M. Hayden
M. Hayden recently completed a PhD in History of Art at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her doctoral research investigates the significance of the black-white-red triad in the San rock paintings of southern Africa. The Wits citation for her doctoral study, in part, described her research as follows:
“Dr Hayden’s research tackles the complex topic of colour in southern African San rock painting. She employs a triad of black, red and white as a heuristic device, which is an aesthetic structure observed in other artistic traditions in Africa. Through a close examination of select panels from sites across South Africa, she explores how colour is applied in dialogue with the rock surface in expressions of a great variety that also change over time, linked also to the primary ingredients used to make the paint. She shows how colour is not an abstract visual attribute, but is linkable to other properties of the physical world and to colour-related ideas in the ethnography, pointing to a wider system of values within San society. Through intricate analysis of specific depictions of humans, animals and other forms, she explores how black, white and red with its dyadic complimentary yellow are deployed for balance, contrast, transformation and liminality. She reveals the colourful richness of what can be seen in the art and the fundamental role that colour played in the San creative process.”
Her recent papers and presentations include: The missing locusts: conservation and management of San rock art at Kaoxa’s Shelter, Mapungubwe National Park (2022) – Savanna Science Networking Meeting, Kruger National Park, South Africa; A discourse on colour: assessing aesthetic patterns in the swift people panel at Ezeljagdspoort, Western Cape, South Africa (2020) McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge Publication and (2016) The Pasts and Presence of Art in South Africa: Technologies, Ontologies and Agents Conference Paper, University of Cambridge – Centre of African Studies and The British Museum, United Kingdom; Inverted Rainbow: the aesthetics of San celestial phenomena at the rainbow mystery shelter in the Cederberg, Western Cape, South Africa (2019) European Association of Archaeologists Conference Paper, Switzerland.
She completed her Master of Arts in Museum Studies at Seton Hall University and Bachelor of Arts in Art History at Clark Atlanta University. Her professional experience includes managing art collections, facilitating preservation practices and teaching at notable arts organisations, museums and educational institutions. Additional interests include art historical theory and an interdisciplinary approach to rock art studies which entails investigation on colour symbolism, the creative process and the intersectionality of San visual and literary aesthetics.