out media coverage of
an event or to allow the „necessary‟ information to flow into the news stream.
2. The Publications Control Board: The control of information flow was placed
under the auspices of this organization, thus mediating people‟s experience of
the outside world, robbing South Africans of a true understanding of world
events.
3. The South African Press Council: This council exercised control over the
printed media such as newspapers and magazines. The council had the
authority and power to not only impose fines but also to shut down
newspapers if they did not comply with what was deemed fit for publication
by the government. 6
These organizations enforced their legislation with great zeal, to the point of
ridiculousness. Sydney Sipo Sepamla mentions the banning of literature by two well-
known South African authors, Andre Brink and Nadine Gordimer, in the 1970‟s
6 Examples of these rules being enforced can be seen in the local newspaper, “Die Vrye Weekblad‖ that
was eventually closed due to the number of lawsuits brought against the paper because of the liberal
approach taken by the owner and editor in an attempt to reflect the political and social state of the
country.
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(which caused a huge public outcry). They had directly and openly attacked the state
and its racial policies in their writings and as a result of these attacks were victimized
by the police to the point where Nadine Gordimer was forced to live in exile.
1.1.2.2 Education
The state of education in apartheid South Africa lies at the heart of Boshoff‟s work,
self-education and the education of others. This becomes evident not only in
Boshoff‟s own work ethic but also in his teaching and art making:
―I want to learn and that was basically the beginning of why I did these funny
things…I have looked at myself and tried to improve myself, it was very difficult, it
took a long time, I used work to try to make it easier for me to learn patience to learn
new words to try to respect things.‖
(Willem Boshoff http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html)
The disempowerment of a group of people through a controlled/enforced education
system will thus be in direct opposition to Boshoff‟s objectives. Boshoff vehemently
opposes any system that would attempt to enforce such authority. This is the case with
KYKAFRIKAANS where Boshoff reveals his attempts to educate through the
encryption of biblical text into a visual format, setting up a challenge for the reader:
―It‘s much more important for the text to be an opponent sometimes than to be a
friend. You don‘t learn anything from it if it‘s passive. If it is only supposed to teach
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you something, it dies on you, it betrays you, you betray it […] I would take what was
written in Afrikaans and I would try to use it as an instigator to foster reaction.‖
(Willem Boshoff, http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html)
Through very strictly controlled social, cultural, religious as well as educational
systems the governing party exercised control over the population. Through this
domination they were attempting to keep the black population in a state of
subservience by teaching black males gardening and craft oriented skills or black
women cooking and cleaning skills. This was justified by the Nationalist government
as promoting vocational training for a better future. In a recent interview for the
Telkom Artist in Conversation Project (2005 –2006) with artists Clifford Charles
and Mandla Mabila, both artists remember this „vocational‟ training as follows:
―I remember one teacher, no, one school inspector [...] coming to me, he says ‗No, no
[…], we have to make you,[…] a good Indian artist‘. I said ah! Why Indian?‘[…] he
said why don‘t you draw like Indians draw?‖
Clifford Charls
And what they did there (the boarding school) was make products for the school to
sell, craft products they made trays, gardens chairs, garden tables, so many
products…
Mandla Mabila
This is notion of recistance towards this form of Bantu education grew anoungst
student bodies, as Tebogo Mohapi recalls,
―SASM [South African Students Movement] had reached a point where we
couldn‘t hide from students and we gradually became more and more
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conspicuous in the schools…. Towards the end of my Standard 8 year we‘d
clearly gathered a large number of students at my school. Some of us started
rotating from school to school to talk to the students. Corporal punishment
was one of the basic projects of SASM [to address]… we‘d also talk about
Bantu Education as a poison that enslaved us…. This was how we organised
SASM into a fully-fledged organisation‖.
http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/chronology/turningpoints/bk5/chapter2.htm
The government‟s need to suppress the masses arguably had it‟s origin in what was
commonly known as the „Poor White Problem‟, which became one of the driving
forces behind the implementation of Apartheid. This problem grew out of the Gold
Rush in South Africa, where black labour was preferred over white labour due to a
willingness to work for lower wages. This was especially the case in the very
flourishing mining industry. The repercussions of this in terms of political gain were
simple. As the black community had not been given voting rights they were excluded
from decision making processes and the white voting community decided that the
more respectable jobs should be reserved for themselves.
The first of a long string of legislations discriminating against the black worker was
the passbook law where black workers had to be issued with permits to enable them to
work in white areas. These attempts to restrict the black worker culminated in the
Bantu Education legislation where non-European education was taken over from
church-run schools by the government and these schools were forced to adopt the
government‟s educational policies.
These policies also had an impact on the white population. As much as the
government needed to keep the black population under thumb, they needed to
maintain the white population‟s belief in a prescribed way of life in order to maintain
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their power base. This was done in several ways, the first being the inclusion of
various militaristic and patriotic disciplines such as the „Voortrekkers 7 ‟ and the
„Kadette 8 ‟into the curriculum.
The Education system added to the indoctrination of the school-going youth through
authoritative training where the teacher or educator gave instruction and demanded
the child or student to follow these without question. Boshoff‟s religious convictions
during his student years and early art making career, based on Calvinist teachings and
linked to the politics of the country, were clearly grounded in his Afrikaans
upbringing and schooling (which also formed an integral part in my own experience
of an Afrikaans upbringing). As Boshoff recollects:
― The people at school were very well educated in the politics of the country and
taught us in a very Calvinistic, Christian sort of way.‖
(Ibid: http:///www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html)
It is this blind acceptance of fact (a legacy of apartheid education) that Boshoff tries
to subvert, not only in KYKAFRIKAANS but in the majority of his work, by making
the viewer work for enlightenment and understanding him/herself thus counteracting
the passive acceptance typical of spoon-fed education. He engages the viewer in game
playing or struggles with the text and as Ashraf Jamal observes in his article for Blind
Alphabet C Cocculiferous to Cymbiform, 23 rd Sao Paolo Biennial, 1996:
7 The „Voortrekkers‟ is a cultural organisation for Afrikaans children. This organisation was designed
to ensure that the principles upheld by the original „Voortrekkers‟ are remembered and instilled in a
younger generation. This organization is loosely based on the English Boy Scouts and Brownies
organizations.
8 The „Kadette‟ is a military based program that, in close conjunction with Afrikaans High Schools,
introduced boys to military discipline and procedure through their participation in weekly parading
exercises in uniform.
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―The temperament that guides Boshoff‘s subversions is quiet and playful,‖
(1996: 3)
Through playful ecrypting and hiding Boshoff thus whides the restrictive, goal
directed „straight and narrow‟ 9 path adopted by institutionalized education in on itself,
i.e. he transforms it into a labyrinthine pathway which offers the participant a
different kind of „education‟, a more experiencial journey of not knowing exactly
where one is going, walking the labyrinth blindly and undestracted. Approach as
implemented by the apartheid education system. Asraf jamal goes on to say that: (see
page 5 proposal the roots……more than lost) Boshoff through the act of encrypting
and hiding can be seen to wind the „straight and narrow‟ path around itself into the
classical labyrinthine path that turns in on it self several times. This gives the
viewer/partisipant the opportunity not to be distracted by a goal or destination but
rather experience and understand the journey in which they are participating by
simply walking the Labyrinth blindly as it were.
1.1.2.2 The Dutch Reformed Church
―I had a short religious spell as a very young student.‖
Boshoff in http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html
9 The straight and narrow path revered to here can be described as the Apartheid governments
appropriation of the Christian notion of the straight and narrow path that leads to salvation, as it is
described in Matthew 7:13 „Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is
the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby‟.
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The involvement of the Dutch Reformed Church in the establishment and rule of
Apartheid is a well-known fact within the Afrikaans community. It comes as no
surprise then that an artist as opposed to the suppression of others as Boshoff will
focus on this aspect of the religious underpinning of apartheid. His work displays a
keen awareness of injustices within religious ideology. The following quotations
illustrate the doctrinal bias of the Dutch Reformed Church:
―We are assured by the Gospel that there are many mansions in our Father‘s house
where also a place is prepared for each of us. Unity in diversity, ―Apartheid‖,
apartness in Heaven for it defiantly states ―many mansions‖, not one big mansion,
many mansions‖
Dr. N.P.J. Steyn, Biblical Aspects of Apartheid, 1958 (page no)
―A predikant (preacher) recently instructed a congregation of illiterate farm
labourers that they should not say ―Onse Vader wat in die hemele is‖, but ―Die
Vader‖; since Jesus was a White man , only White men can say ―Onse Vader‖.‖
Letter from the Rev. Leonard Heap to the Cape Times, 18 August 1959
Boshoff has made a point of referring to this connection between Christianity and the
Apartheid principle in several of his works, notably also in the collection of
visual/concrete poems contained in KYKAFRIKAANS. In response to the dogmatic
nature of apartheid underscored by religious teaching, Boshoff says:
21

―It was written and what was written was the law and it enslaved people. So in my
concrete poetry I dealt especially with the Bible – that its words are not supposed to
be upheld as tenants… they would be a subversion of the text.‖
(Willem Boshoff, http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html)
Boshoff‟s subversion of religious dogma does not stop at the subversion of the text
itself but includes the subversion of church teachings and doctrine as inscribed in
Calvinist tradition but while subverting much of its futures, Boshoff‟s own Calvinist
ethic similtaniously informs his own work ethic in many ways. The protestant ethic
also informs Boshoff‟s own work ethic in many ways, not least in the idea that
obsessiveness in labour leads to salvation and is thus a liberating factor. Boshoff
abides by this ethic in the strictest sense. Vladislavic‟s comment: “The craftsman may
achieve a godlike immanence in his handiwork.” (2005: 15) underscores this attitude
of a rigorous avowal to labour.
While Boshoff can be seen to rally against religious authority and rigidity, he is still
very much governed by his Calvinist upbringing. This is evident also in his
presentation of his own persona, i.e. his representation of himself to the public. He
presents himself much like a wayward priest/druid (he projects the image of a wise
old „Boere-oomie‟ a wise but also rebellious elder of sorts) – someone who
challenges the order but who is still part of it.
22

Fig:?? Portrait of Willem Boshoff (2005)
Fig:?? Chris Deidericks …… a portrait of Boshoff
The Dutch Reformed Church‟s support of Apartheid stems from this church‟s
longstanding relationship with the South African Government. With the settlement of
23

southern Africa in the 17 th century, the Dutch settlers transplanted their church to the
Cape of Good Hope. Jan Van Riebeeck formally established the Dutch Reformed
Church of South Africa in 1652. The Dutch Reformed Church is theologically
founded on Calvinist doctrine and ultimately an Augustinian 10 approach to religion.
With the influx of the Huguenots fleeing persecution in Europe, the belief in the
southern point of Africa as establishing a New Jerusalem was re-born. This viewpoint
is commonplace within the establishment of new colonies and was also a strong
influence on the American struggle for independence from British control. The belief
in the southern point of Africa as a New Jerusalem was further strengthened by the
oppressive British rule of the time.
The Afrikaners‟ (the former Dutch colonists) religious zeal and their attempt to
understand their circomstances before and during the Great Trek 11 gave rise to the
belief within the Afrikaner community that they were the chosen people of God. The
Afrikaner drew a very strong parallel between the Israelite‟s exodus from Egypt and
the Pharao‟s oppressive rule and the Afrikaner‟s exodus from British rule. The
Afrikaner upheld this belief throughout his struggle against British rule in the Cape
and later in the interior during and after the first and second Anglo-Boer war and the
continued struggle against the so called „Swart Gevaar‟, the indigenous people of the
interior. The Afrikaner‟s exodus from the „land of captivity‟ under British rule can be
paralleled to a pilgrimage from captivity to one of freedom, which is mirrored in an
10 St. Augustine of Hippo was born at Tagaste on 13 November, 354. He was given a Christian
upbringing, even though he came from a pagan background. Augustus after his training became an
important figure in early Christianity playing an important role in the creation of the Christian doctrn.
11 The Great Trek constitutes the exodus of the Dutch Speaking Colonist from the Cape colony into the
interior of Africa in the mid 1800‟s. Their aim was to re-establish social, political, cultural and
economic independence from British rule.
24

older notion of the Christian pilgrimage where salvation, and thus freedom from the
world, will be granted at the completion of the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The
relationship between this and the notion f the labyrinth will be discussed in more
depth further on in this chapter.
This belief in being the chosen people as a result of the Afrikaner‟s struggle under
oppressive British rule ultimately fuelled racial discrimination and one of the causes
for apartheid. One of Apartheid‟s greatest supporters Prime Minister D.F. Malan, also
formally a Dutch Reformed Minister called for the complete segregation of races.
1.2 Boshoff and Religion
KYKAFRIKAANS made up a part of Boshoff‟s first solo exhibition. Natalie Knight
wrote an article on Boshoff‟s exhibition at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, pointing out
his connection to the Christian faith and his understanding thereof:
―Boshoff is a deeply religious man who regards his art as a form of prayer. However,
his is not a pompous, holier-than-thou attitude – far from it […] Boshoff believes that
art is a form of sacrifice. It demands his time and energy, which he gives to the glory
of his Creator and not for financial reward or applause.‖
(1982: 26)
Suffering for what one loves foremost, God and country, formed part of the
educational principles in most, if not all, Afrikaans communities, schools and
25

churches (where Sunday school was also known „n „boere matriek‟). These
institutions attempted to instill a notion of cultural and religious pride, a sense of
elitism as the chosen people of God in the dark and unfriendly continent.
The central biblical theme of love and devotion to „God and thy neighbour‟ and
obedience to the commandments were strictly upheld 12 , but the principles clung to by
Afrikaans culture were derived from a rather a myopic interpretation and
understanding of the bible, one with a particular political and economic agenda. The
notion of self-sacrifice, self-deprivation and absolute devotion to the laws of the
church equally supported a devotion to a secular system of power put in place by the
very ordinance of the Dutch Reformed Church. This politicized version of religion is
what Boshoff rails against most vehemently and it is here where the notion of the
labyrinth may be shown to hold a particular significance in his work.
The religious principle of suffering to prove one‟s devotion to a spiritual ideal
underlies an early Christian ritual that has a labyrinth as a central part to the ritual and
this is significant in respect of Boshoff‟s preoccupation with labyrinthine formats.
During the Middle Ages, Christian pilgrims who could not make the pilgrimage to
Jerusalem could make a shorter pilgrimage to the cathedrals in France, which had
labyrinths as part of their floor plan.
12 The central theme in the bible is that of love, love for God firstly and secondly to your fellow man, as made
clear by Jesus‟ when confronted by the Pharisees. The Pharisees attempted to test Jesuses knowledge of the
scriptures by asking him which of the laws of Moses where the most important to keep. Jesus responded as
follows:
―Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all they soul and with all thy
mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandment hang all the law and the prophets.‖
St Matthew 23: 37 – 40 (1991: 26)
26

Figure 1.2: Amiens Cathedral Labyrinth.
These cathedrals became centres for the devoted where pilgrims came to walk or
litterally crawl 13 the labyrinths represented on the floor plan.
Kern, in his book “Through the Labyrinth Design and Meaning over 5000
years”(2000), explores the function of these labyrinths. To the early Christians the
crawling and walking of these designs represented the road to salvation as well as the
road after salvation. The path into the labyrinth represented the Christian‟s path to
salvation, where the devotee shows his or her devotion by leaving behind his/her
„sinful‟ life to be reborn as a „brother or sister‟ in Christ. Once the pilgrim has reached
13 Medieval pilgrims, unable to fulfill their desire to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, went instead to
many pilgrimage sites in Europe or Britain. In many cases the end of their journey was a labyrinth
formed of stone and laid in the floor of the nave of one of these great Gothic cathedrals. The center of
the labyrinths probably represented for many pilgrims the Holy City itself and thus became the
substitute goal of the journey. http://www.findingstone.com/workshops/labyrinth/.
This labyrinth was meant to be walked but is reported to be infrequently used today. In the past it could
be walked as a pilgrimage and/or for repentance. As a pilgrimage it was a questing, searching journey
with the hope of becoming closer to God. When used for repentance the pilgrims would walk on their
knees. Sometimes this eleven-circuit labyrinth would serve as a substitute for an actual pilgrimage to
Jerusalem and as a result came to be called the "Chemin de Jerusalem" or Road of Jerusalem.
http://www.lessons4living.com/chartres_labyrinth.htm
27

the centre, he/she is reborn. The pilgrim then retraces his/her steps and moves out to
symbolize their devotion to the „straight and narrow‟. Reaching the end of the
Labyrinth symbolizes death and release from the sinful world to enter heaven. The
„straight and narrow‟ path represented by moving from the outside to the inside and
back is a path early Christians believed to be one of self-sacrifice, self-deprivation and
absolute devotion to the laws of the church. They were decided on by various
meetings and councils dedicated to the creation of a formalized religion. This function
was fulfilled by a select few who held positions of power within the religious
community. The nobles debated and made decisions concerning the establishment of
Christianity as a formal religion/doctrine excluding the illiterate commoner. This
decision-making by a select group embodied by the Nicaean Councel 14 has its parallel
in the Apartheid governments decision making concerning the countries population
where a select view were given the power to make decisions for the whole country.
As pointed out earlier it is the unquestioned, unchallenged acceptance of these
decisions that Boshoff found problematic.
14 A council that was convened by Constantine in 325 BC. The council was convened in order to
resolved questions concerning Christianity as a formelized religioun.
28

Figure 1.3: A Pen and Ink Drawing of a monk walking the Labyrinth (Robin Hood‟s Race or
Shepherd‟s Maze) in Sneinton in Nottinghamshire
Figure 1.4: Chartres Cathedral Labyrinth Figure 1.5: Pen and Ink Drawing of
people walking the Chartres Cathedral Labyrinth,
copied from an 18 th century engraving.
29

The canon created within the constructs of Christianity by men, recalling the devotion
of the Pharisees to the word, (not the word of God but the word of the Law) was
exactly the kind of devotion to the Law that Jesus rallied against when He said:
―But woe onto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are
entering to go in‖
St. Matthew 23:13 (1994: 25)
Boshoff can be seen to take a similar stand against the „law‟ as understood and
enforced by the South African government during the 70‟s and 80‟s. This sentiment is
echoed by his statement:
―It was necessary and very bad. It was necessary to preserve knowledge, but it was
very bad because it left no alternative, no deviation. It was written and what was
written was the law and that enslaved the people… that it‘s words are not supposed to
enslave people‖
(1998: http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html)
As with the enslaving text, the walking of a labyrinth as a single path that leads to
redemption and enlightenment can equally be read in terms of an „entrapment‟. The
early Christian was compelled to a set path by walking the labyrinth. In this sense, the
30

