1995

Ndonganazibovana

South African, born 1970

Seeking "'to deconstruct' my own preconceptions of what Africa means to me," van Coller chose native African plants as subjects that could inform his understanding of the differences between colonial and indigenous perceptions of Africa. He set up the dialogue in two columns of printed text, juxtaposing the native African description of a plant's medicinal and mythological properties with the European scientific analysis of the plant-the latter approach based upon the desire to quantify and measure. In this way, the artist says, "The plants . . . function as an intermediary, they become a place where these two worlds can collide. . . . two sets of ideas that are forced to communicate."