THE ALLURE OF THE VENEER211the animal body and grafting upon the human have collapsed into one
gesture. This repositioning triggers an allure, along with the “bewitching
emotional effect” that characterizes it.^54 The resistance that each form,
the animal and the human, poses against the other opens up the possi-
bility for the emergence of allusions—allusions that relentlessly gesture
toward ghostly objects situated beneath and beyond the familiarity of
sensual ones.
In opposition to Galanin, Mntambo has surprised critics by defying
postcolonial readings and arguing that her work is not a direct explora-
tion of the “African female body” nor that it has a “feminist agenda at its
core.”^55 Her cowhides, she says, do not “directly reference historical in-
digenous cultural practices” from South Africa, where she is from.^56 Like-
wise, the interpretative restrictions she places on her work attempt to
evade the seemingly inescapable labels of “black artist” and “black art”
within the international context of contemporary art.^57 Mntambo is keen
FIGURE 6.4 Nandipha Mntambo, Titfunti emkhatsini wetfu (The Shadows between
Us), 2013. Cow hide, resin. Left: 49 7/32 × 52 3/4 × 11 27/64 in. (125 × 134 × 29 cm). Right:
57 7/8 × 59 27/32 × 10 5/8 in. (147 × 152 × 27 c m). I n s t a l l at ion v ie w, A nd ré h n- S c h ipt je n ko,
Stockholm, 2013. Photo by Jean-Baptiste Beranger. Courtesy Andréhn-Schiptjenko,
Stockholm.