Pharisees dictated the single path of the labyrinth of salvation through their
interpretation of the law as a set of rules 15 .
This reliance on an institutionalized predetermining and fixing of interpretation of the
bible, or any religious text for that matter, becomes extremely problematic in terms of
its authoritative dogmatism. It gives rise to miss-understanding and miss-
interpretations of text, generally over-complicating the text, as the case was (and still
is) with the Pharisees, or the manipulation of the text and supporting texts to further a
religious or secular agenda. History is full of examples of this manipulation of, in this
case, biblical text, e.g. the Crusades, The Inquisition, Spain‟s colonization of parts of
South America, The Great Trek, Apartheid and the current debates on the „War on
Terrorism‟ the Neo-Nazi movement currently active in the USA as well as several
cults world wide. In every such case a religious text was manipulated and/or miss-
understood with generally dire consequences for most parties involved as can be seen
in recent history in Christian cults such as the Branch Dividians 16 , Heavens Gate 17 and
closer to home The Movement for the restoration of the ten commandments in
Uganda 18
15 This enslavement by way of the written word handed down as law should, however, be understood
more in terms of a Maze (with it potential for multiple paths and cul de sacs) rather than a Labyrinth,
which the Pharisees created around the metaphysical entrance to heaven. The Maze of the Pharisees
was created through the study and interpretation of primarily the Laws of Moses as given to him by
God on mount Sinai and the auxiliary Laws that accompany activities within the Temple. These laws,
interpretations of laws and laws accompanying the ritual of the Judaic culture in everyday life become
a cognitive Maze, where those adhering to the law, lost sight of the goal, with no golden string to help
them out again. Jesus‟ rebellion against man‟s over-reliance on the Law did not last very long as man‟s
reliance on the law returned with a new taskmaster: the established institution of the Christian Church.
16 The Branch Dividians was lead by David Koresh, in a stand off with FBI and ATF agents many of
Koresh‟s followers died as a result of what is speculated to be a Mass Suicide.
17 Heavens Gate is an amelgamation of three other groups and in March 1997 three mass suicides
started, these were done in order to be transported by an alien craft to „heaven‟
18 As short description of this cult would be very difficult but for further reading please look at:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/dc_rest.htm
31

It is an obsession with biblical texts and their „miss-use‟ or „miss-understanding‟
eventually lead Boshoff to the creation of KYKAFRIKAANS, as can be deduced from
the following statement:
―You will find that the concrete poetry I wrote in the seventies mostly deals with
biblical text, but for example, they would be a subversion of the text. [Attempts] to get
the text monomaically one on one, the duel, a fight… the text becomes that.‖
(1998: http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html)
The subversions that Boshoff employs in these works are not an attempt to point out
the flaws in the original teachings of the Jesus but rather to explore his own
understanding of the Bible in relation to the „official‟ or institutional understanding:
―I tried incessantly to write what I thought [the text] meant in the margins. I tried to
clarify issues.‖
(1998: http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html )
And to explore other peoples‟ understanding of biblical text:
―So I have done a lot of things to confuse, but not in order to condemn. I believe that
you can sometimes make more sense to people in obscurity than… by being
patronizing‖
(ibid: http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html)
32

In light of the historical background related in previous pages, KYKAFRIKAANS
forms part of a series of works that critically question the Afrikaners‟ claim to cultural
and religious supremacy. However, the work should not be seen as an outright
criticism or condemnation. It should rather be seen as Boshoff‟s meditation on the
issues of the time:
―I had to forget about becoming famous [for my] Conceptual Art and about getting
rich because of Conceptual Art. My reasons had to be different… because I‘ve used it
as a kind of meditation tool—as a way of enriching myself.‖
(http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html)
These meditations lead one to ask why meditations and not an out right attack on the
status quo? Boshoff‟f position is clarified through the artist‟s notes on BangBook
(book that is afraid or Scary pants), 1977-1981, ink, paper and Masonite, Billton
Collection, Johannesburg, where Boshoff discusses his military career as a
consciences objector and ―my own silent way of re-enforcing loyalty to pacifist
convictions, a secretly knitted armour against arguments I would encounter.‖
(Willem Boshoff) http://www.willemboshoff.com/documents/workbangboek.htm
It is easy, in light of the belief that was held by the Afrikaner, to draw parallels
between the Israelites on which the Afrikaner people moulded themselves and
Boshoff‟s relationship to the figure of Jesus. Where Jesus employed parables to teach
his followers, Boshoff can similarly be seen to employ (visual and literary)
metaphorical devices to teach and enlighten people as Natalie Knight points out
―Many of his messages are deliberately concealed.‖
33

(1981: 1)
Boshoff has in fact drawn attention to several similarities between himself and the
figure of Jesus in terms of teachings. Both have similar parental backgrounds, being
sons of carpenters and the mothers of both had the name Mary. Both started actively
preaching in their early thirties 19 , Jesus through his parables and Boshoff through his
quite didactic artwork and as a street preacher in front of the OK Bazaars supermarket
in Klerksdorp and around the vicinity of the Johannesburg Art Gallery. Jesus claimed
that he was sent by his Father (God) to bring salvation to the world. Jesus actively
worked and preached against the Pharisees. Jesus‟ resistance to Judaic „superiority‟
brought on by their belief that they are the chosen people of God culminates in his
apparent rejection of man‟s interpretation of the Law of Moses, which formed an
integral part of the Judaic tradition. Similarly, Boshoff actively opposes the
Afrikaners‟ belief that they are the chosen people of God, by undermining the
church‟s interpretation of not only the law but also the scripture in general through his
undermining of biblical text in KYKAFRIKAANS.
19 Jesus‟s birth is estimated at between , 4 B.C. and the year 0 and the start of his ministry between 29
A.D. and 30 A.D. which would place Jesus in his early thirties, and according to Boshoff‟s Curriculum
Vita, Boshoff was born in 1951 and had his first solo exhibition in 1981 making Boshoff 30 at the time
34

Fig: Artist interpretation of the Battle of Blood River which became a symbol of the Afrikaaner‟s
dedication to his Faith through the Oath made by the Boers.
Despite Boshoff‟s devotion to the Christian faith during the time that he created
KYKAFRIKAANS, he started becoming disillusioned with the institutional faith.
A much later work entitled Bad Faith Chronicles (1996) illustrates this
disillusionment. It is made up of plastic dolls, bibles in each of South Africa‟s 11
official languages, nails and 11 panels of text (Installation size 126 x 1100 cm
(collection: Robert Loder)). Boshoff can here be seen to draw strong parallels
between the groups of people (represented by the plastic dolls) and the tribes killed by
the Israelites in their quest for their promised land. Even though this work was created
much later than KYKAFRIKAANS the central theme has its origins in some of the
poems in KYKAFRIKAANS and as such shows Boshoff‟s ever growing
disillusionment with Christian Dogma and its authoritative text 20 . This is also evident
in the following comment:
―The text is something that gets people to stop growing, to stop thinking. It sets a
paradigm that is impossible to move away from. If you believe it and you adhere to it
you never grow beyond that, then the text is a dictator.‖
(http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html)
20 Apart from Boshoff‟s connection to the figure of Jesus, he cryptically reveals another connection to divinity, a
connection that could be seen as somewhat sinister and even heretical. In several documents Boshoff emphasizes
that KYKAFRIKAANS was produced on the Hermes 3000 typewriter. The Greek figure Hermes (or the Roman
Mercury) is known as the messenger of the gods and the son of Jupiter and finds a similar form in the Egyptian
Toth.
35

KYKAFRIKAANS is an Archetypal body of work, for Boshoff‟s much later
meditation on national superiority within Afrikaner culture, but also within British,
American and Israeli cultures where such hegemony was similarly based on religious
principles. The Afrikaner, the American and Isralite/Juish belief in being „God‟s
chosen people‟ and the British notions of superiority based on its colonial past are
adderessed in various ways, as can be seen for example, in the work titled
JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM (2005). Here Boshoff has carefully stacked a row of
gabions with colourd stones spelling the word „Jerusalem‟. The central letters „USA‟
are highlighted by way of a lighter colourd stone to draw out a connection made by
the Americans between the USA and the biblical/apocalyptic idea of the New
Jerusalem, God‟ new kingdom on earth after the second coming. This sense of
superiority as the chosen nation has in resent history been the driving force behind
various military and political programs in the American version of World events.
Figure : JERUSALEM JERUSALEM wire mesh, stones building rubble and metalpieces, 360 cm x
40cm x 70cm 2004
36

Chapter 2: KYKAFRIKAANS
37

Figure 2.1 Cover of KYKAFRIKAANS
38

2.1 Introduction
KYKAFRIKAANS is a collection of 93 Afrikaans visual/concrete poems in book
format, written by Boshoff between 1977 and 1980 and published in 1980. The poems
were typed on a Hermes 3000 table model typewriter and published by Pannevis
Uitgewery. Sigma Press carried out the printing and binding. Most of the so-called
„poems‟ contained within this anthology are presented as visual images, compiled by
the layering of words in various configurations e.g. VERDWAALKART (p87) (see
figure: 19) which is a poem containing several typed layers of text (one layer over the
other in areas). By layering selected areas of text, Boshoff creates a topographical
map of sorts with lines of longitude and latitude. Other text appears more readable as
in DAGTAFEL EN VERFTAFEL (p88 and p89), a two-page spread of written text
in the form of a more conventionally readable poem. In others, the aural experience of
the poem becomes the focus, as alluded to by the short descriptions to the poems in
Boshoff‟s catalogue for his first public exhibition at the Johannesburg Art Gallery.
For example, for GEJAAG NA WIND (p16 and p17) the description reads:
“Body rhythms like cariographic heartbeats and regular breathing in sleep.”
(1981: p 2 point 25)
KYKAFRIKAANS was shown as an „Artist Book‟ 21 and independent works in the
form of silkscreen prints during Boshoff‟s first solo exhibition at the Johannesburg
21 In attempting to define the Artist Book one needs to wade through a multitude of definitions by
various political agendas. The Art Libraries Society of the United Kingdom and Ireland produced a
definition for the practical purpose of identifying such books for special descriptive treatment when
recording a libraries holdings. This definition reads as follows: a book or book-like object in which an
artist has had a major input beyond illustration or authorship: where the final appearance of the book
39

Art Gallery (September 1981), i.e. selected works from the book were also presented
as artist‟s prints with the titles translated into English e.g. TYPED
BRUSHSTROKES, typewriter, 1980, was derived from GETIKTE KWASHALE
(p55) KYKAFRIKAANS) (see figure 23) and MAP TO GET LOST BY, silkscreen,
1980, derived from VERDWAALKAART (p87 KYKAFRIKAANS) ( see figure 19).
Fig: Cover of KYKAFRIKAANS
The KYKAFRIKAANS book measures 21 cm x 29.7 cm x 0.7 cm and was published
in soft cover. The front cover carries the title of the book and the artist‟s name as well
as a graphic image of what seems to be a badly battered typewriter used to type the
poems. . On the page opposite to the first poem the following text reads: “Jy kan met
owes much to an artist‟s interference/ participation: where the book is the manifestation of the artist
creativity: where the book is a work of art in itself.
40

jou oe hoor maar nie met jou ore kyk nie”, (you can hear with your eyes but you can‟t
see with your ears). This statement introduces a riddle and sets the tone for the 93
poems that follow. This cryptic statement is somewhat reminiscent of Wassily
Kandinsky‟s notion of synaesthesia, ( blind alphabet possible link to touch and
blindness) i.e. a sensation produced in one physical sense when a stimulus is applied
to another sense, as when the hearing of a certain sound induces the visualization of a
certain colour. In Boshoff‟s case it is about „hearing‟ what is written down. This
seemingly nonsensical claim does emphasize the act of seeing and reading as a form
of deeper insight of vision, also in the sense that as one reads one also „speaks‟. The
poems in the KYKAFRIKAANS collection and the page numbers on which they
appear are listed in the back of the book giving some clues as to how to read and
decipher the poems. The titles of the majority of the poems do not appear with the
poems themselves but rather in this index.
2.1.1. Literary and Visual Reference
KYKAFRIKAANS, according to the Shackner archive 22 , constituted the first and to
date the only book of its kind within a South African context. As Ivan Vladislavic
remarks in his book on Boshoff:
―More than twenty years after it first appeared it still looks unlike anything else
produced here.‖
(2005: 22)
22 www.shacknerarchive.com , The Shackner Archive is the website for the Shackner collection,
reputably the worlds biggest private collection of Visual and Concrete poetry.
41

Because of the cultural boycott that was in place against the apartheid government
during the 70‟s and 80‟s, Boshoff found himself working mostly in the dark and alone
with regard to developments within the international art world, especially a marginal
form of art production such as Book Art and Concrete and Visual Poetry, generally
considered a part of Conceptual Art. Boshoff‟s own isolation within this ambit of
production and his understanding of the isolated nature of the local art world at the
time is revealed in an interview with www.onepeople.com:
―There was no way that Conceptual Art was going to be tolerated by the art
establishment. […] because artist wanted to see colour and images and
representation. Even in a sophisticated sense or an Abstract-Expressionist sense, but
at least that was colour and texture like chocolate that you can enjoy. But Conceptual
art was not that much tolerated…‖
(Willem Boshoff: http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html, 2003)
Boshoff‟s only contact to what was happening in the international art arena
concerning his field of interest, book art and concrete and visual poetry and art in
general, was through newspaper clippings that he collected, as Vladislavic recalls:
―He taught himself too, collecting whatever he could about art and artists from
newspapers and magazines and kept the cuttings in a scrapbook.‖
(ibid: 10)
Despite the isolation in which Boshoff worked, there are similarities between his
poems and poems of the kind created in the international arena.
42

Figure 2.1 Steve McCaffery, the Carnival, the first panel, 1967 – 70
A few examples of these can be found in the work of Steve McCaffery, Charles
Bernstein and John Cage. McCaffery published a series of works entitled “Carnival,
the first panel” in 1973 23 (figure.1), classified as an artist book. Bernstein (after the
publication of KYKAFRIKAANS) published an artist book entitled “Veil” in 1987
and experimented with the combination of text and image (figure. 2). McCaffery and
Bernstein took a similar approach to Boshoff in the creation of their poems by using a
typewriter to create poems in a visual format. One of Boshoff‟s comments in the
www.onepeople.com interview seems to conform to Bernstein‟s working method:
23 The work The Carnival, first panel was created between 1967 and 1970 but Coach House Press in
Toronto only published the work in 1973.
43

―I went back to the beginning and typed over what was written, right on top of line
one, and I did this for a third time, so you have three times cryptic.‖
(ibid: 2003)
Figure 2.2: Charles Bernstein, Veil, 1987
Cage‟s work entitled “Mesostics”(fig. 3); a manipulation of a text of statements by
Jasper Johns also bears some visual similarity to Boshoff‟s poems.
Within the South African context, there were some other practitioners of this genre,
but though they were creating concrete and visual poems, these practitioners
approached the creative process from a more literary perspective, i.e. more in the
convention of poetry as literary practice.
44

Figure 2.3: John Cage, Mesostics, (Page 1)
Examples of such works can be found in poetry journals of the time. Some of these
examples are:
Essop Patel‟s published poems in Staffrider in the mid to late Seventies. The
poems, however, failed to go beyond dancing and cascading letters.
The Journal Donga published similar experiments by poets such as Fhazel
Johannesse and again Patel.
45

In the sixties Wurm published concrete poems by the Bulgarians Paul de
Vree and Ivo Vroom as well as the Czech Jiri Valoch.
As one of the editors of Wurm, Phil du Plessis‟s poems closely resemble the
Poems of Boshoff.
Other South Africans such as Micheal Macnamra and Andre de Wet found
exposure in the pages of Wurm as well.
Wopko Jensma, the only example listed with whose work Boshoff was
familiar.
As already pointed out, most of these poems are rooted in a literary tradition, unlike
most of Boshoff‟s poems which enter the concrete poetry genre from a visual art
background, where the emphasis is placed more on the visual and the associated
conceptual quality of the poem. This is demonstrated when one looks at one of the
above-mentioned poems, KNIEDIEP IN DIE KAK, 1977 by Wopko Jensma 24
(figure: 5) in comparison to one of Boshoff‟s poems VLEGSKRIF, (p2).
24 KNIEDIEP IN DIE KAK was published in 1977 as part of Jensma‟s book gromringer variasies by
Ravan Press
46

Figure 2.4: Knie diep in die Kak, Wopko Jensma, 1977
Figure 2.5: Willem Boshoff, VLEGSKRIF, page 2, KYKAFRIKAANS.
47

The first and most obvious difference between the two poems lies in the visual
complexity found in VLEGSKRIF (p 2), which suggests that the poem was written
primarily to be „looked at‟ and to be deciphered, whereas KNIEDIEP IN DIE KAK
was more obviously written to be „read‟ first and the visual format plays a secondary
part in that reading. Although Boshoff also wrote poems to be „read‟, his work
demonstrates a much stronger visual engagement with visual complexity as well as a
consideration with the relationship between the „image‟ of the text and text as a
deciphered entity. This heavily underscores his particular conceptual approach to the
text contained within these poems. It is, however, important to note that Boshoff does
also venture into more literary territory in a small number of poems in
KYKAFRIKAANS such as: VERDWAALDE EMOSIES, p3 (Lost Emotions), SIEK
GODE, p6-7 (Sick Gods), FYNKAM, p9 (Combing – looking for something). These
poems fit into a more traditional understanding of this genre of visual poetry,
however, according to Vladislavic, Boshoff was unaware of the journals (such as
Wurm ) containing such examples at the time, but knew some of the works of Jensma.
Vladislavic traces the Jensma influences that would have indirectly affected Boshoff‟s
work to a Bolivian born writer living in Switzerland, one of the founders of concrete
poetry. Soon after the end of the Second World War, experiments in concrete poetry
took place independently in various countries. The general aims of these poets were to
find an international poetic language of sorts, which could be attributed to
disillusionment with the notion of war and the need to reconcile with previous
enemies. This was also one of the underlying reasons behind the evolution of the
Dada movement. The principles encapsulated by the emergence of Concrete Poetry,
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the unification and combination of languages, found a theoretical home in the work of
Max Bense 25 , a Stuttgart philosopher.
In his book “1914 – 1928 The aesthetics of Visual Poetry” (1986) Willard Bohn traces
the history of Visual Poetry. In the introduction, Bohn notes that a connection
between writing and painting has been identified as far back as Simonides of Keos in
the Fifth century B.C. This sentiment is echoed in Horace‟s dictum ut picture poesis 26
(in poetry as in painting). For Bohn the „main aim‟ of experimentations, as he calls
these manifestations, is in bridging the gap between the visual (painting) and the
temporal (poetry).
This bridging of the visual and the temporal in visual poetry may be seen to have its
origins in explorations of script used in labyrinthine formats dating as far back as the
16 th century, as Hermann Kern states in his book “Through the Labyrinth, Design
and Meaning over 5000 years” (2000). He puts forward examples of texts in visual
format, particularly in labyrinthine and Maze format, that can be classified as visual
poems. Some of these are:
25 need info
26 Bohn W. The Aesthetics of Visual Poetry, 1914-1928, University of Chicago Press, 1987, Chicago
and London
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Figure 2.6: Johann Neudorffer the Elder, Script Labyrinth, etching, 18 x 10.4 cm Nurenberg, 1539.
Johann Neudorffer the Elder, Script Labyrinth, etching, 18 x 10.4 cm
Nurenberg, 1539. The print was taken from Neudorffer‟s book for masters
scribes, Eine gute Ordnung und kurtze unterricht der furnemsten grunde aus
denen die Jungen Zierlichs schreybens begirlich mit besonderer Kunst und
behendigkeyt unterrich und geubt mogen werden. The text starts at the center
and ends at the bottom left quadrant. (Kern: 14)
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Figure 2.7: Urban Wyss, woodcut, 20.5 cm x 31.8 cm, 1562, plate JIIII from a pattern book by
Wyss.
Urban Wyss, woodcut, 20.5 cm x 31.8 cm, 1562, plate JIIII from a pattern
book by Wyss. The text starts at the center and ends in the top left quadrant.
The text starts with He who wants to know the nature of the world must only
read these rhymes. He will quickly find within how the whole world has gone
blind… The text ends with Is really true and is not inventad. This design was
copied from Johann Neudorffer the Elder. (ibid: 215)
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Figure 2.8: Johann Caspar Hiltensperger, Spiral poem, woodcut, 43.7 cm x 37.8 cm (date
unknown)
Johann Caspar Hiltensperger, Spiral poem, woodcut, 43.7 cm x 37.8 cm. The
text in this work comes from the first chapter of Ecclesiastes. The text is
structured as a single line of text that runs from the outside inwards as a
representation of Ariadne‟s string. The work represents a call for wisdom from
God to fear and obey the commandments from God. (ibid: 215)
52

