ABSTRACT
Colonial and Apartheid extractive processes, in both mining and agriculture, dislocated and disconnected indigenous peoples from the land in South Africa. A quarter-century after the end of Apartheid, the struggle of the Xolobeni community against the Australian mining company Mineral Resource Commodities exemplifies the challenges of ecopolitical justice in Africa where land grabs are part of a global neoliberal economy of commodity markets based on extractivism. The Mpondoland coastal forest and grasslands, where the Xolobeni community lives, are exceptionally sensitive to disturbance. Contemporary visual artists responding to this complex terrain of environmental politics are utilizing a variety of strategies to highlight the harm from extractive practices, labour exploitation, and environmental damage. Photographic constructions, collaborative practices, performative engagements, and relational approaches attempt to dissolve historical boundaries reconnecting peoples, land and human-nonhuman relations. Extractivism and corruption continue to drive expulsions, extinctions and the deposition of industrial excreta on African soil reality increasingly evident in the material choices of artists on the continent.
