The Voices of Women Virtual Museum is an archive of memory and a meeting place for stories of women to be held, heard, and celebrated. We envision a world where the rich tapestry of women’s stories, experiences, and artistic expressions is celebrated, amplified, and understood.
It is also a space of interface and introspection where community can be fostered through open dialogue, resource sharing, and creation, inspired by the collected stories of South African female experience.
“Gender issues are not women’s issues alone. We need to understand that femininity does not exist in isolation from masculinity. The image of power of one determines the image and power of the other. Women can be considered “inferior” only if men are considered “superior”. Women can be and are subordinate only if men are willing and enabled to subordinate them. For Far too long women’ organisations have taken the sole responsibility for issues like violence against women, as if men had nothing to do with them. This has to change. Men must assume their share of responsibility and join the feminist struggle against this and other issues that are social issues”
Mfanozelwe Shozi – Acting Chairperson of the Commission for Gender Equality, 2012
The Conversations We Do Not Have exhibition Series – 2012-2016
The Conversations We Do Not Have Exhibition Series invites women and men to examine themselves and their complicity in processes of acquiescence to social systems that entrench inequality in culturally defined relationships.
The Dreams, Wishes and Expectations exhibition – 2017-2018
This work is an evolution from the five (5) Conversations We Do Not Have exhibitions that I have curated these past few years. These exhibitions have essentially looked at the Voices of Women Collection, where I have tried to gain a deeper understanding of the scope and power of the intimately embroidered works exhibited in this Museum on these two floors. The inclusion of selected works from other South African and African artists from the MTN Art Collection sets up an interesting interface within the context of a South African art historical discourse. At the centre of this discussion are women or women’s issues and of course the personal curatorial eye (me), as I respond, reflect and re-frame the multiple conversations that make reference to our multi-layered political and social discourse.
Dreams and Muti Magic 2018
The Dreams and Muti Magic references the exhibition, Dreams, Wishes and Expectations held in 2017 by the Voices of Women Museum as their first exhibition in the museum space – an old building in a male dominated street in downtown Durban. The visual conversations considered the possibility of ‘dreams’ embedded in the many stories of the Museum’s Collection. These dreams are associated with wishes and expectations for a better present and future.
Tholakele Mdakane, a long-time facilitator at Voices of Women – when it was still a project – spoke to me as the curator of exhibitions about her own dreams for herself and her children. To her, the home is a prominent place and she has been working towards building her own home (that she now has). Her work as a master crafter sustains her the most and it is here that she shines as not only a facilitator of workshops in story and thread, but in her own desire to communicate what is important to her through her artwork. Her embroideries, which, much like drawings, echo lines that tell many stories. Stories about play, ukudlala, family and pray reverberate in her work and in the embroidered lines.
In discussions with MTN Foundation’s curator, Niel Nortje, I have selected a few artworks that echo the thoughts and ideas inherent in Mdakane’s work. Chosen work for this exhibition, includes work by artist, Allina Ndebele’s in her 5metre work, Nqamatshe’s Muti Magic. She shared her experiences with us at the opening and the story of her substantial tapestry: A world where her ancestors reside and who warns (us) about water spirits. Likewise, Helen Sebidi’s work echo spirituality that merges Christianity with traditional African beliefs in her layered canvas. Works in thread by Kim Lieberman, Voices of Women narratives and traditional west African textiles, brought together a rich tapestry of thought, and image, reminding us – according to Tholakele Mdakane to play, pray and to find a place in our lives for our spiritual and dream-selves.