Figure 2.9: Johann Georg Lipp, Broadsheet in red and black, 54 cm x 40.5 cm, Luneburg, 1654
Johann Georg Lipp, Broadsheet in red and black, 54 cm x 40.5 cm, Luneburg,
1654. The print is dedicated to Duke August of Brunswick and Luneburg on
his 75 th birthday. (ibid: 216)
53

Figure 2.10: Johann Agricola, Woodcut and letterpress printing in red and black, 30.6 cm x 31.6
cm, 1568
Johann Agricola, Woodcut and letterpress printing in red and black, 30.6 cm x
31.6 cm, 1568. The author was an Evangelical theologian in Lubben, Bautzen.
The Author should not be confused with the more famous Johann Agricola
from Eisleden. The seven circuit Labyrinth is dedicated to Hern von
Hassenstein and Felix von Lobcowitz, dem Landvogt von Niderlausitz. The
text in the Labyrinth describes the godlessness of the world at the center
appears a woodcut, depicting two couples in a bower after a meal. (ibid: 216)
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Figure 2.11: Eberhard Kieser, Broadsheet engraving, 21.3 cm x 29.4 cm, 1611.
Eberhard Kieser, Broadsheet engraving, 21.3 cm x 29.4 cm, 1611. The
Labyrinth is a prayer in the form of a poem. The prayer starts at the center and
ends at the bottom left. Before the end of the poem, one reads the following:
―Ist dies der Labyrinthus fein? Es mag wohl Labor intus sein‖, (Is this the
pretty Labyrinth? It may be Labour intus), according to Kern (ibid: 217) this
plays on the Medieval interpretation of Labyrinths as a “vale of tears”
(expand)
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Figure 2.12: Labyrinth poem, Broadsheet, 33.5 cm x 32 cm, probably printed in the first half of the
18 th Century
Labyrinth poem, Broadsheet, 33.5 cm x 32 cm, probably printed in the first
half of the 18 th Century, very little else is known about this labyrinth. The text
documents a religious dialogue, beginning and ending at the bottom center.
(ibid: 218)
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Figure 2.13: Cubic Labyrinth, unknown author, 17 th century.
Cubic Labyrinth, unknown author, 17 th century. (quote description from
book)The work was written in honor of Joze Maria de Evora, Bishop of Porto.
It consists of one sentence, which at any time takes up the whole line with
only one letter missing. The sentence is repeated 39 times until the top and
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ottom sentence is the same. The work s compared to a spiral running around
a cylinder, this is very probable as optical (mirror) games were popular at the
time. (ibid: 243)
The general themes of the above-mentioned poems are religious in nature and form
part of a Christian tradition linked to the use of a labyrinth as an integral part of a
pilgrimage ritual, which I will explore in more depth later on.
In the majority of examples given by the three authors mentioned above, the text
remains readable while being adapted to a visual pattern or format. Boshoff‟s poetry
breaks from this tradition as one of its main aims is the purposeful obstruction or
destruction of the text. As Vladislavic points out:
―In his commentaries, Boshoff makes much of the idea of ‗disqualifying the text…
This ‗disqualification‘ is thus part of a general lobbying on behalf of the image in the
face of the word. ‖
Ivan Vladislavic, (2005: 26)
Boshoff thus engages with a conflicting position between a propensity for words,
which he has become famous for, while at the same time undermining the
authoritative character often associated with the written word. He approces the notion
of language much like the multi-cursory maze with its many options of traversing as
well as cul de sacs. Boshoff treats language as a play between order and authority (as
encounterd in conventional text) and the chaos/enigma of meaning. This duality
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ecomes a modus operandi which Boshoff uses to manipulate the text, that creates
mystery through which the viewer/reader‟s has to use their knowledge of Boshoff‟s
working process n order to decipher meaning.
Through examining selected „poems‟ from this body of work, I will start to explore
notions of the labyrinth and maze format within the work of Boshoff, both as visual
and conceptual devices. The poems found in KYKAFRIKAANS can be categorized as
follows;
Visual or picture-poems: These poems have a stronger visual presence and the
text in these poems is hardly readable. Because of this, the visual format of the
poem is crucial to the understanding of what the text is about, e.g.
VERDWAALKAART and AAN N LYNTJIE.
Readable poems: These poems, although having visual elements, are easier to
decipher by way of reading their text and as such should be read when one
endeavors to understand the poem, e.g. PROBLEEM and KLEURE VROEG
IN DIE MORE. I will not deal with these poems as a literary forum would be
better suited for a thorough discussion of these poems.
The third category can be described as a combination of both: Where the poem
is readable but also has very strong visual elements, e.g. KERKKERK
KERKKERK and STADSPLAAS. These poems will be discussed as far as the
visual element in the work will allow without attempting to engage in a
literary discussion.
Some of Boshoff‟s works were performed aurally, as the following passage outlines:
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―In addition to the KYKAFRIKAANS exhibition Boshoff held three recitals at the
main Dutch Reformed church. The attendance was not big, and the audience all too
suspicious.
To expect from adults (the audience) to sit in the hallowed quietude of a church and
mimic the ―sound of paper‖, and to repeat loudly words like ―church‖ and ―sand‖,
or to assert ―peel‖, ―wage‖ or ―pipe‖ as swear-words, sounds like madness, not to
mention mockery. But, for those who did participate – and all of them did – it was an
overwhelming experience simultaneously light and solemn, and, ultimately, a
catharsis for the soul and reason.‖
(Willem Boshoff: www.willemboshoff.com)
2.2.1 Visual Poems
The notion of visual poems encompasses a wide variety of images and configurations
created with text using the tonal value layers of text, as in MIN OF MEER (p14) and
the mutation of letters. An example of this can be seen in “Carnival, the first panel”
(Fig: 1) Steve McCaffery, typewriter, 1967 – 1970.
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Figure 2.14: MIN OF MEER (p14)
By using the typewriter as creative medium Boshoff‟s poems in KYKAFRIKAANS
are made by way of layering the type font to achieve combinations of textures into
pictures of sorts. VERDWAALKART, p89, (map to get lost by) is a good example of
this method of accumulation. The poem is typed on a single page where the body of
text is divided into a field of twenty-four smaller blocks, four blocks horizontally and
six blocks vertically. Taking a cue from the title, the horizontal and vertical lines can
be read as lines of longitude and latitude, not unlike the grid of a map, which can be
used to make pinpointing a position on a map easier. However, whilst the allusion to a
61

map may be there, these grids are of no or very little use in terms of plotting positions,
apart from making the poem take on the appearance of a map. From the title one can
deduce that this map should not be used to find, but rather to lose oneself.
Figure 2.15: VERDWAALKAART, (p87)
How and in what is one meant to lose oneself? This is not a map of any geographical
area but rather a map of the mind (mind map). The map created by Boshoff functions
in a very similar way to a Maze where the overall structure of the Maze appears
ordered and readily graspable, but once inside the Maze, the negotiation of a pathway
62

through it is difficult if not impossible to navigate. The text in the poem is generally
unreadable due to the layering, with the exception of areas where a single layer of text
is readable. However, even the text in these areas is made difficult to read by the
removal of the spaces between individual letters. This complication of the text is
heightened further by what is perhaps the most important obstruction in this poem,
and most other poems by Boshoff, namely the fact that it is written in Afrikaans,
Boshoff‟s mother tongue. This alienates all non-Afrikaans readers from
„understanding‟ the text in any other way than from an immediate visual impression.
While the reading or understanding of VERDWAALKAART (p87) becomes a maze
of sorts with multiple dead ends that may seem to be „centres‟ or conceptual places to
get lost in, Vladislavic points out:
― These poems however, are a celebration of possibility. Boshoff approached the page
the way an artist would approach a canvas, using the typewriter as a ‗drawing
instrument‘.‖
(2005: 26)
Celebration in the form of a pilgrimage, a walk through the labyrinth that has as a
strong reference to early Pagan feastavils, the poems are games or tricks that Boshoff
plays on and with the viewer. Taking the willing viewer on a journey of discovery
through the viewers „struggle‟ with the text/image. Promising enlightenment or some
kind of resolution through the combination of religious text or text relating to the
religious notions prevalent during this period of time as well as imagery and
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etmological descriptions, such as PS 42 (p12), “SS” (p28), TOLLENAAR EN
FARISEER (p40) and KERKERK KERKKERK (p58 –59).
This pilgrimage is similar to the early Christian‟s symbolic pilgrimages through the
labyrinth. But instead of leading the pilgrim to a point of enlightenment Boshoff leads
the pilgrim in to a maze of possibilities.
In the following section I will consider some possible readings of the work where I
will refer to three potetial pathways to a centre as possible approaches through this
maze-like poem:
(The Amazing reader Quotes)
First Pathway to a center.
As mentioned before, the text used in the poem is only readable in certain areas and
deciphering the text becomes a difficult task. However, the bottom part of the poem
reveals some text that can be deciphered and it reads as follows:
Maar die Switsers het gou die…
… die Oostenrykers is gevang… en hy… saam deur n woud gery. …
Kasteel aan die brand gesteek… op die laaste dag van April…
This translates as follows:
But the Swiss quickly…
… the Austrians were caught… and he… rode through the wood together. …
The castle was set alight… on the last day of April…
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The text seems to reveal a historical account of events in Europe during some kind of
war. In this instance, Boshoff‟s textual mind map becomes a another kind of map in
the sense of having geographical strata by way of the accumulated, layered text. As a
geographical map documents the build-up of layers of soil and the erosion of these
layers, VERDWAALKAART enters into a temporal dimension to reveal, as well as to
hide, layers of text built up and eroded by time.
Time and the elements play a crucial role in the creation of a landscape. dust, soil and
other materials aggregate to construct a landscape that is further cut into and eroded
by the elements to reveal or expose again what was there before.
The use of the metaphor of land or landscapes has, since this poem, become a
frequent theme in many of Boshoff‟s works e.g. SANDKOEVERT (Sand, 73.5 X
195 X 3.5 cm, 1979), UMHILABATHI (soil in jars, glass shelves and wooden
cabinets, installation Mpumalanga Legislature, Nelspruit), GAIA INDEX, (soil, glass
bottles, and wooden cabinet 1991), and BREAD-AND-PEBBLE ROAD MAP
(stones, bread rolls, wood, sand, paint and glass, 40 panels each 100 x 40 x 7 cm,
2004).
Figure 1.16: Bread-and-Pebble Road Map
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Need to look at (the event Boshoff is referring to)
Within the context of the time in which the work was created i.e. the apartheid years
in South African history, the issue of land was and still is very critical, as land was
central to the institution of apartheid, where the Afrikaner, identifying with the
Israelites, came into a foreign country and „stole‟ the land of the native people.
The biblical account of the Israelites‟ invasion of the land of Canaan presented a
divine purpose for the Boers escaping English rule to take the land of the disbelievers,
the native people of the interior of southern Africa. This belief was further aided by
historic events of fortitude and victory in the face of the enemy such as the events
surrounding Blood River 27 . Boshoff‟s enigmatic historical text referring to a battle
between two European nations, seems to demonstrate how easily an historical event
may become obscured by the historical texts harboring ideological prejudices and
aims. In addition, it also seems to point to the fact that with the passing of time, these
texts will themselves be eroded to reveal what was before. The „eroded‟ text i.e. the
less layered text, becomes the more revealing text. Here we discover an irony within
the work, the high points on the map are the most confused, the most layered areas,
and it is from these areas that one might be able to see or to navigate the map.
Second Pathway to a Center
As an alternative approach, the work could be read as a comment on the accumulation
of knowledge, based on the idea that knowledge lifts a person to greater heights, as
we are all led to believe. Yet the more knowledge one gains, the more complex the
picture becomes and the less sense can be made of it, creating a Maze from the
knowledge that is supposed to make understanding easier. This is consistent with
27 More info..
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Boshoff‟s understanding of the story of the Tower of Babel 28 . According to Boshoff,
the Tower of Babel is not necessarily to be understood as a tower that was built to
reach heaven i.e. man‟s attempt to physically reach heaven, but rather as a place of
learning where all the people of one language were taught the Occult 29 , where the
teaching of magik would give the student/people the power to become more god-like
and thus reach a heavenly state. So the tower that is referd to here is not to be
understood as a literal tower but rather and „ivory‟ tower of study. Boshoff uses this
interpratation of this story as a manifestation of language and its use a
labyrinthine/maze-like device in order to confuse and miss-lead.
Figure 2.17: Artist impression of the Tower of Babel by Gustav Doré
28
Boshoff refers to the Tower of Babel in several texts but he revealed more on his interpretation of
these Biblical events in conversations
29
Cultic knowledge constituted knowledge that is hidden from the general population. This knowledge
is generally kept and only taught to initiates of a secret order. I will expand on the where and how of
the knowledge further on.
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―And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech‖
Genesis 11:1
This caused men to be almost God-like in their abilities and the Bible tells us that God
was not happy about this challenge to His authority and as a result, He caused people
to talk different languages in order to prevent them from completing the tower. They
could no longer understand one another‟s speech and were scattered over all the earth
This interpretation of the story of the Tower of Babel has validity when one looks at
the historic evidence taken from the bible 30 as well as archeological evidence.
Figure 2.18: Ruins left in the Ziggurat Plain supposedly of the Tower of Babel.
30 Some might question the validity of the Bible as a historic document but the Judaic-Christian Bible is
a derivative of the Torah, which is a historical or interpreted historical document of the Judaic faith.
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Figure 2.19: Artist reconstruction of the Tower of Babel
The plain on which the Tower was built was situated in ancient Babylon. The Biblical
name given to the plain where the Tower was built is Shinar:
― they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there‖
Genesis 11:2
According to the annotations given in the Dake‟s Annotated Reference Bible (1994),
which is based on archeological findings, one finds that the tower was not built in
order to reach heaven, it was in fact only 300ft high. Further on in the annotation the
builders of the tower are said to have been giants, the same giants of Genesis 6:4.
―The Giants were born unto women that were taken as wives by the sons of God.”
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The Book of Enoch, part of the Apocrypha, states that each angel was in charge of an
aspect of forbidden knowledge, what we now refer to as cultic knowledge or the
knowledge of Magic. The gaining of this knowledge would have made the people
more God-like:
― And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and
this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have
imagined to do.‖
Genesis 11:6
Because of men becoming more powerful, God decided to muddle their language, so
that they would not be able to understand each other. This „punishment‟ of being
confounded can be found in all institutions of advanced learning where a particular
school will develop a new language in an attempt to define new developments and
inventions. One just needs to think of the advancement of technology and the
language that was invented to deal with this new field of knowledge and information.
This highly specialized and dense knowledge is likened to the mountains in Boshoff‟s
VERDWAAL KAART, with the valleys and low-lying areas being places of little
knowledge but much clarity.
The Third Path to a Center
The work could also be read purely as a visual image, an image or map of words to
get lost in visually. Boshoff often refers to what he calls the „disqualifying‟ of text for
the sake of the image and as Vladislavic points out:
70

