Michael Godby has over several decades published an extensive array of journal articles and curated exhibitions that have contributed significantly to the debates and discourses of South African art and photography. Battleground is a testament to Godby’s fluent mastery of the history, discourses and art of colonial South Africa. Battleground is a catalogue of drawings of the War of the Axe (seventh Frontier War, 1846-7) done by Charles Bell (1813-1882). Bell produced 60 drawings of the War and thus the collection can be regarded to ‘constitute an extraordinarily extensive record of any war before photography’ (Godby 2015, 6). The catalogue presents 38 of the drawings and seeks to explore how Bell’s record of the War is far removed from a neutral vantage point. Bell presented the War as a ‘heroic achievement, celebrating the victory of civilization over barbarism, in what is unapologetically a colonial account of the context’ (Godby 2015, 6). A main concern of the catalogue is a sustained interrogation of how Bell’s representation of African subjects is informed by pseudo-scientific racial theories and colonial ideologies. Consequently, what become comprehensible in Bell’s works are stereotyped and caricatured African subjects that are dreadfully defamatory. The catalogue thus does not shy away from drawing the reader’s attention to Bell’s discriminatory representation of African subjects. In doing so, the catalogue aims to issue the reader with a series of challenges. Firstly, the catalogue challenges readers who perceive Bell’s work to be an objective record of events. The images are saturated by racial biases and prejudices that served to justify colonial rule and the appropriation of Xhosa land. Secondly, the catalogue aims to contest and oppose any claim that the history of the War has little or no relevance for today’s readers. This aim is supported by the catalogue showcasing a selection of recent works on the subject of the War. These works can be seen as a response to Bell’s drawings and the ideologies that he upheld. The third and final challenge is to consider whether

中文翻译：

---

战场

数十年来，迈克尔·戈德比 (Michael Godby) 发表了大量期刊文章和策划的展览，对南非艺术和摄影的辩论和讨论做出了重大贡献。《战场》证明了戈德比对南非殖民时期的历史、话语和艺术的流利掌握。《战场》是查尔斯·贝尔（Charles Bell，1813-1882 年）绘制的斧头战争（第七次边疆战争，1846-7 年）的图纸目录。贝尔制作了 60 幅战争图画，因此该系列可以被视为“构成摄影前任何战争的极其广泛的记录”（Godby 2015, 6）。该目录展示了 38 幅图纸，并试图探索贝尔的战争记录如何远离中立的有利位置。贝尔将战争描述为“英雄的成就，庆祝文明战胜野蛮，这是对环境的毫无歉意的殖民描述”（Godby 2015, 6）。该目录的一个主要关注点是对贝尔如何通过伪科学的种族理论和殖民意识形态来描绘非洲主体的持续审问。因此，在贝尔的作品中可以理解的是陈规定型和讽刺的非洲主题，这些主题具有可怕的诽谤性。因此，目录并不回避将读者的注意力吸引到贝尔对非洲主题的歧视性表述上。为此，目录旨在向读者提出一系列挑战。首先，目录向那些将贝尔的作品视为事件的客观记录的读者提出了挑战。这些图像充斥着种族偏见和偏见，这些偏见和偏见为殖民统治和对科萨人的土地的占有辩护。其次，该目录旨在质疑和反对任何声称战争历史与今天的读者几乎没有关系或根本没有关系的说法。这一目标得到了目录的支持，目录展示了一系列关于战争主题的近期作品。这些作品可以看作是对贝尔的绘画和他所坚持的意识形态的回应。第三个也是最后一个挑战是考虑是否 这些作品可以看作是对贝尔的绘画和他所坚持的意识形态的回应。第三个也是最后一个挑战是考虑是否 这些作品可以看作是对贝尔的绘画和他所坚持的意识形态的回应。第三个也是最后一个挑战是考虑是否