Anton Kannemeyer
Anton Kannemeyer (born 30 October 1967 in Cape Town) is a South African comics artist, who sometimes goes by the pseudonym Joe Dog. Kannemeyer is also a senior lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch.[1] He studied graphic design and illustration at the University of Stellenbosch, and did a Master of Arts degree in illustration after graduating.[2] Together with Conrad Botes, he co-founded the magazine Bitterkomix in 1992 and has become revered for its subversive stance and dark humour.[3] He has been criticised for making use of "offensive, racist imagery".[4] Kannemeyer himself said that he gets "lots of hate mail from white Afrikaners".[1]
His works challenge the rigid image of Afrikaners promoted under Apartheid, and depict Afrikaners having nasty sex and mangling their Afrikaans.[5] “X is for Xenophobia”, part of his "Alphabet of Democracy", depicts Ernesto Nhamwavane, a Mozambican immigrant who was burnt alive in Ramaphosa in 2008.[6] Some of Kannemeyer’s works deal with the issues of race relations and colonialism, by appropriating the style of Hergé’s comics, namely from Tintin in the Congo.[7][8] In "Pappa in Afrika", Tintin becomes a white African, depicted either as a white liberal or as a racist white imperialist in Africa. In this stereotyped satire, the whites are superior, literate and civilised, and the blacks are savage and dumb.[9] In "Peekaboo", a large acrylic work, the white African is jumping up in alarm as a black man figure pokes his head out of the jungle shouting an innocuous 'peekaboo!'[10] A cartoon called "The Liberals" has been interpreted as an attack on white fear, bigotry and political correctness: a group of anonymous black people (who look like golliwogs) are about to rape a white lady, who calls her attackers “historically disadvantaged men”.[4]
Bibliography
- Alphabet of Democracy (2010)
- Pappa in Afrika (2010)
- Fear of a Black Planet (2008)
- Bitterkomix 15 (2008)
- The Big Bad Bitterkomix Handbook (2006)
References
- ^ a b The profane world of Anton Kannemeyer - ArtThrob
- ^ Comic creator: Joe Dog
- ^ Brodie/Stevenson - Anton Kannemeyer
- ^ a b Denying the privileged a voice - Arts - Mail & Guardian Online
- ^ The Brilliant Weirdness of Die Antwoord - NYTimes.com
- ^ Book Review – As sharp as a sushi knife | City Press
- ^ Anton Kannemeyer - The Haunt of Fears - New York Times
- ^ Heller, Maxwell (2012). "What a (Self) Portrait Can Do: Picturing South Africa in New York". The Brooklyn Rail.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ Pappa in Afrika -The M&G Online
- ^ Anton Kannemeyer: Fear of a Black Planet at Michael Stevenson - ArtThrob