―This ‗disqualification‘ is […] part of a general lobbying on behalf of the image in
the face of the word.‖
(2005: 26)
This support for the image links to Boshoff‟s view on the written word as
authoritative, specifically where the written word (as with the Gutenberg Bible)
became a means of enslaving people in the dogma of the church. The mass-produced
written word does not allow the more imaginatively open-ended kind of reading
which images of stained glass windows in cathedrals do:
―… Gutenberg has a lot to answer for. Mass production has devalued the written
word: ‗The original text, handwritten by the writer as craftsman, is dropped at second
hand on every doorstep‘… Boshoff wants to restore the magical relationship between
the handcrafted object and its maker‖
(ibid: 15)
This is amplified in Boshoff‟s quote which I have already used earlier on:
―It‘s much more important for the text to be an opponent sometimes than to be a
friend. You don‘t learn anything from it if it‘s passive. If it is only supposed to teach
you something, it dies on you, it betrays you, you betray it.‖
http//www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html
Boshoff always reveals his own immediate „struggle‟ with text. In a conversation with
Boshoff in April 2005, he spoke of a project he undertook which involved making
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annotations alongside biblical text. These notes were the documentation of his
struggle with the text in his attempt to gain a better understanding of the text.
However, he abandoned the project because he found that the process of reading and
making notes stopped him from thinking. It did not allow him an imaginative
dimension of critical engagement with the text.
It is generally accepted that we think in images and not in words. The process Boshoff
engages in, in the creation of this and other poems, recalls the Platonic belief that
physical objects are but impermanent representations of unchanging ideas, and that
these ideas alone give true knowledge as they are known by the mind. Plato‟s notions
of the Archetype, Prototype and Stereotype conform to Boshoff‟s model in that the
Archetype is an „original model‟ outside of this world. For Plato this was represented
by Mount Olympus. Similarly, Boshoff associates an „outsideness‟ with his mind. The
Prototype for Plato is formed in the mind and for Boshoff it is the image, a
representation of our thinking. The Stereotype for Plato is the spoken or written word.
Boshoff „elevates‟ the written word to the position of the Archetype, originating in the
viewer‟s mind, the birthplace of the Archetype. The written and spoken words are
thus viewed as pictorial „building blocks‟ in the construction of the image of a map.
As such, Boshoff is attempting to make the word flesh, to make the non-physicality of
language real, similar to the promise of Jesus‟ humanization through his birth, the
word made flesh.
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GETIKTE KWASHALE (p55)
(self discovery) (Need to expand on labyrinth and marrage)
The poem GETIKTE KWASHALE (p55) (Typed brush marks) is constructed from
what Boshoff refers to as „brush marks‟. The so-called brush marks are constructed by
repeatedly typing single words to form staggered, oblique columns of text, which also
overlap not unlike broad brush-marks. The resulting columns of text give the
impression of painting to cover something up, as one would do when painting over a
section of canvas where a mistake has been made. This leads one to conclude that the
words are here being used to conceal something, and the text in the back of
KYKAFRIKAANS affirms this: “Getik vir n smeerveldtog” (Typed for a
„propaganda‟ exercise) 31 . Boshoff‟s process is in this case one of obliteration through
layering, hiding text under layers of text. At face value, the work is clearly about a
notion of covering up of lies. To find an inroad deeper into the riddle, we need to
examine the specific words that that have been used. Some of the text that is used to
hide the background reads as follows:
Uitbreek – break out, Uitsteek – Stick out / protrude, Betrokke – Involve, Gebaseer –
Based on
Besonder – Unique, Deurspek – Heerlik – Wonderful, Selfmoord – Suicide,
Toegepas – Apply , Sekerlik – Surely, Beroemde – Famous, Realisme – Realism,
Besluite – Decisions.
By implication of the „propaganda exercise‟, Boshoff could be seen to be cryptically
talking to his own (Afrikaner) people, in an attempt to lead them through a journey of
31 Smeerveldtog has a number of possible translations in English, but in this case I have decided that
propaganda suits the train of thought that I am following.
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discovery through which they would realize the wrong that they are being done by
their leaders. By reading the words as one would explore a path, i.e. by considering
them „together‟ and reading them within an historical South African / Afrikaans
context they take on a very particular meaning which aids in the deciphering of the
poem.
The title itself raises the obvious question of what it is that is being covered up. The
physical appearance of the work offers no clue. If anything were physically being
covered up, there would be evidence of this behind the columns of words. Yet all we
have is the evidence of the act of covering itself, i.e. layering text to obscure itself.
Each word on its own means very little and as a whole, the words cannot be combined
into a coherent text. The words are used like lists that put forward cryptic qualities
that may be associated with practices carried out by Nationalist government in their
governance of the country and through this association, become signs of authority. By
examining specific words, this becomes more apparent:
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Figure 2.20: GETIKTE KWASHALE (p55)
75

