A Comparative Study of Zulu Goddess and God the Father in Durban's Mural Painting Based on Bhabha's Third Space Theory

Homi Bhabha emphasizes that hybridity is the result of a movement of the two discourses of colonizer and colonized towards each other in the third space. The result would be a totally new object (hybridity) which can change the discourse of power and cause a new movement in society. This study has been done to explore the third space and its influences on visual arts, and it is tried to define the mural of Nomkhubulwane as a product of a clash between the Christian colonizing discourse and the mythological colonized one of Zulu tribe in the third space. The main question is whether this mural is a hybrid product or merely a simple combination of native and foreign elements. Through this comparative study, the artistic expression of the mentioned mural has been considered based upon both the colonized and the colonizer’s visual as well as symbolic values. The comparison is based on descriptive and analytic methods with an emphasis on the rich mythological and traditional art of this tribe and those of Christianity. The required data have been gathered from library documents emphasizing the literature on mythology in South Africa’s universities. This research considering both the ideas and beliefs of the natives and colonizers as well as the social movement that took place after this mural (the struggles against HIV and for defending the native girls’ rights), proves that the mural not only is a combination of the native and foreign artistic elements, but also it presents Bhabha’s ideas on transitions in socio-political discourse.