Heldinne – heroines: the Nationalist government made it an integral part of Afrikaner
education to be thought of as white South African heroes and heroines. This was used
to demonstrate and romanticize self-sacrifice for the greater good of the community.
An example of this can be seen in the tale of Rachael De Beer 32 .
Spanning – Tension: In the HAT dictionary 33 one of the explanations to the word
„spanning‟ is the way in which wire is tightened when creating a wire fence. The
analogy of the fence relates aptly to the isolation that South Africa experienced during
the Apartheid years. The Apartheid government‟s perception of isolation was one of
stoic independence and self-reliance, particularly in the development of advanced
technologies, where isolation was seen to be more of a benefit.
Molshoop – molehill: The first thing that may spring to mind is the well-known
saying about making a mountain out of a molehill, i.e. making too much of something
insignificant. This could refer to so many of the Nationalist government‟s tactics,
playing up or down whatever they could to maintain peoples‟ faith in them 34 .
Daagliks – daily: this could refer to the relentless way in which South Africans where
bombarded with pro-apartheid propaganda in schools and in the news media.
Oorvloed – Abundance: This could refer to a multitude of things found to be in
abundance during the apartheid years such as jobs for whites.
32 Racheal De Beer and her younger brother were farming children. During a harsh winter Racheal and
her younger brother got lost on a mountain. As they were trying to find their way home the sun set and
it started to snow. In an attempt to save her brother she dug out a termite mound, placed her brother in
the mound with the jersey that she was wearing. When they were found in the morning, Racheal was
dead and behind her frozen body her brother was found, still alive. Racheal saved her brother‟s life by
sacrificing her own. Year‟s later Racheal‟s brother became a very important figure in the Anglo Boer
War.
33 HAT is a generally accepted name for Verklarende Handwoordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal,
34 A good example of this can be seen in the case of the Sharpsville Six. The Sharpsville Six were six
black South Africans that were murdered by the South African police. The media spin that was given
by the police was that the six were terrorists. The police acting, as they „should‟ were trying to affect an
arrest; a gun battle broke out in which the six were killed. But according to phorensic evidence the six
were shot in cold blood.
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Thus, signifying notions associated with the pro-apartheid government, these words
connote an act of cosmetics or „painting on‟ to make the outer appearance more
attractive. Whilst Apartheid was a cancer eating away at the body of a country,
particular words were used like make-up on the skin to conceal the disease beneath.
The notion of skin and its associations with the „word‟ is clearly referenced in many
of Boshoff‟s works (foot note blind alphabet). There are strong biblical references to
the use of flesh and skin and the word as in the references to Jesus as the „word made
flesh‟ 35 and the word as „God‟ in John 1:1:
―1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word as with God and the Word was God‖
John. 1:1
Christianity teaches that God as the father, the Holy Spirit (the mother according to
Gnostics) and Jesus the Son all form part of the Holy Trinity and the Trinity, as God,
would all be the Word. Jesus as such would have been the word made flesh through
his human birth. In Christian doctrine, Jesus is often portrayed metaphorically as
groom to humankind, his bride. This becomes evident when reading the parables that
appear in the following scriptures: Mt. 9:15 (The Two Bridegrooms), Mt. 22:1-14
(The Marriage Feast), Mt. 25:1-13 (The Ten Virgins) and Lk. 12:35-41 (The Wedding
Trip). Man becomes the bride of the word, the word made flesh. Boshoff can be seen
to draw on this biblical principle in his critique of the Apartheid government. Here,
man takes on the role of groom choosing to wed Boshoff‟s typed veil, underneath
35 This is based on Jesus being the fulfilment of the prophecies about the coming of a saviour thus
becoming the embodiment of prophecies.
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which the bride that is covered with the veil of words is the physical embodiment of
the notion of Apartheid. In addition, in this poem the bride is an empty shell. A
Golem of sorts, a man made construction with the stamp of religion on its forehead
bringing it to life.
The notion of the veiled bride finds another reference in biblical text: Missleading
bride…
This, however, becomes just another example of the above-mentioned Christian
attitude. Another example can be found in the Early Christians attitude towards
paganism and heretics. Where the „official‟ Holy Church backed by the church waged
a war on all who differ from the official version or interpretation. No space was left
for any other interpretation of Christian text and because of this strict adherence to a
canon many „other‟ options where lost to people. Boshoff‟s rebellion to this attitude
can be summed up in his attitude towards text that for him represents the strict
following of the Christian church‟s canon:
― If you look at the congregation in a church, which I think were sometimes better off
in being illiterate and fantasizing about the text rather than being literate and
dogmatised into becoming square – framed – stuck.‖
(2003: http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html)
Boshoff thus shows a preference for the maze with its opportunities for choice,
allowing for free interpretation and fantasy, as apposed to the labyrinthine one-way
directed dogmatic understanding enforced by the Christian church.
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SWAK SKAKELS
SWAK SKAKELS (p 36) is a bit of a departure from the previous poems in being
more clearly figurative in the sense that one can recognize the image portrayed more
clearly in the form of chain links. The poem becomes a representation of a chain
starting from the top left hand corner and continuing in horizontal lines down the
page, ending in the bottom right hand corner. Successive „block-like‟ shapes are
connected by interlinking bands to create the image of the chain. (The chain links are
represented by three lines width horizontally and three letters width vertically. In
between the chains, Boshoff has typed words in what seem to make up a random
pattern.). Whilst the image of the chain is clearly visible, the reading of the text is
seriously hampered by the spaces between the chain links and the fact that words flow
into each other. The body of text can be read in three possible ways. When seen as a
seemingly random collection of words, the text seems nonsensical. Some of the words
in the chains read as follows:
(om)sprakeloos – speechless, verdraai – twisting a story, bleek – bleak, siek – sick,
vals – false, gek – fool, flarde – shreds (cut to), bejammer – to feel sorry for,
verwrong – twisted/???, afgesaag – sawed off, gier – fashion, skeef – crooked, repies
– shreds, waardig – worthy. Reading the text as chains making up distinct units, i.e.
reading words within each chain reveals the following (using a hyphen to denote the
start of a new line):
Chain 1
Omspraakloos - verdraaivalspe – eykteonoorspro – yer bleek gee – bedstrak be…-
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tro red… - rba an… - leg siek ver valsgekskeesla – konkiesflarder – agmentariesw
(end of chain one)
Reading the text line by line as one would with a normal body of text it reads as
follows:
Line 1
Omsprakeloos bejammerensw waardigdoodk oudstyfstrak rigidteiton buigsaamg
In addition, if we place breaks in the approprate places it would read:
Omsprakeloos bejammer en (sw) waardig dood koud styf strak rigid (teiton) buigsaam
(g)
This approach reveals distinct words more clearly than the previous two ways of
reading the text. However, all three ways of reading the text reveal the collection of
words as conveying some sense of negativity. SWAK SKAKEL (p 36) translates as
„weak link‟. Moreover, here the words themselves carry associations of weakness.
In the previous poems the text offered some kind of link to a concept outside the
poem that aided in its understanding. In this poem, however, there seems to be no
such link. The only clues available are the Afrikaans words in the form of a chain. In
comparison to the previous poems, this poem does not seem to reveal any particular
reference to Afrikaner culture or to the Bible.
In the Collins Shorter Dictionary (1995) a chain is defined as follows:
1. a flexible length of metal links, used for confining, connecting, etc. or in
jewelry.
2. (usually pl.) anything that confines or restrains: the chains of poverty.
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Figure 2.21: SWAK AKAKELS (p36)
This definition reveals on the one hand a notion of confinement (negative reading)
and on the other hand the idea of being connected (positive reading). Since the poem
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was written in Afrikaans one can conclude that it is still about an Afrikaner context.
The immediate association with the image of chains is perhaps that of confinement
and restraint. The cultural boycott and more generally the sanctions against South
African during the Apartheid years come to mind as forms of constraint. This chain
that bound South Africa was not only imposed by the outside world but also had its
supporters from within the country, those who wanted to „protect‟ South Africa from
foreign influences that would change the status quo and as such pose a threat to white
minority rule. As such, it represents a „connecting‟ chain of bonding against an
adversary. This state of isolation thus also provided the opportunity for bonding to the
point where it is believed that the South African government had a well-developed
nuclear power and weapons programme in place.
In this poem, Boshoff seems to highlight the fact that the chain that connected white
South Africans to each other as was constructed on negative foundations. Words such
as „afskryf‟ carries several meanings: to copy or cheat, „draak steek‟ – making fun of
something, „bog‟ – a false statement. In the supplementary text to KYKAFRIKAANS,
Boshoff challenges the „reader‟ to find the weak point of the chain: ‗Trek ketting om
sy breekplek te kry‘ (pull the chain to find the weak point). This instruction by
Boshoff can be seen as an attempt to stir up some quiet rebellion against the status
quo. The Afrikaner has always been in revolt against the rule of others such as the
British during the Great Trek and the Anglo Boer War. Boshoff can be seen to incite a
questioning of the structures that keep the Afrikaner bound.
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OUDERLINGPILLETJIES (p 76)
OUDERLINGPILLETJIES (p 76) – (translated: elder pill/medicines) possibly refers
to little pinks sweets that the elders in the Dutch Reformed church commonly carried
with them and used to bribe little children to „be good‟.
OUDERLINGPILLETJIES (p 76) not only becomes a visual poem but also directly
makes visual reference to the Labyrinthine format. The text follows the path of a
Labyrinth, starting at the top left hand corner of the page and spiralling inwards,
changing direction at the corners and ending in the bottom center of the page. The
path created by a three letter wide line. The text in the poem is a repetition of the
same sentence: „All in die ronte nader en nader‟ (around and around closer and
closer). The „walls‟ of the Labyrinth are thus represented by the empty spaces
between the text.
As was the case with the previous poems, OUDERLINGPILLETJIES (p76) can be
read in more than one way. A person who is aware of the reference Boshoff is making
to the little pink sweets would also read the poem differently to someone who does
not know about this. I will be exploring both these readings.
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Figure 2.22: OUDERLINGPILLETJIES (p76)
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The direct references that this poem makes to the Labyrinth through the format of the
text and the direct reference made to the Dutch Reformed Church again calls forth
images of the pilgrims crawling their way through the Labyrinths in cathedrals. One
might then ask what the purpose of the little pink sweets may be, also commonly
known as „soet wees pilletjies‟ (be good sweets). The sweets formed part of a reward
system practiced by the elders in a church where children, and even young adults,
were rewarded by the elders of a church for good behavior. This practice was
eventually also adopted by some primary school teachers in Afrikaans schools.
Reminiscent of behavioural modification, where the child is being rewarded for good
and Christian-like behavior, this practice seems to target the young when their
behaviour can still be modified by way of a little inexpensive pink sweet. As such,
these sweets become a trail left by the elders to lead little children, not out of the deep
dark forest as was the case with Hansel and Gretel, but into the church, so that they
might become functional members of the church and as such uphold the principles of
the church, and indirectly, the state. A form of enticement and coersion is implied in
this act where by children might be „directed‟ along a given path.
Also, the linking of any forms of attack on Apartheid as a direct attack on Christianity
aided in the creation of the image of the Christian path as one, the world is set on
destroying. This image of Christianity fits the restrictive image created by the
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Medieval Church and the Symbol captured in the ritual of crawling the Labyrinth,
which puts the faithful on the narrow road to redemption.
Elders in a church are responsible for the spiritual well-being of smaller sections of
the congregation. They would be appointed to certain wards which they are
responsible for looking after, visit regularly, keep in touch with. Their duty in the
congrigation is thus to keeping „lost sheep‟ from straying too far.
The „pilletjies‟ (pills) represent a form of „pharmakon‟. Derrida spoke of language as
a pharmakon, which in the original Greek possesses the duel function of being a
medical cure as well as a poison. Boshoff is seen to refer to the weekly meetings held
by the Elder at the houses of the members in his ward, where weekly or bi-weekly
doses of words were administered to the congregation. As mentioned before, John 1:1
gives God the form of Language, thus the Elder is administering a dose of God to the
congregation. Moreover, it is the dose that is brought into question, is it a cure or a
poison? Is the elder curing his ward from the attacks from the evil world or is he
poisoning his ward in favor of the status quo, apartheid. Boshoff makes a strong case
against the canonical word as has been pointed out in the previous poems with
reference to the Gutenberg Bible. But I believe this is not the focus of this poem. With
the Labyrinthine path depicted in this poem, Boshoff drawings attention to the
ritualistic walking of a Labyrinth and as such the weekly or bi-weekly route taken by
the elder around his ward taking his „pharmakon‟. In Magical practices, both ritual
and spell-based magic, the speaking of words is seen as being similarly to the signing
of a contract with the Deities worshiped. Thus the speaking of the incantation or the
spell becomes the tool with which the desired effect is put into motion. Similarly, the
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Elder‟s re-uttering of his message to his ward becomes a spell of sorts that he places
over his own life as well as his ward 36 . This principle of repeating a phrase or a
message is echoed in Boshoff‟s poem by the repeating of the phrase: „all in die ronte
nader en nader‟. This form of Magical practice forms the basis of Boshoff‟s revolt
contained within this poem. The indoctrination of people through behavioural
modification seems to hold some relationship with man‟s preference for the logos as
pose to the „image‟, that which cannot be captured with the word. In this case, the
church stifles the imagination in order to fill peoples minds with a particular Christian
dogma, which is embodied in a particular version of the Bible 37 . It is the killing of the
imagination that Boshoff struggles with. As Vladislavic puts in:
―he associates the book with dogma, with the dead hand of the law. Books are
prisons, thought is pressed flat between the pages into obedient lines of letters‖
(ibid: 12)
Boshoff‟s revolt against the book as dogma, in this poem the Bible, is echoed in a
note at the end of the KYKAFRIKAANS text which says: “Moenie lees nie” (don‟t
read). Boshoff seems to be indirectly posing the question: What should one do if one
is not allowed to read? Should one just look? Boshoff‟s preoccupation with what he
terms the „disqualification‟ of the text in preference for the image and his use of
Afrikaans, which encrypts the text to an extent, leads one to the conclusion that one
should just look and let the imagination „take flight‟. To Boshoff the use of the
imagination is of more importance than the conformation to a canon.
36 This principle of continually re-uttering a phrase is also used in Psychological treatments as well as
self-help programs. Where patients with Anxiety disorders are told to repeat a calming mantra, self
help programs treat low self-esteem problems through the uttering of reassuring phrase.
37 There is only one book called the Bible but there are various interpretations that contain different
books as well as different translations of the text.
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RORSCHACH KLATTOETS
From the title and its format of squares containing irregular shapes of text, this poem
clearly references the well-know Rorschach ink-blot tests used for the analysis of
personality by way of calling for responses to ink-blots. The poem is laid out in 12
evenly spaced squares, each square being 22 letters high and 22 letters wide. The 2
letter wide squares become frames for the „ink-blots‟. The ink-blots, however, do not
represent the standard, symmetrical ink-blots commonly associated with the
Rorschach test. Boshoff‟s inkblots seem more like accidental ink spillages. This is not
unexpected as the „real‟ inkblot test is kept a secret because the test relies on the
patient‟s immediate response to the images and as such is kept a secret to ensure the
effectiveness of the tests. This how ever does not form the only deviation from the
original test as the original only contains 10 images and Boshoff‟s test contains 12.
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Figure 2.23: RORSCHACH KLATTOETS (p 60)
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Figure 2.24: The First of the Rorschach Inkblot test images. 38
Figure 2.25: The Second of the Rorschach Inkblot test images.
38 In this figure the Roeschach inkblot is represented by only an out line due to Copy Right Law.
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Boshoff‟s inkblots are constructed from layered text. As with many of his other
poems, the reading of the text becomes very difficult and may be approached in
various ways:
The first option would be to read each block as a separate body of text. The
framework of the first block reads as follows (I am inserting spaces between the
words, where possible, to aid in the reading of the text):
Die Rorschach toets is n p (next line) a word om alles wat hy intr (next line) ra io
(next line) vl t(o/e) ej (next line) ek ies ne (next line) ge and leeu ik
As can be seen from these first 5 lines, very little sense can be made from this
reading. The next possible approach would be to read the first lines across the entire
poem:
Die Rorschach toets is n p (next block) tte is grys terwyl ander w (next block)
assifiseer volgens by voo (block 1 line 2) a word om alles wat hy intr (next block) s
wat die klat voorstel ee (next block) d van begrip soos dier of mr.
This method of reading brings the reader no closer to an understanding of the text.
The next possible attempt would be to read the frames of the blocks in the form of a
spiraling Labyrinth, starting at a point on the outside of each block along a spiraling
path towards the center, and then leading onto the following block in the same way.
The text reads as follows:
Die Rorschach toets is n projektiewe metode van sielkundige waarneeming waar n
persoon gevra word om alles wat hy in tien inkklatte kan onderskei te beskryf
sommige van hierdie kla…(end of the frame and coherent text)
Translated this would read as follows:
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The Rorschach test is a projective method in psychological observation where a
person is asked to (tell the psychologist everything that he sees in) ten inkblots.
The text making up the ink-blots becomes increasingly difficult to read as a result of
some of the text is missing in order to create the ink-blot.
…………………image/ text ??????
The text in all 12 blocks relates to the Rorschach test and or the taking of the test. The
text used in the creation of the frames to be linked.
The text of the second frame reads as follows:
„tte is grys terwyl ander weer stukkies kleur bevat daar word gewoonlik n opname
gemaak van alles wat die klat voorstel en waar in die hier di(e) informasie voor kom
dit word dan gekl‟ translated it would read as follows:
is gray while others contain some colour. Careful notes are made of everything that
the test represent …
If one combines this section with the first blocks frame it would read as follows:
„Die Rorschach toets is n projektiewe metode van sielkundige waarneeming waar n
persoon gevra word om alles wat hy in tien inkklatte kan onderskei te beskryf
sommige van hierdie kla tte is grys terwyl ander weer stukkies kleur bevat daar word
gewoonlik n opname gemaak van alles wat die klat voorstel en waar in die hier di(e)
informasie voor kom dit word dan gekl‟
If one attempts to read the text within the blots in a similar manner it ends in
frustration. However, if one reads them line by line some of the text does become
more recognizable. Some of these words are: leeu – lion, mag – power/may, die – the,
te waag – to dare, vindint – finding, wyl hy dus – while he thus, vakans(ie) – holiday,
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is hy he – is he (he), sterker – stronger, die ander – the other, vier as die – celebrate as
the, van die son – from the sun, aantreklik – handsome.
The two layers of texts used in this poem seem to be quite disparate. The text related
to the Rorschach test is used to frame what seems to be a non-cohesive text.
Why would Boshoff reference a psychological tool for attempting to understand a
person‟s mental state better in a body of work that seems to be about his own
disillusionment with the church as well as a critique on the social conditions in South
Africa?
It is possible that this psychological tool contains aspects of Boshoff‟s methodology,
the reading of the poem starting at the top left hand corner and spirals inwards to the
center, referencing the walking of a Labyrinth. The layout of the inkblots contained
with in their frames references the Hypostile Hall of Pillars which arguable becomes
the seed for the maze built by Daedalus to contain the Minatour. Need to put in floor
plan
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Figure 2.26: the Great Hypostile Hall of
Columns, Karnek, Egypt
This poem also shows a deviation fro
In the previous poems looked at, recalling the reading of the text of SWAK SKAKELS
as an example of the flow of text in the majority of poems, being from left to right as
one would normally read text whereas in this poem the reading of the text differs in
the „path‟ that the reader has to follow to read and decipher the text.
As another difference between this poem and the previous ones we looked at, it seems
that a mask was used in the creation of this image/poem. It seems that Boshoff placed
two sheets of paper on top of each other, the first would have areas cut out in order for
the image to be created on the second page.
Figure 2.27: The Great Hypostile Hall
of Columns, Karnek, Egypt
With this obvious reference to the Rorschach Inkblot tests Boshoff is subjecting the
reader/viewer to his own version of this test and seems to be playing a game with the
viewer/reader. He expects the viewer to undergo his Rorschach test in the comfort of
the viewer‟s personal space without the intimidating presence of an analyst
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continually taking notes 39 . The poem in the form of a Rorschach test takes on a „more
relaxed‟ self-exploration 40 - or as Boshoff puts it:
― High-flow, conceptually laden pieces are reduced to a domestic scale by humorous
pragmatism.‖
Ibid: 2005, 15
The non-intimidatory nature of this type of presentation allows the viewer to feel
more comfortable with his or her response to the Ink-blots and may thus allow for a
more honest response.
This is echoed in the explanatory text in the back of KYKAFRIKAANS: „vir n
deeglike self-ondersoek‟ – for a thorough self-examination.
A visual response to the test takes care of the first level of reading this work. The
second level of reading is tailored to a more specific audience, the Afrikaans reader.
In the second level of reading, Boshoff presents the Afrikaans reader with not only the
images but the text as well. By presented sections of words like: sterker – stronger,
mag die – may the, een oor die – one over the, te waag – to take a chance, himself –
himself, van die son - from the sun, aantreklik – handsome, the reader is encouraged
39 In taking the proper Rorschach test the annalyst is required to continually note everything from the
time that it takes the person to respond, whether the card is turned upside down to the response and
number of responces.
40 Prof. Buss Spector an American Book Artist have pointed to the difference between the viewers
perception of an artwork in a gallery and an artist book. The Artist Book carries with it the memory of
the viewer sitting in a private comfortable space reading a book as appose to being in a public space
viewing an artwork. This according to Prof. Spector makes the viewer more comfortable with the Artist
Book and allows for a more personal response.
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to make associations and attempt to „interpret‟ these associations framed within the
context of the Rorschach test.
As apposed to the conventional conditions under which the test would be taken,
Boshoff can be seen to situate an Afrikaans reader‟s response within the larger
context of KYKAFRIKAANS with its references to the political conditions of South
Africa during the 70‟s and 80‟s. Boshoff uses the combination of the Rorschach test
and the selected text to create an opportunity for the viewer to discover or gain some
sort of understanding Boshoff‟s through undertaking a cognitive journey/pilgrimage
through the maze of associations set up by Boshoff for the viewers participation in the
unpacking of the poem.
There is still a further possible reading of the poem which involves a direct
questioning of language, not only at the level of words and their associations, but also
at the level of individual letters and how they combine to make up words. This is
achieved by the presentation of the text that makes up the blots in the form of a
continuous line. The original Rorschach test involves recognition of images in the
peculiar shapes that the test taker is confronted with. Similarly Boshoff presents
viewer/test taker with what seems to be a peculiar conclomarate of letters that the
viewer can use to re-construct the text with the clues left by Boshoff.
I will examin one of the inkblots (top right hand corner) (see figure: 26)
The text reads as follows (I am inserting „?‟ for the letters that are not recognizable):
Line 1: ?alty?
Line 2: ?terkere
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Line 3: ?taswenne?
Line 4: ?ordieander?
Line 5: ?ierasdiewa
Line 6:vandiesonm
Line 7: antreklik?
Line 8: ekouevan
Line 9: ?????er
Some of the words that appear here have been mentioned previously where I assigned
a translation, but the possibility exists that these words might be part of other words.
This is hinted at by the half recognizable letters that Boshoff leaves as part of the
image and as such might change their meaning totally as one can see below.
In deciphering the text below I am making use of two types of brackets each with a
distinct function in the deciphering process. The first of these is „( )‟ these brackets
are used to designate letters that I am unsure of either through the letters being
obscured by another layer of letters or the lack of letters and the second is the „[ ]‟
brackets, these are used to denote letters that can not be combined to create readable
letters.
Line 1
alty(d) - always, (s)al ty(d) – will time, alty(bossie) – a dwarf shrub found in the
South West Cape, alty(ddeur) – continually, alty(dgroen) – an evergreen plant, (m)al
tyd – a crazy time.
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Line 2
(s)terker e – stronger, (s)terk ere – Strong God 41 , (s)terk ere(dame) – a strong
„assistant‟ for a nobel bride or lady, (s)terk ere(ksie) – a strong erection.
Line 3
[at] as wen [ne] – if win, (w)at as wen [ne] – what if win, [at] as wenne(r) – as winner,
(v)at as wenne(r) – take as a winner
Line 4
(o)or die ander – over the other, voor die ander – in front of the other, (ho)or die ander
– listen to the other, (beko)or die ander – love the other, (vo)or die ander(ding) – in
front of the other thing, (beko)or die ander(land) – lover a foreign country,
These four lines should be enough to demonstrate the aforementioned point
sufficiently.
The presentation of the reader with this places the reader in the middle of a maze of
possibilities where the reader needs to make a decision concerning the recognized
word and its meaning to manufacture a meaning from the letter blobs.
As Vladislavic remarks:
―Opening up to be read, allowing themselves to be discovered, but speaking a broken,
jumbled language that is frightening to the […] tongue, or baffling to the eye. […]
they are thickets and snares.‖
41 Ere is an elevated form of „eer‟ which in the religious context of the Afrikaner refers to God.
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Ibid: 2005, 12
And as Boshoff would have it:
―What‘s important is to look for someone to play with‖
Ibid: 2005, 15
KERKKERK KERKKERK
KERKKERK KERKKERK (p58-59) falls in the category of both a readable and visual
poem as the explanatory text in the back of KYKAFRIKAANS indicates: „Twee tekste
vir twee slim stemme‟ – two texts for two clever voices.
Figure 2.28: KERKKERK KERKKERK (p 58)
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The poem appears on a double page layout and contains the work „kerk‟ repeatedly
retyped to fill two blocks facing each other, one on page 58 and the other on page 59.
The typed text in this poem seems to shift between readable and unreadable text. This
can easily be achieved by changing the pressure with which the key is punched.
The fading out of some of the letters makes some of them appear less important to the
reader, so much so that the reader start to ignore the letters that can‟t be seen.
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Figure 2.29: Detail of KERKKERK KERKKERK (p59)
Figure 30 clearly shows how the original text (reading: kerkkerkkerkkerkkerk) starts
to mutate to: er er and then to: ke kke k, this points to a shift from the name of the
representatives of God on earth to the clucking „kek kek kek‟ sounds of chickens.
Boshoff is leading the reader to a place where the reader should make a decision as to
which way the reader will go. The first is to ignore the fact that some of the letters
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appear lighter and carry on reading kerkkerkkerkkerk, or to take note of the fact that
some of the text mutates in to a mimicking of the sound that hens make.
Before I explore these options any further it is important to note that the church
played a very important role within the Afrikaner community. Since the Great Trek
the church and bible played an integral part of everyday live. During the Great Trek
the Bible was used to teach children to read 42 and formed an integral part of a child‟s
education, as well as a place of gathering for a community 43 . This formed the
foundation for the close relationship between the Afrikaner and the church. This close
relationship escalated when the Nationalist Government formed a strong bond with
the church to maintain their stronghold as was discussed earlier in this chapter.
With this background in mind, one might argue that the poem becomes an example of
the viewpoint of the general Afrikaner, where all they see is „kerkkerkkerkkerkkerk‟.
We can safely say, that for Boshoff that was not only a devout Christian but a street
preacher as well, it might have been the case, that some of the letters in „kerk‟ tinted
glasses that he wore started fading, reveling the cackling.
Thus Boshoff‟s game with the reader places the reader at a conceptual „fork in the
road‟ where the viewer has to choose whether they are going to blindly stare at or read
„kerkkerkkerkkerk‟ or whether they chose to see further, see the fading away of some
42 This might have given rise to the notion of the „Boere Matriek‟ where a childes final year of Sunday
school was seen as their final year of formal education, culminating in their confirmation in the church
as a fully fledge member of the congregation. (see HAT)
43 In many instances the church service on a Sunday morning creates the ideal opportunity for a
community to come together, where one can „catch up‟ with friends and neighbours. This is especially
the case with farming communities where friends and neighbours find themselves living great distances
apart.
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of the aspects of the kerk. It is the awareness and understanding of this mutation that
Boshoff refers to when he states: „vir twee slim stemme‟ (for two cleaver voices).
With in the Afrikaner culture as in some other cultures the gathering of hens are
generally associated with the gathering of women this is evident through the use of
the term – henne party, to describe a tea party where friendly women exchange stories
as well as the latest gossip. Boshoff likens the gathering of a congregation to that of a
hen party. As such, Boshoff ascribes similar qualities to a congregational gathering,
where generally speaking, a lot of emphasis was placed on appearance, how much
money one can put in the collection and where gossip can be generated and
exchanged. Boshoff, through this poem is not criticizing the connection between state
and church as he has done in most of the poems discussed so far but the perceived
ulterior motives for going to church. For Boshoff as a devout Christian this would
have seemed contrary to the true actions of a true Christian community.
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Chapter 3
Introduction to 370 Day Project
In this chapter I will be exploring several ideas that will form the background for a
more direct exploration and discussion of The 370 Day Project. In order to proparly
deal with all the references that will be made in the discussion on The 370 Day
Project I feel it is necassery to discuss some of the ideas in more depth before
embarcking on the following discussion. The discussion of these ideas might seem to
be very incoherent but these ideas will be tied into the discussion in chapter four.
2.1 The Use of wood in Boshoff’s work
As The 370 Day Project is the first wooden sculpture in Boshoff‟s repertoire of work
that I will be examining, it will be necassary to briefly concider the significance of
wood as creative material in Boshoff‟s work. Vladislavic offers us an entry point to
understanding the significance of the material:
―From one perspective, a book is a ‗processed tree‘. The ‗tree‘ is also the cross, the
‗Tree of Life‘ on which Christ was crucified.‖
(ibid: 2005: 12)
In this quotation both the book and the cross are linked to or are described as trees.
Boshoff makes these connections throughout his work, and The 370 Day Project can
be seen as a culmination of this combination. Vladislavic carries on by introducing
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the writings of Simon Schama, who wrote extensively on the „timber history of
Christ‟, which has its origin in the following: Jesus born to a Carpenter 44 , Jesus born
in a wooden manger, Jesus‟ crown of thorns and Jesus‟ death on a wooden cross,
Jesus‟ extensive use of tree symbolism in his teachings.
This relation between Jesus and the tree is enhanced by the notion of the Tree of
Knowledge and the Tree of life 45 which appeared in the Garden of Eden. Boshoff
draws on this connection in a number of his works. An example of this can be found
in a trilogy of works: Tree of Knowledge: Letters to God Wood, (need dimensions)
1997, Tree of Knowledge: Druids Keyboard, Wood, (need dimensions) 1997 and
Tree of Knowledge: Broken Garden, Wood, (need dimensions) 1997.
Figure 1.6: Tree of Knowledge:
Letters to God
Figure 1.7: Tree of knowledge: Druids
Typewriter
44 This fact gave rise to speculation that Jesus‟ family belonged to a Judaic sect called the Essience.
This sect thought a similar message as Jesus. They believed in living a simplistic life, which usually
entailed engaging menial daily work such as carpentry.
45 Some Christian sects holds the belief that Jesus was crucified on wood from the tree of life.
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Figure 1.8: Tree of Knowledge: Broken Garden
In Christianity the tree came to metaphorically represent not only humans(, as one
reads in Mk. 8: 24, Mt. 7:17, Gal. 5:22, 2 Cor. 9:10, Dt. 28:4, Ps. 1: 3, Pr. 10:16, Pr.
11:30, Pr. 12:14), but also the kingdom of heaven,( as in Mt. 13:31-32, Mk. 4:31, Lk.
13:18) and faith (as in Mt. 17:20). When Boshoff „had his religious spell‟, as he puts
it, these references alone would have influenced his choice of materials. However,
The 370 Day Project was begun after his disillusionment with the misuse of
institutionalised religion, and as Vladislavic points out, it seems to present a different
answer to Boshoff‟s continued use of wood. The tree symbolism has its much earlier
origins in pagan tree cults. Trees within the pagan belief system is equated to the
renewal of life, regeneration and, to some, a symbol of knowledge.
Non-Christian traditions and tree‟s
It is generally accepted that up to 70% of Christian symbolism was taken from the
pagan cults that surrounded them during the „Christianity‟s formative years‟. I will
briefly look at some of the Pagan symbolism connected to the tree. However, I will
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divriensiate between the various types of paganisms as paganism is a blanket term
used to describe several early European religions. I have included Judaic Kabbalism
in this section as it has been……
Within druidic paganism the Ash tree amoungst many other trees stood out a very
significant in its relationship to a Druidic world view:
(http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/d/druidism.html), The Ash tree was seen
with roots sinking deep into the earth, branches reaching into heaven, towards the
gods, and the trunk of the tree placed firmly between heaven and earth, where man
existed. Trees not only represented a bridge between heaven, earth and the
underworld but they also became the homes or dwellings of the gods 46 and were used
in aiding in human affairs 47 . Much of the magical importance ascribed to trees had its
origin amongst the ancient druids, but we find other examples of symbolic trees in
religion and myth; the Judaic/Kabalistic tree of life or the Sephiroth: The Sephiroth is
a mystic tree symbol and its name directly translated means numbers according to the
online Wikipedia enclycopedia. The symbol is made up of ten Seferot. These ten
Seferot corrispond to various ideas with in the Kabbalistic tradition such as ten seferot
as the processes of creation, the ten seferot as mediation between God and the world
of physical sciences and the ten seferot as processes of ethics.
(http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/k/kabbalah.html),
The Norse Mythology the universe has as its centre a tree called Yggdrasil, an Ash
tree, Yggdrasil translats into Odin‟s Steed. This tree plays a very important rol in
Norse mythology as the axis of the world, reaching through all 9 levels of the norse
cosmology, as well as the saviour of humans during Ragnarok, the Norse
46 It was widely believed that spirits lived in trees and could be invoked to aid in magical practices.
47 Trees were also planted on top of the graves of evil-doers in an attempt to trap the spirit of the evil-
doer in the roots of the tree.
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armageddon. The idea of Yggdrasil through its translation into Oden‟s steed has some
reference to Odens self sacrifice (similar to Jesus‟s self sacrifice) this evedent in
Hávamál:
I hung on that windy tree for nine nights wounded by my own spear.
I hung to that tree, and no one knows where it is rooted.
None gave me food. None gave me drink. Into the abyss I stared
until I spied the runes. I seized them up, and, howling, fell.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yggdrasil)
Figure : This illustration from a 17th century Icelandic manuscript shows Yggdrasill with the assorted
animals that live in it.
This notion of the Yggdrsill is not only found in Norse Cosmology but finds a place
in many early religious practices stemming from Proto-Indo European religion in the
form of the Axis Mundi – the axis of the world, a point of great significance within
the majority of early cultures such as; the Black hills for the Sioux, the Kailash
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mountains to various Tibetain religiouns, the Dome of the Rock to Islam, the Temple
mound to the Judiac tradition, the Mount of Olives and Calvary to the Christian and in
some cultures the Axis Mundi is directly mimict such as the Stupa in Himduism and
later Budism, the minaret of a Mosc and the steeple of the church, the Ziggurat for the
early cultures of Mesopotania, the Maypole for pre-christian european cultures and
the list carries on. This cross cultural symbols and places of importance becomes
significant in that these Axis Mundi‟s becomes places and objects of great significans,
places that the devoted believers and followers travel to, pilgrimages. These
pilgrimages can be equited to the traveling of the labyrith with the Axis Mundi, the
world tree at ist centre.
Fig : This illustration shows a 19th century attempt to visualize the world view of the Prose Edda.
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Figure 1.7: Image of Osiris, Horis and Isis
Arguably, Boshoff was not so much attracted to the tree as a traditional Christian
symbol but rather to the tree as a symbol of knowledge, a place of enlightenment as a
place of sacrifice, as it is this understanding of the tree that made its way through the
ages from Egyptian origins through to the Isrealites during their enslavement in Egypt
and evolved into Judaic prophecies which where fulfilled and gave birth to
Christianity. An example of this evolution can be found in the Isis and Osiris myth 48 .
As D. Leming and J. Page proposed in their book: Godess, Mythis of the Fimale
Divine Oxford Universaty Press 1994:
48 The crux of the myth is that after Seth Osiris‟ brother and antithesis killed and destroyed his body,
Isis, through a ritual ensures Osiris‟ continued existence in the afterlife.
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―Dumuxi can be seen , in fact, with the Egyptian ressurection god Osiris, as one of
the mythological ancestors of the Christian ressurection god‖
(ibid: 1994: 61)
Figure 1.8: Asherah hown as a terra-cotta jar, Palestine, 11 th – 6 th Century.
The influence of other religions is futher documented in the worship of one of the
primary Cananite Godesses, Asherah 49 , whose religious centre was at Ugaritic
Canaan. Asherah was represented by a Sacred Tree. She was worshiped in groves
which represented her „sacred fructifying vulva‟. This deity was worshiped by the
Isrealites from the 12 th to the 6 th centuary B.C. Her inclusion in the Judaic – Yahweh
49 Asherah seems to enterchangeble with the godess Astrate.
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„cult‟ lead to Asherah being seen in popular Judaism as Yahweh‟s spouse 50 , this
believe, might have given rise to the Gnostic replacement of The Holy Spirit by
51 Sophia, the Christian God‟s spouse. This was rebuked by the priests, prophets and
by Yahaweh as can be seen in Jeremiah‟s accusations against the Irealites and their
answer in Jeremiah 44: 7 – 19.
There are numurous other stories about the connection between the Hebrew Yahweh
and one or other Pagan godess with a tree as symbol, but these need not be recounted
here. The root of the tree can thus be traced back not only to the Judaic/Christian
tradition but to ancient Pagan traditions as discussed earlier, and it is evident that
Boshoff was aware of this connection in the various dictionaries that he wrote, of
which one was on Gods and Godesses.
Bad link
One might speculate that a parallel may exist between the demise of the ancient oral
tradition practised in matriarchal societies and the rise of a culture of writing through
the rise of patriarchal societies 52 . This becomes very significant in light of earlier
discussions on KYKAFRIKAANS where Boshoff uses the written word as maze-like
device to confuse and challenge the viewer to undertake the pilgrimage. (expand
later?)
―The problem is that knowledge in criostasis becomes a veritable prison, a frozen
orthodoxy that enslaves the minds of all who feed from it.‖
50 She was also known as the Queen of Heaven.
51 The godess books….
52 The demise of metrical societies through the invasion of patriacle societies are well documented in
Johanna Drucker‟s The Alpha Betic Labyrinth and D. Leeming and J. Page‟s Godess, Myths of the
female Divine.
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English text on artist represented on the Dreams and Clouds exhibition, Cultural
Centre, Stockholm, Sweden, 1997
The complexities and differences in a reader‟s/ listener‟s reception of the spoken as
appose to the written word have been much debated in the philosophy of language.
These are articulated in the works of Roland Barthes, particularly in his essay „The
Death of the Author‟ (1967), where he notes that the original intention of a written
text is destabalized through the absence of the author in the reception of a work.
Barthes critises the reader for considering the author or the authors political, religious
viewes or gender, race or any other information about the author that the reader might
use to destil meaning from a text. Barthes argued that attempting to interpret a text
based on the author is to put limits on the text as having a single authoratarian
meaning. However, the spoken word presents a more stable intention through the
presence of the speaker/ author. Could this perhaps be the reason for Socrates having
never written down any of his teachings, avoiding the possibility of
misunderstandings that might arise from misinterpretations? Similarly, could Jesus‟
intention have been the same in not writing any texts himself 53 ? Something of this
idea extends into Boshoff‟s fight against the enslaving word, where the written word
is seen as knowledge that can more easily enslavewhereas the spoken word seems to
have less of this subjucating authority.
53 There is some speculation on weather Jesus actually wrote a Gospel of his own, there is a gospel
ascribed to Jesus, however it is speculated that the text accepted by the Gnostic tradition and not by
Christians was written by someone els and ascribed to Jesus as was accepted practice during this time,
where lesser known authors would sign their own text with the name of a famous person to ensure that
their text would be read.
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A similar distinction also seems to be prevelant in some examples of labyrinths where
particular formats represent specific readings thar imply authoraty and subjucation.
Figure 1.??: Diagram showing the male and female Labyrinth
Amoungst the Hopi American indian tribe,for example, two types of Labyrinths
where known to be used. The first, so-called female labyrinth, is based on concentric
circles spiralling into and back out of a centre to represent femininity, the „dark‟
creative forces that gave birth to the world and all in it. The other,so-called masculine
labyrinth, takes the shape of horizontal and vertical lines spiraling in and out of a
centre to represent the „enlightend‟ order imposed by men. The duality of this
interpretation of these two labyrinths are encapsulatd in the Christian notion of the
labyrinth as discussed previously.
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Chapter 4: The Wooden Cabinet
Figure 3.1: 370 Day Project 1982-3 (Detail)
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3.1 Back ground
As mentioned in earlier chapters, the keeping of a diary and a scrapbook became a
crucial part of Boshoff‟s day-to-day activities, not only to keep track of what was
happening in the local and international art arena through press cuttings he collected,
but also a record of his own activities. Boshoff‟s studio is full of diaries that he has
kept since childhood and reflects the obsessive nature with which he has executed
these activities. These day-to-day activities are an extension of the artist‟s creative
work but also feature as a substantive part of The 370 Day Project, where the art
work itself takes on characteristics of a diary. As Boshoff points out:
―370 day project is like a diary. It‘s like a note book‖
(http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html)
In this chapter I will demonstrate hoe this work can be described in terms of a journey
not unlike a pilgrims crawling of a labyrinth in an attempt to duplicate the
pilgramidge to the Holy Land, there by experiencing a sense of enlightenment. I will
also forground Boshoff‟s journey of discovery interms of a disipline of „loosing one
slef‟, of a ―process of closing of, encoding, confusion, reducing,… shutting one out‖
(proposal) in this way, Boshoff says, ―I play the fool with myself, trying to loos mself.
By doing that I get to know where I am, who I am.‖(proposal) It is this focus on the
self and on being lost and discovering which is also a central feature of the
labyrinth/maze. This work is also a prime example of how Boshoff uses cryptography
in an attempt to create linguestic labyrinths and mazes which challenges the viewer to
decypher and thus undertake a labyrinthine journey of his/her own.
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By the time of producing this work, Boshoff had already created a substantial body of
work that unfortunately did not achieve the recognition in South Africa that it might
have in an international arena. Support and recognition came mainly from academic
institutions such as The University of the Witwatersrand (with Prof. Alan Crump as
head of the Fine Art school at that time) and Claude Van Linge at the Technikon of
the Witwatersrand, who taught and inspired Boshoff. When the opportunity finally
presented itself for Boshoff to gain some exposure, it seemed that events in South
Africa conspired against him. The day before Boshoff‟s opening was to take place at
the Johannesburg Art Gallery as the guest artist on 12 September 1981, (Boshoff‟s
birthday), Johannesburg had its first snowfall in twenty years and the heaviest in
living memory. These events pushed all art and cultural events in the area to the
margins, not allowing Boshoff‟s work to enjoy the deserved exposure, concidering the
preperation that went in to the production. As in the case of “Kusbus”, “Kasbook”,
“Tafelbook” and other works by the artist, the “370 Day Project” was mentally
predetermined over a year and a half in advance. Within this planning period the 370
different species of wood were identified and about thirty familiar wood specimens
were collected and prepared. After the project was started, the other 340 species were
collected.
On 12 September 1982, a year after his exhibition at the Johannesburg Art Gallery,
Boshoff embarked on this ambitious diary project that took the form of a collection of
wooden tablets displayed together with notebooks in a wooden cabinet structure. This
work would represent the culmination of Boshoff‟s previous body of work, or more
accurately, his work processes, into what might be seen to be a relic of sorts. A shrine
to Boshoff‟s attempt at understanding creativity. Boshoff kept this diary for
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approximately a year and ended it on 18 September 1983, his sister‟s birthday 54 . The
diary did not document the ordinary day-to-day activities, events or even the
emotional records of Boshoff‟s life, as one would expect of a conventional diary, but
rather involved a statement of intent and the documentation of tasks which he set
himself everyday and which border on the bizarre. These tasks also carry dogmatic
religious overtones which will be discussed further on.
Boshoff undertook this project by allocating a wooden tablet to each day. Using a set
of carving tools 55 , he would carve a set of symbols in shallow relief on one side of the
tablet to represent the nature and outcome of the tasks set for the day. For example, he
would set himself two duties such as; meetings: group activities, two recreational
activities such as; Home entertainment: parties and jollity and two sacrifices such as;
eating habits: food and smell. The tasks Boshoff decided on were divided into three
categories; sacrifices, duties and recreations. Some of the sacrifices were: observation
by touch, refusing useful reading material in favour of reading unnecessarily, going to
great lengths to find and do the impossible and carrying things like stones in his
pocket from 6am to 6pm. Some of the duties were: passive listening and quietude,
gardening and ecological care, the removal and retrieving of ordinary things. Some of
the recreational tasks where, as one might expect, less arduous: smelling and feeling
wind, picnicking at home or in a remote locations, making strange noises, collecting
objects and ideas and evasion, leaving problems for others.
54 The reason for the extra couple of days added onto the year (365.4 days) lies in the layout of the
book. When closed, it would have been easier to design a layout for 370 blocks of wood than for 365.4.
This will be discussed more fully further on in the chapter.
55 As for the tools used by Boshoff, the most suitable blades were obtained for Boshoff‟s special portable carving
set, which he obtained from Italy. Due to the difficulty encountered by Boshoff in obtaining these blades in South
Africa, Boshoff had to ensure the maintenance and sharpening of the available stock. For this purpose Boshoff
included in his portable workshop a grindstone and oil in order to sharpen the blades when working away from his
workshop
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Here the Five personal blessings can be seen through Boshoff‟s work ethic which is
Calvinistic in nature, thus equation salvation of sorts with dedication and work ethic,
as well as the blessing of understanding, understanding creativity.
The individual tablets are finally arranged in neat shelves in a cabinet-like structure.
3.2 Description
The dimensions of 370 Day Project varies depending on whether the book is seen
open or closed. The opening of the book is a rare occasion as it may only be opened in
the period between Boshoff‟s and his sister‟s birthday (by instruction of the artist).
The dimensions for this work and a list of the components are laid out as follows in
the notes on the work (currently in the collection of Jack Ginsburg):
1.Trays (made of pine)
a. A single tray:
Outside: 1830mm (length), 520mm (width), 40mm (height).
Inside: 1790mm (length), 480mm (width), 40mm (height).
b. Five display trays side – by – side:
2. Blocks:
2600mm (length), 1830mm (width), 40mm (height)
240mm (length), 48mm (width), 10mm (height).
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3. Chest (also known as: Storage Cabinet/Botanical-name-safe):
Base: 644mm (length), 350mm (width), 440mm (height).
Drawers: 610mm (length), 240mm (width), 440mm (height).
Storage: 610mm (length), 240mm (width), 827mm (height).
4. Storage Files:
373mm (length), 253mm (width), 75mm (height).
5. Wooden chips: resulting from carving the blocks and stored in the drawers of the
chest.
6. Diaries:
370mm (length), 260mm (width), 75mm (height).
The inscriptions on the wooden tablets carry the evidence of manual hand labour and
may recall ancient practices of encryptions as found on palaeontological artifacts.
These items speak of labour-intensive and highly durable forms of inscription, where
symbols are etched permanently into a hard surface. In this case, 370 different types
of wood have been used to make the tablets 56 , each having twelve symbols carved
onto it. These symbols are divided into two sets of six symbols. The first set
documents the pre-determined activities or the statement of intent and the second set
documents Boshoff‟s feelings relating to the outcome of the task (see figure 3.6). The
symbols used by Boshoff in the documentation of the tasks can also be divided into
two main groups, namely linear and circular symbols.
56 Boshoff admits that there is some duplication due to the fact that it is extremely difficult to tell
certain sub-species apart without the benefit of specialised equipment.
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Fig : Scaaned pages from Willem Boshoff‟s notes on The 370 Day Project documenting symbols used
in this project.
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The surface of each block, being divided into two sections of six symbols, echo the
layout of a page in a book. Within the layout of this „book‟ there are some interesting
numerical relations: There are 365 days in a year, the nearest number that can be
divided into a rectangle is 370 (37 x 10). There are 37 blocks in the 10 vertical rows
of the 10 vertical rows of the trays. Furthermore, the numbers three and seven (37)
add up to 10. This points to a purposeful use of numerology, further emphasized by
the inclusion of all the numerical data related to the project in Boshoff‟s notes on the
project. Make referance
3.3 Manufacturing Process
The manufacturing process can be divided into three phases:
The first would constitute the conceptualization of the project, which started
approximately a year and a half before Boshoff started keeping the diary. The
collection and preparation of the wood for carving took approximately the same time
as the conceptualization of the project. This process did not only stop at the collection
of the wood, but also involved the carefully preparation of the wood. No unseasoned
wood was touched either by saw or blade. The unseasoned woods received from
various sources were first dried, a process that could take from a couple of days to a
couple of weeks to complete. The dried wood would then be sawed into the correct
size. Cracks were filled and in some cases pieces were laminated in order to arrive at
the correctly sized tablet.
.
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The second of the three phases of manufacturing involves the documentation of the
statement of intent and out-comes of the daily tasks. As the success of this project
depended greatly on the establishment of a daily work „ritual‟, Boshoff established a
daily routine to ensure the successful completion of the project. This routine/ritual
was laid-out as follows:
Boshoff would start the day, sometimes as early as 3am by making preparations in the
diary (obtained from China) in red-brown ink, by dating the pages.
The type of wood would be selected based on the type of day Boshoff might be
facing, the easier to carve woods would be used for the more difficult days. The type
of wood would be noted in the diary below the date.
The twelve squares, six for the tasks and six for the outcomes were marked out on the
selected block of wood. The key to the symbols would be determined by Boshoff‟s
expectation of what the day might present and with this in mind, he would select six
tasks for the day.
The twelve blocks with borders were marked out on the block. Masking was used for
this to ensure consistency of measurements on all the wooden blocks. The encrypted
tasks were then drawn on the block of wood. The carving of the symbols into
thetablets would then start. A piece of cloth was placed on the lap, hanging over the
knees. This was done to ensure that the wooden chips resulting from the carving were
not lost. The first relief carving was done on the left hand side of the tablet, „the
morning routine side‟. The space surrounding the symbol was carved away to a depth
of about 2 mm.
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A texture was carefully developed on the recesses surrounding the symbol, using an
Awl. Boshoff refrained from using a hammer in the creation of the background, firstly
because a hammer would make too much noise and thus disturb his companions and
secondly because the process would have taken to long, because the direct hand
carving process allows for more control and is quicker. Boshoff‟s notes reveal that the
awl broke over 35 times each time, resulting in both hand and leg injuries.
The completion of the carving on the left hand side would be conclude by a ten
kilometer run (if there was no time for the run, Boshoff would execute this part of his
daily activity in the late afternoon).
Boshoff‟s morning routine would last between one and a half hours to three hours,
after which Boshoff would pack away all his tools and the pieces of wood in a leather
carry case. Boshoff carried this shoulder bag with him at all times as it wasn‟t always
possible to return home and complete the day‟s work before midnight.
The remainder of the day was spent completing the prescribed tasks for the day.
As soon as Boshoff completed the tasks decided on in the morning, the evaluation of
each task could start. This generally took place at night while Boshoff‟s family or
companions were asleep 57 .
The above-mentioned process would repeat itself again at night, the appropriate
symbols were selected, based on the outcome of the specific tasks. These symbols
57 Boshoff‟s ability to complete this was aided by his suffering from Insomnia.
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where entered into the diaries and copied onto selected tablets. As apposed to using a
compass, a German two-pfennig and British one penny coin were used in the creation
of the circular shape of the symbols denoting the out-come of the tasks.
Once all the symbols were transcribed onto the tablets, Boshoff would continue with
the carving of the symbols onto the tablets as he had done in the morning.
After the carving was completed, the block of wood was sanded smooth and the date
was stamped on the reverse of the block with a hammer and punch. The block was
then polished with raw linseed oil and a cotton rag, which was kept in a plastic bag to
protect the wood from possible leaks from the linseed oil.
When the carving into the block was completed, Boshoff undertook a mental exercise,
where he would create a motto or a proverb inspired by the day‟s experience. This
newly created saying would be inscribed in the diary as a conclusion of the day‟s
activities. This process would take between ninety minutes and three and a half hours.
The third phase of the manufacturing process involves the „conclusion‟ to the project
by way of housing it in the tomb-like container. During the creation of the work the
finished blocks were housed in box files until the completion of the project when the
finished wooden tablets were moved from their temporary housing to the completed
container.
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Figure 3.4 One of the drawers of 370 Day Project open, showing the notebooks and the saved wood
shavings.
Figure 3.5: Notebooks from 370 Day Project
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3.5 Documentation and Diary
Figure 3.2 Richard Long, Slate Atlantic, 2002, delabole slate, 10x5m
The documentation of statements of the intended daily tasks with their outcomes or
results corresponds closely to other examples contemporary artistic documentation
practices of late 20 th Century Western Art. However, Boshoff‟s documentation
process, in this instance, denies the viewer immediate access to the activities and their
outcomes that constituted the performative work. Generally one might expect a work
of this nature to have been documented by means of photographs, video, text and/or
objects directly involved in the process which would leave a trace as evidence of the
performative execution. Such documentary processes and the extent to which they
provide added information that could aid in the viewer‟s understanding or reception of
the work can be seen clearly in the work of Richard Long and Mary Kelly, amongst
others. Long collected objects from his walks to be rearranged within the gallery or
were alterations made directly on the landscape. Both options as well as the walks
were documented by way photographs, actual objects and maps (as can be seen in
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Figure 3.2). Kelly, who made work about the birth and the growth of her son,
combined objects, photographs and texts to elucidate the documentation.
Boshoff‟s 370 Day Project , however, seems intent on denying the viewer this kind of
access through the encryption of the text. Diary entries are presented in the form of
symbols with no obvious key that would guide the viewer to a sense of understanding.
The cabinet itself, in its reliquary-like appearance, suggests a repository of mysterious
contents. Because its information is hidden, encrypted, one automatically assumes
that it must hold great significance or truth - why else hide it? The secretive nature of
the work recalls practices associated with secret organizations and their rituals, such
as the Illuminati and the Masonic Order, and the blacked-out secret US documents
that might reveal the true killers of J.F.K. i.e. sensitive and potentially damaging
material.
Discuss seceretive aspect further
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Figure 3.3: 370Day Project closed with all the wooden tablets packed away.
Figure 3.6: Blocks of wood from 370 Day Project
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3.5 Symbols and Encryption
The linear, more angular symbols seem almost path-like as they denote the task for
the day, sort of mapping out of the future, whereas the circular symbols denote the
completion of the task and the day. In a sense, these tasks become Labyrinths of sorts
where each task denotes a „path‟ that Boshoff sets himself. In totality, these various
paths lead to a point of fulfillment of a practice not unlike a religious vow. As with
meditative practices, such action are linked to a hope to escape from the practitioners
own intentional horizon b entering a state of higher understanding on enlightenment.
This point of enlightenment is symbolically represented in the circular form, generally
seen to signify a point of completion or beginning, as the circle has no defined
beginning or end. This is similar to a derivative of the classical Labyrinth where the
walker can quite easily walk past the center without noticing it. Boshoff‟s absolute
rigour in carrying out the task as well as his meticulous reflections on the tasks,
underscores this kind of practice as a form of religious vocation a form of personal
initiation or catharsis as well as an investigation of the limits of ones will is at play
here. The excirsice of will as an object of contemplation in itself, the rigour with
which the vow is maintained takes the form of a devotion to perfection – of chosing
and willing (almost more than conciving and making). The concentration is on the
purity of the doing, whether the act has any value in itself or not.
―Like the Buddist paradox of desiring not to desire, it requires a motivation to
perform feats of motivelessness. It shares something of Arnold Toynbee‘s opinion that
the highest cultures are the least pragmatic in this mode of discition and excecution
the conspiquesly free excersice of will is framed as a kind of absolute. Desplayes of
this type are attempts to break up the standard weave of everyday motivations and
create openings in it through which new options mat make their way to the light.‖
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Art in the Dark, Mcevilley, T, 1983 in The Artist body, edited by Tracy Warr, Phydon
Press, 2000. Touch?????
Figure 3.4: Boshoff showing that the packed out rows are as tall as he is.
The extent to which Boshoff focuses his rigour of excecution is underlined by the
significans of details. For example, the six tasks and outcomes that Boshoff decided
on, reflect the Christian story of Creation, where the earth, all the plants and all the
creatures on it, were said to have been created in six days. This is further strengthened
in the process that Boshoff employs which starts with the Platonic Archetype, the
idea, the expectation of making real. The idea is then made real, God speaking and
creating and Boshoff writing and doing.
Referance
Boshoff carefully selected the visual articulation of his intent/resolution/expectation
of making real. When reading the Bible cognisance should be taken of the fact that
“Let there be light” „spoken‟ by God at the creation is a codification of the sound that
lead to the conception of light. This „sound‟ however can be equated to the energy
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vibrations of the Super String Theory 58 . Boshoff mimics this codification by
encrypting his intent to create in a single symbol, an ideograph. For Boshoff this
ideograph came to represent the “indecipherability and unfathomability‟ of the word
spoken in God‟s act of creation, which he tries to mirror in the complexity of the
symbols he uses to designate his intent and the outcome. As with the Creation story,
Boshoff leaves no trace of the act but Boshoff does leave a trace of an intention and
the completion of the act is marked by Boshoff. This holds some resemblance to
God‟s statements: “Let there be light” and “it was good”. As Boshoff states in the
second set of six symbols either; Successful: Very happy with result, Successful: Do
not tell it to anyone, Unsuccessful or Overdone: Too much effort put into the attempt.
Labyrinth as blind device
The encryption process as discussed above was arrived at with particular intent and a
specific goal. The nature of any encryption process dictates that a particular set of
steps be taken in order to arrive at the ideograph use by Boshoff. These steps become
a map through a Maze of endless possibilities in two ways: The first being the
cognitive movement from idea to symbol or ideograph. As there are endless
possibilities for the creation of an ideograph not to mention a set of coherent
ideographs, Boshoff had to create and adhere to a strict set of guidelines in order to
arrive at a coherent set of ideographs. This „map‟ of guidelines which might start with
obvious restrictions such as the size of the symbol, visual quality of the symbols, the
complexity of the symbol that is dictated by Boshoff‟s ability to carve the symbol as
well as the obvious time constraints involved in the successful completion of the
project, becomes Boshoff‟s way through the Maze of possibilities. Secondly, this
58 The Super String Theory states that the protons electrons and nutrones that make up an atom can be
broken down into a circular energy wave vibrating around itself. This gives the particles the appearance
of being a particle as well as explaining why particles sometimes give the appearance of acting like
waves.
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system becomes part of another map in which Boshoff applies the ideograph to a set
of circumstances in order for encryption to take place and for Boshoff to be able to
decipher it. However, this second „map‟ becomes a bit arbitrary, the symbols relate to
general activities such as; „meetings: group activities‟, „eating and drinking: sweet,
salt, sour‟, „viewing: art, tv, oddities‟, eating habits: food and smell‟. These „maps‟
are hidden from the viewer and the viewer is either lost in the Maze of the encryption
process or doesn‟t even attempt to enter it, thus leaving Boshoff‟s secrets save in plain
view and if the viewer attempts to and is successful in the decryption of the symbols.
The viewer is still faced with relatively arbitrary explanations of Boshoff‟s intentions
and outcomes. Thus leaving he actions well hidden except for the rare occasion when
Boshoff speaks about some of the tasks he engaged in during the completion of this
project.
3.6 A Tower and Five Graves
At first view the 370 Day Project is neatly contained in as chest of drawers. This
chest of drawers becomes the permanent housing for the tablets. During the work‟s
first public exhibition, all the tablets were removed exhibited in traysin order to give
the viewer a better opportunity to view all the tablets. As already indicated, the tablets
are only allowed to be removed from the cabinate to be viewed between the dates of
Boshoff‟s own birthday and his sister‟s birthday.
For Boshoff the chest of drawers represents a „skyscraper‟ as he terms it:
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―This chest looks like a skyscraper in wood and personifies the change over of
knowledge from the archetypal ―Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil‖ to the
celestial-type ―Tree of Life‖ in the eventual New Jerusalem.‖
Artist notes on 370 Day Project, translated from Afrikaans into English by Jack
Ginsburg and Delina van Heerden, 1989
The New Jerusalem Boshoff refers to here is the city of God, a new city that will
descend from heaven to become the capital of God on earth:
― and John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven,
prepare as a bride adorned for her husband.‖
Rev. 21:2
Early christians saw the physical Jerusalem as a representation and future site of the
New Jerusalem, recognized by many as being the centre of their world… (Dante‟s
map of the world in the Inferno) It is with this view in mind that many early christians
undertook their pilgrimage to this city and many more undertook the symbolic
pilgrimage by crawling the Labyrinthine patterns on Church floors. Through the
process that Boshoff engages in while producing this work, Boshoff can be seen as
undertaking his own symbolic pilgrimage to the promised land, the New Jerusalem
and as Boshoff states: the „Tree of Life‟(axis mundi),.which in Boshoff‟s cosmology
is associated with the Book of Life. The Book of Life is defined as follows in Dakes
Annotated Reference Bible p.579 column 4 point b: It is the book wherein the names
of the righteous are written. ( Boshoff‟s commitment to a rigourous ritual represents
the „ball of string‟ of redemption through this „pilgramage‟ and the 370 Day Project
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ecomes Boshoff‟s own Book of Life, in a sense, as it contains the full account of his
journey and deeds over a set period of time.
The five panels of tablets laid out can be seen to roughly take the shape five graves. In
the image above Boshoff demonstrates his own body length in relation to these
pannals to indicate that each of these pannals is big enough to contain his own body
(see photograph above). This reference to graves and death is further enhanced
through the fact that the book, when closed or packed up, resembles a gravestone (see
figure 3.3). In the notes on The 370 day Project, further reference is made to this
connection to a grave by way of mentioning that the surface measurements of a block
are proportional to the surface measurements of the tray and these are derived from
the dimentions of a six foot man. This indirectly implies that Boshoff is „buried‟ or
„contained‟ within this work. Thus the work represents Boshoff‟s symbolic gesture of
death and re-birth through the persuit of his pilgrimage. In Boshoff‟s notes on the The
370 Day Project, seems that Boshoff still hangs on to the notion of the male Creator
God, however this should be understood in terms of the of the reigning religious
sentiment of the time, being overtly Christian. Boshoff can be seen to evoke notions
much older that Christianity through his use of the pagan notion of the feminine
divinity, the mother creator, inherent in the symbolism of the Labyrinth and Maze.
This work is not the only one in which Boshoff has used the dimensions of his own
body or where he has made visual and conceptual reverence to grafes 59 . In the context
of the Labyrinth and Maze this reference to his own death/grave becomes clearer.
Within classical mythology and christian symbolism associated with the Labyrinth
59 Kasboek is a work in which Boshoff uses the dimensions of his own body, and the Blind Alphabet
Project is another work with a strong reference to graves.
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and Maze, death plays an integral part in the meaning and rituals of these formats.
The maze in the Minotaur myth, for instance, becomes the house of death for seven
young men and seven young women who were sent to be sacrificed in order to
appease Poseidon. In Jungian terms, the Maze becomes the place where the
subconscious, represented by the Minator, meets the conscious mind, represented by
Theseus, to do battle. In this myth the subconscious „dies‟, allowing the conscious
mind the space to continue ruling the human mind. As with this epic battle between
the rational and irrational, Boshoff enters into a battle between what might be turmed
„creative‟ and the „uncreative‟. Similar to the struggle between the rational and the
irrational the struggle between the creative and the „uncreative‟ takes place as a
struggle within Boshoff‟s self, where he symbolically leads himself down a Maze-like
path with the diary as Ariadne‟s golden cord to find his way back, in order to do battle
with „uncreative‟. This interpretation fits in with Boshoff‟s aim in creating this work,
being that of gaining a better understanding of creativity.
Within an early christian context, as mentioned in an earlier chapter, the central
significance of the Labyrinth was in its symbolic representation of a pilgrims path
way to death and as subsequent rebirth into the christian world 60 , i.e. a redemptive
experience akin to the Christian doctren. Again, within this context Boshoff
manipulates the original interpretation through his understanding of the notion of God
(which I will look at later). Through Boshoff‟s appropriation of this symbolism one
might assume that he is embracing these principles as they are set out in Christian
60 According to christian doctrin, 2 realms exist similtanously in the physical world. The worldly realm
denotes the world of the unsaved, Where as the other realm is that of the saved, those who have been
born again through the blood of Christ, washed clean of their sins. It is only through death to the
worldly realm that they my enter the realm of the saved.
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dogma, however these principles are more wide spread as can be seen in the previous
discussion.
Boshoff can be seen to embrace the Labyrinth as it was understood in an early
christian context. The „walking‟ of the Labyrinthine path, seen as an act of devotion
and vowal, takes the form of Boshoff‟s daily tasks and is echoed in the symbols with
which he encrypts these tasks. Boshoff has devoted himself to a life of creativity,
much like the early Christians would dedicate themselves to a life of subservience to
the church and God. However, Boshoff‟s understanding of the notion of God has
shifted, from the dogmatic notion held by christianity and himself as a street preacher
to another form. Where the point of the center of the labyrinth represents a symbolic
death to this world and a rebirth to the new world, Boshoff‟s arrival at this point
seems to represent one of „enlightenment‟ to a better and as we will see a fuller and
more encompasing understanding of creativity and of God.
One might ask why five graves? The number five carries particular significance in
christian numerology as it represents the number of man as well as the number of
wounds sustained by Jesus from the crucified. 61 The number five also becomes a
symbol of man as the five points represents the four major limbs of the human body
plus the head; it also represents the mind, body, soul, spirit, as well as the
quintessence (the breath of God). The number five is mentioned 318 times in the
Bible. Most of the connections made in the Bible with the number five are lists, some
of the list that seems appropriate are as follows:
Psalm 119:76-80. Five great personal blessings:
61 The five was represented by the pentacle in early Christianity. This symbol was adopted from
paganism.
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1. Comfort through loving kindness or grace. (v. 76)
2. Tender mercies or compassions of God through obedience. (v. 77)
3. Victory over enemies through meditation upon God‟s Word. (v. 78)
4. Godly fellowship of kindred hearts through mutual consecration. (v. 79)
5. Soundness in the Word through daily enlightenment and a clear conscience.
(v.80)
Psalm 119:123-132 Five things longed for.
1. Salvation (v. 123)
2. The Word of righteousness (v.123, 131)
3. Mercy (v. 124, 132)
4. Understanding (v. 125)
5. God to work (v. 126)
Five sins of the wicked. (as laid out in the notes on Psalm p628 column 3)
1. He refuses to live in peace with his neighbors. (Ps. 55:20)
2. He does not keep his word. (Ps. 55:20, Cp. 15:4, Tim. 3:3)
3. He is a liar. (Ps. 55:21, Rev. 21:8)
4. He plots the destruction of those who would live in peace. (Ps. 55:21)
5. He is a deceiver and a destroyer with his tongue. (Ps. 55:21, Jas.3)
Through these examples, the connection between the number five and the notion of
death can be made in the following ways: The first two examples are gifts and
blessings to those that have died to the world and are reborn into the Godly world.
The last list is of trades that the believer needs to die to in order to leave behind the
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worldly realm. This process is exemplified by Jesus and His Death and can be found
in the Christian symbolism encapsulated in the Labyrinth, where a symbolic death to
the world needs to take place in order to receive heavenly gifts. But Boshoff takes the
symbolism further through his perceived affinity with the Christ figure.
The crucifixion combined with the 62 birth of Jesus marks two of the most important
events within the christian faith. These two points in christianity mark the creation of
a new covenant between God and the whole world. 63 The crucifixion pinpoints the
moment where Jesus died and went to hell to retrieve the keys of Hades. Through
Boshoff‟s appropriation of this symbolism, he can be seen to again draw a parallel
between his own journey while making this work and that of Jesus‟s journey as
described in the Bible. There are several reasons for Jesus the Son of God‟s presence
on earth. The generally excepted primary reason is to serve as a sacrificial lamb for
the sins of humanity and to teach the new covenant. Some believe that Jesus‟s
auxiliary function was to experience what it felt like to be human in order to be able
to plead on our behalf at the final judgment at the end of the world.
3.7 The Problems in 370 days
As if the continuous generation of new tasks wasn‟t hard enough, Boshoff placed
another hurdle in his own path. Each day‟s carving had to be on a different type of
62 This view however is unpopular as Jesus becoming human is seen as an insult of sorts and secondly
one might argue that if God is all knowing then He would not need to send Jesus to „experience‟ what
it might feel like to be human.
63 This new covenant according to Rabbi Goldstein in his book Jewish Mythology states that this new
covenant is ment for the gentiles where the covenant with the Jewish people still holds true as they
where ment to serve as witnesses to the „true and only‟ God
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wood 64 , which presented a couple of problems: The first of these being finding 370
different types of wood. To solve this problem Boshoff joined the Dendrological
Society. Through his membership and later as secretary of the Southern Transvaal 65
Branch, Boshoff‟s knowledge of trees grew rapidly and 370 Day Project can as such
be seen to not only draw on what Vladislavic calls an „Encyclopaedic knowledge of
dendrological taxonomy‟ but the work also takes on a similar status to the curiosities
found in the Victorian Kunstkamer. Something similar could have been found in the
Kunstkamer of Peter the Great, who owned a Xylotheque or a wooden library, books
about trees and the 158- volume set in‟t Coopmanshu^s in Franeker, Netherlands.
Boshoff furthermore comments on other skills attained in the process:
―I learned social skills through this, as well. If I needed wood, for example Querkus
Polestars—the pink oak, I had to get permission from somebody because I saw a dead
branch high up in a tree in their back yard. I had to explain to these people that I
needed that branch. ‗Please let me cut that branch from that tree‘ ‖
(Willem Boshoff: http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html, 2003)
The quotation above links into the previously mentioned Five personal blessings, as
Boshoff had to learn previously negated social skills as his production up to this point
relied heavily on a monastic work ethic.
The second problem facing Boshoff in the creation of this work was the carving of the
blocks of wood. As the work demanded that the carving happens twice every day, and
some of the wood would take up to 8 hours to carve, Boshoff was faced with the
64
Boshoff however admits that there might be some duplication due to the difficulty in identifying the
different types of wood.
65
Transvaal would now be the Gauteng province of South Africa.
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problem of where to find time to carve and places to carve as he travelled a lot during
the year that it took to make the work. Boshoff recounts this:
―We travelled through Europe and I had to get up at four every morning, so as not to
inconvenience anyone. I designed a little pilgrim toolbox, in this toolbox, I had a cloth
that I would put over my knees, and so the wood-chippings would not fall on the floor.
Then I would take out the block and the books and I would start drawing‖
(Willem Boshoff: http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html, 2003)
This solution to the problem created problems of their own as Boshoff continues:
―I remember coming back from Europe on the aeroplane with everyone looking at
me. Fairly late at night I would start doing it while people were still having drinks
and messing around. Everyone would come by and ask what the hell I was doing and
I had to explain, and it became a big conversational hassle sometimes.‖
(Willem Boshoff: http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html, 2003)
370 Day Project as a diary is a prime example of Boshoff‟s work, work ethic and
concepts that he works with. As Boshoff describes the reasoning behind this
Herculean task:
―You first have to build up strength and certain awareness for yourself before you
can become a doctor. You first have to learn things. I wanted to learn and that was
basically the beginning of why I did these funny things… funny because they were
uncommon in this country‖
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(Willem Boshoff: http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html)
This as Boshoff points out was strange with in the confines of South Africa in the 80‟s
as Boshoff points out but on a larger platform 370 Day Project wasn‟t as strange, one
only needs to look at Yves Klein‟s Leaps, Joseph Beuys‟s performance work like I
like America and America likes Me, 1974, Rene Block Gallery, New York. Vito
Acconci‟s Rubbing Pieces, On Kawara‟s date paintings, Wolfgang Laib‟s Pollen
collections and one of Boshoff‟s teachers Claude van Lingen‟s gold and silver work 66 .
Figure 3.7: Wolfgang Laib Blütenstaub von Haselnuss 1992 Installation Centre
Pompidou Paris1992, Photo W Laib
66 Claude van Lingen is current based in New York; I had the opportunity to spend some time with him
while in New York. He left the country in the 80‟s to go and live in New York where he is currently
living and working. The work use here as an example of a Hercelean task, will be completed a 1000
years from now.
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Figure 3.9: Claude Van Linge, Gold and Silver 25 th Anniversary, Part of the 1000
year from now project.
3.8 370 Days of Devotion
Figure 3.8: Yves Klein, Leap, 1970
―The ―370 day project‖ was an autobiographical recording of an introspective,
meditative lifestyle. … In addition, a permanently accessible, quiet and secluded
working area was used. Although there may well be an indirect reference to society
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and nature in these works, the works were completed in strict isolation from society
and nature in an exclusively self-referential manner. Meditation in an orthodox sense
is tied to a set pattern in time and space‖
Artist notes on 370 Day Project, translated from Afrikaans into English by Jack
Ginsburg and Delina van Heerden, 1989
In these notes Boshoff continues this discussion by referring to the saints of the
Middle Ages and specifically Anthony of Egypt (251 – 356), the first church father to
prescribe the way of the „anchorite‟ 67 . Hermeticism combined with prayer, meditation
and spiritual strengthening was seen as a way to overcome the flesh. Boshoff
continues in his notes by drawing parallels between his project and Anthony‟s escape
to a mountain range „across‟ the Nile where he started work on a collection of
„sayings‟ which were later completed when on another retreat on Mount Colzim near
the Red sea. Boshoff, however, points out two fundamental differences. Firstly the
fact that the early christians took their desire to be pure and free from defilement to
the extreme, for example the „pillar-holy-ones‟, extremists who lived on poles in an
attempt to avoid contact with the foul earth. This notion has its origin in an
association that the pagans had with the earth. The early pagans established a strong
association between the various „dark‟ mother-like deities and the earth. These deities
were seen by the early christian as representations of the devil and as such should be
avoided. As Boshoff points out in his notes:
67 A Hermit, recluse, one who withdraws from the world for religious reasons without joining an order.
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―Success in the 370 Day Project , by contrast, depended on close communication with
other people and with material consisting of dead wood which had been collected ―on
the earth‖‖
Artist notes on 370 Day Project, translated from Afrikaans into English by Jack
Ginsburg and Delina van Heerden, 1989.
As appose to early christians‟ „hermit-priests‟ such as Anthony of Egypt, Boshoff also
re-examined the notion of the hermetic existence as a method of ensuring personal
and spiritual advancement.
By embarking on this project, Boshoff adopts the commandment to enter the inner-
chamber where prayer should take place, as spellt out by Jesus in the Sermon on the
Mount:
―5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to
pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be
seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into they closet, and when thou has shut thy
door, pray to the Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.‖
Matt. 6: 5-6.
Boshoff explains his interpretation of this passage as follows:
―Just as Anthony went to a private place or retreat, a similar attempt was made with
this Project to emulate the use of this private place. …The word ‗meditation‘ means a
withdrawal to the middle or ―midi‖ of a persons being. The inner-room is thus a
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space within the individual and a return to this space can take place anywhere: not
necessarily in the wilderness.‖
Artist notes on 370 Day Project, translated from Afrikaans into English by Jack
Ginsburg and Delina van Heerden, 1989
It seems that for Boshoff the center of the daily „ritual‟ resides in the creation of the
saying/motto of the day, even though very little is known about these sayings, in
comparison to the sayings of Anthony, a seemingly big influence on the processes he
decided on. Boshoff‟s formal procedure becomes a spiritual/cognitive Labyrinth,
where the morning preparation, carving, run, the evening preparation, the carving and
cleaning become physical „steps‟ or processes of endurance and self-surmounting that
lead him to the center, the creation of the saying, Boshoff‟s point of enlightenment.
The task before Boshoff in completing this work seems reminiscent of the early
Christian pilgrimage of devotion, Boshoff even refers to his little portable toolbox as
the „pilgrims toolbox‟. Where the early Christians crawled their way to a center as a
show of devotion to and contemplation of the rebirth through Christ, the notion of the
rebirth through a sacrificial life but reaching deeper into history where the feminine
deities also become symbols of rebirth. Boshoff makes his way through the self-
imposed Labyrinthine path filled with obstacles of his daily task with devotion and
contemplation:
―While the gathering of the material might be regarded as empirical research, the
carving of the blocks is a meditative discipline. Boshoff would regard the gathering as
a discipline too.‖
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(ibid: 2005: 35)
(checking)
The gathering of the material, in this case the wood, conforms to the aims Boshoff set
out to meet, as he pointed out in an earlier quote, that he learnt a lot of social skills.
As mentioned earlier, Boshoff undertook this project in an attempt to learn and
understand. In addition, his need to learn and understand becomes an underlying
reason for all of Boshoff‟s subsequent projects. In the previous discussion on
KYKAFRIKAANS I explored how Boshoff struggled through Biblical texts and
notions and how this pilgrimage through a Maze of disinformation and
misinterpretation on the part of state and church lead Boshoff to disillusionment with
respect to his religious believes. In 370 Day Project Boshoff undertakes a different
pilgrimage, a self-imposed pilgrimage in a quest to understand creativity as appose to
a personal revolt against the state and what he saw as their miss appropriation of
biblical texts.
The common thread that runs through all of the examples of Herculean tasks
culminating in art production is that of endurance, reaching a higher level of
awareness through perseverance 68 . This is in essence Boshoff‟s aim through the
strenuous task that he laid before himself to become more aware and to learn about
creativity. Boshoff‟s earlier focus on Christianity and its dogma, shifts to a focus on
creativity. Nick Cave a contemporary musician discusses his understanding of the
68 This principle is strongly rooted in religious practices where suffering becomes an integral part of the
quest for enlightenment, history is filled with instances where Holy men undergo voluntarily fasting
oaths of silence to name a few examples.
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elationship between the Christian God and creativity in a lecture given at the Poetry
Academy in Vienna in the early 90‟s as follows 69 :
Jesus said where two or more are gathered together I am in your midst. Jesus said
this because where two or more are gathered together there is a communion there is
language, there is imagination, there is God. God is a product of the creative
imagination and God is that imagination taken flight. […] There is that wonderful
story in the gospel of John where the scribes and Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman
taken in adultery and attempting to trap him asked if the woman should now be stoned
under the Law of Moses. Christ did not answer straight away, but rather stooped
down and wrote with is finger on the ground as though he didn‘t hear them. The
Pharisees persisted. And after a time Christ lifted himself up and answered. Let him
who is with out sin let him cast the first stone at her and again He stooped down. For
me this seemingly distracted gesture, the stooping down and writing on the ground is
Christ accessing the God in himself. Christ then delivers the line that disempowers his
opponents. And what an extraordinary remark it is, and then stoops again to
commune with God. What Christ shows us here is that the creative imagination has
the power to combat all enemies,‖
Nick Cave, The Word made flesh. (One of two public lectures held at the Vienna
Poetry Academy)
Cave carries on in the lecture to point to what might be termed the sins of the
Pharisees in attempting to kill the imagination through their obsession with the Law.
69 Even though there is no physical relationship between Cave and Boshoff there seems to be some
similarity concerning some of the ideas around creativity and god. I feel that Caves explanation of this
relationship aids in my exploration of this relationship in Boshoff‟s work.
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Cave explanation of the relationship between God and the imagination seems to echo
in 370 Day Project. Where Boshoff draws on his imagination in an attempt to reach
enlightenment, to learn.
Boshoff creates the six daily tasks as hurdles in his everyday life to force himself to
be creative in setting the tasks and solving and persevering through the hurdles. Thus
using the tasks as what might call a path similar to early Christians having to give up
the world in favour of a life of faith and devotion to the cannononical principles that
the church expects its followers to abide by. However for Boshoff the Labyrinthine
pilgrimage leading to a point of enlightenment does not lead down the traditional path
that symbolizes the Churches understanding of the God Head but to his own
creativity, what Cave terms the God Head inside himself. In light of this Boshoff can
be seen to follow a Gnostic 70 path where the pursuit of knowledge becomes superior
to faith. The Gnostic path follows the Christian Labyrinthine model as well where a
life of devotion and study becomes the road to salvation and enlightenment. We see
more evidence of a strong Gnostic influence in 370 Day Project. As this project is
started to learn about creativity and as such God, Boshoff is attempting to gain the
Gnosis, the knowledge that would lead to salvation or enlightenment. The need for
enlightenment has it‟s foundations deeply rooted in the need of Christians to be Christ
like. As such Jesus‟ comments on the blind acceptance of children holds the key to
salvation;
70 Christian Gnosticism was a philosophical and religious school where knowledge rather than faith
becomes the key to salvation. It swept over the early church from Syria to Gaul, causing much
confusion amongst Christians between the 1 st and 6 th century. This was eventually declared a heresy
and as such its followers where tortured and killed as heretics. However there is evidence of a much
longer Gnostic tradition that predates Christianity that originated all over the world.
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―Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in
the kingdom of heaven‖
Mat 18:4
And again in:
―Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little
child shall in no wise enter therein‖
Lk 18:17
In direct opposition to this one finds the notion of the gnosis, where a particular type
of knowledge will lead one to Heaven. This is expressed in the following passages:
―The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and
instruction.‖
Pr 1:7
“Who will have all men to be saved, and come onto the
knowledge of the truth”
1 Tim 2:4
―2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of
Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life
and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and vertue:
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[…]
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience
godliness;
[…]
8 For if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be
barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Pet 1: 2-8.
Boshoff follows this path to enlightenment with what might be termed a type of
Aseticism 71 . Again recalling the image of the early Christian following the „straight
and narrow‟ to the centre of the Labyrinth where all distractions must be eliminated
and overcome. As Boshoff recalls:
―What I learned was how to be pensive, introspective, to be meditative. I didn‘t like
the tat way of prayer [where one] just stand up and speaks words… it was like
praying to a ghost or making God into a kind of spook. So cut out all of the nonsense
and tried various schemes and ways of educating myself through my work and I
became quite a bit of a recluse. A kind of a monk in various practising forms of
meditation.‖
(http://www.onepeople.com/bosinterv.html)
We also see Boshoff‟s awareness of his departure from Christianity through the
continued use of wood in his work. Although wood has a strong connection to the
Christian faith through its significance as the cross, it also as much older roots in
71 One who shuns or abstains from worldly pleasure and comford in solitude for religious reasons.
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Pagan tree cults as well as the use of trees in pagan myth as discussed in Chapter 1.
Boshoff‟s historic regression to pre-Christian traditions also highlights the origin of
the Labyrinth and Maze in a much older culture and 370 Day Project becomes a
manifestation of this regression. The project points the „viewer‟ deeper into history
(pre-history) not in an attempt to disprove God or its existence but to explore and
better understand a much older notion of God or the divine and as such rediscover a
form of knowledge which can be equated to the Gnostic Gnosis.
Through Boshoff‟s investigation of creativity and as such of God, he can be seen to
explores the much earlier matriacel based societies, where the feminine deity is seen
as the mother and creator, creator of the world as appose to the later particle belief
systems where the feminine was pushed to the background. Where the male deity took
the position as the source of creation as well as and in some instances more
importantly a source of destruction and punishment. This disregard for the feminine
can also be seen in Christianity where Mary Magdalene, according to the Apocrypha
was called apostle amongst apostles and in the „official‟ version of the Bible there was
hardly a mention made of her.
Boshoff‟s search for a better understanding of God and the „dark‟ feminine creative
force through the use of the Labyrinthine format is strongly linked in Kern‟s appraisal
of the Labyrinthine history 72 . Kern pinpoints one of the origins of the Labyrinth to a
much earlier culture in Greece, pre-Minoan. He base this on stone tablets that was
found in Crete, which dates from the second, possibly the third millennium BCE (the
Neolithic period). Kern carries on by stating that this evidence is supported by the
72 Kern states that the Labyrinth does not have a geographical origin as the Labyrinth developed in
separet cultures at the same time. However, what he points to is one of the earliest documentations of
the Labyrinth and as such could possibly expose the original intention of the Labyrinth.
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impressive astrological notation found on these stones not only relating to seasonal
changes but in some cases refer to death and regeneration. Kern also refers to a stone
tablet found in Crete, a fragment of this tablet refers to an offering of five jars of
honey that is sacrificed to the Lady of the Labyrinth.
This History becomes important in 370 Day Project because it creates a historic path
that Boshoff is symbolically tracing back in order to rediscover the link between the
divine and creativity. He does this in an attempt to gain an understanding of the
creative act and as such God. Boshoff does this by not only engaging in the creative
act through the six daily tasks but through the mapping out of the conceptual
pilgrimage which traces creativity to the feminine divine and to some of the earliest
manifestations of the Labyrinthine format.
This strengthens the connection between the Labyrinth and the Feminine creative
deity as the mother and life giver, which can also be seen to represent an oral
tradition, story telling. Boshoff can b e seen to appropriate aspects of the oral tradition
that is represented by the belief in the feminine devine by matriacle societies.
3.9 Boshoff and the Creative Act
Boshoff through the encryption process mimics the creation of the world by God. This
is further expanded on in Boshoff‟s notes on The 370 Day Project. (p10)
3.9 Boshoff the Storyteller
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Within this oral tradition morals, ethics, lessons and knowledge are transferred from
one generation to the next. This is done through the telling of stories by the elders to a
younger generation, by a priest and prophet that reveals the will and the nature of a
god through stories as can be seen in Roman and Greek mythology or by a God
Himself to His people as Jesus 73 did and lastly the Druidic Bards 74 . Boshoff as earlier
discussed sees himself and projects as having a strong connection with the Jesus
figure as well as with the Druids. As a result of these connections the image of
storyteller can be projected on to Boshoff as one of the functions he performs. With
this in mind, Boshoff‟s work not only becomes objects embodying a concept or
process but becomes a vessel that containing stories about the work and the creation
of the work and especially in this work. The work becomes an object that functions as
a reminder or a focus for the concept and the stories that can be told of the process the
reader only needs to glance back at the start of the chapter were some of these stories
are related. These stories in some cases tend to be more memorable than the physical
work and in a sense the stories becomes the signified and the work is reduced to a
signifier. It is important to note that the hearing of Boshoff‟s stories are reseved for
very few. This aspect of the work still has an important roll to play in the
understanding of Boshoff‟s work in terms of Labyrinths and Mazes and as such I have
included it in this paper.
Within storytelling the „message/meaning‟ of the story can be equated with the center
of a Labyrinth and a Maze and the telling of the story with the actual walking of these
structures. The story teller „spins a yarn‟ that the audience follows to get to the end,
73 Jesus is perceived as part of the Trinity, thus being part of the tree that is one and the one that is tree.
74 The Bards formed an integral aspect of the Druid order, they are the historians and as such the story
tellers, there is some speculation as to their training but there is some agreement in that they had to
memorize several hundred poems in order to train their memory as well as to ensure the continuation of
their history.
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punch line or the moral. The „yarn‟ becomes a golden thread that runs as a guide
through a Maze of possible twists and turns that the story teller could take.
Boshoff‟s stories separate themselves from other in that he not only becomes the
storyteller but the main character with in these stories. Much like a hero telling of his
own exploits. He however doesn‟t become the focus of the story this place is taken up
by the making of the work Boshoff becomes an instrument of the dark feminine
creative power through which the work is being made. The discovery or moral that
lies at the centre of Boshoff‟s tail is the discovery of what might be termed the
Gnosis.
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Selected bibliography
As for my primary aim in the research project, the exploration of the concept of the
labyrinth in the work of Willem Boshoff, I have found very little books or text written
on Willem Boshoff. So the primary source for my exploration of the concept of the
labyrinth I will focus on interviews with Willem Boshoff, that I found on the internet
and interviews that I will hold with the artist himself as primary source.
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For the perpose of these interviews and the understanding of some of the concepts
surrounding the labyrinth I will be looking at the following books as secondary
sources.
Guide to the Gods, Leach Marjorie, Galeresearch International Ltd, London,
1992.
Medieval France an Encyclopedia.
Halls Dictionary of Subject and Symbols in Art.
C.G. Jung Lexicon, Primary terms and concepts, Daryl Sharp, Inner City
Books, Canada, 1991.
A Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery, Abraham, Lyndy. Cambridge Uni
Press, UK. 1998.
Essays on Art And Language, Harrison, Chares. Basil Blackwell, Cambridge
Massachusetts, USA. 1991.
The Central Text of Wittgenstein, Brand, Gerd, Western Printing Services
Ltd. Oxford GB. 1979.
A Bingdon Dictionary of Living Religions. General Editor, Crim, Keith,
……….. Nashville, USA, 1981.
The Drvids: A Study in Keltic Prehistory. Kendrick, T.D., Frank Cass and
Co Ltd. GB. 1966.
The Transparency of Evil: Essays on Extreme Phenomena. Baudrillard, J.
Translated by Benedict, J. Verso, London. 1993.
The System of Objects. . Baudrillard, J. Translated by Benedict, J. Verso,
London. 1993.
Labyrinth: Solving the Riddle of the Maze. Fisher, A. Harmony Books. NY.
USA. 1990.
Ancient Myths And Modern Uses, Labyrinths. Revised edition. Lonegren,
S. Sterling Publishing Co. N.Y. USA. 2001.
Dreams. Jung, C.G. Translated by Hull, R.F.C. Ark Paperbacks. GB. 1982.
Through the Labyrinth, Herman Kern, Prestel, N Y. 2000.
Theories of Art 1 Branche Moshe, Routledge, N Y, 1985.
Overlay, Lippard, Lucy R., The New Press, N Y, 1981
Hermeticiam and the Renaissance, Merkel I., Debus, A.G., Folger Books.
Washington, 1988.
Kykafrikaans, Boshoff W., Pannevis, Jhb, 1980
The Open Work, Umberto Eco, Harvard University Press, Massachusetts,
1989
Medieval Thought an Introduction, Blackwell, USA, 1992
Pagan Rome and the Early Christians, Benko S., Indiana University Press,
USA, 1986.
Art and Knowledge, Young James O., Routledge, USA, 2001.
This selection of books seems endless but as is the case with C.G. Jung one has to
servy a whole selection of information on a list of subjects to fully comprehend the
full extend of the particular field of knowledge‟s influence on the artist. Willem
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Boshoff specialises in obscure pieces of knowledge that can only be collected by this
great undertaking.
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