In Loving Memory of... is a visual response to the ongoing crisis of Gender-Based Violence in Southern Africa. Through paintings, photographic screen-prints, and assemblages, the exhibition reflects on grief, remembrance, and the lives lost especially those of women and children.
Curated in a circular room to represent the ongoing cycle of violence, viewers are invited to walk anti-clockwise to symbolically break that cycle. The clear windows surrounding the space strip away silence, urging us to confront what is often hidden.
The lily flower, used throughout, represents both womanhood and remembrance. The presence of red speaks to love, danger, and the sacrifice of those harmed—often by intimate partners.
This exhibition is both a memorial and a call to awareness. May these lives never be forgotten.
FULL EXHIBITION A
FULL EXHIBITION B
LET A FLOWER BLOOM
Lino pRINT
40cm x 29cm
Lily flowers are a symbol of femininity. Depicting them breaking the boundaries of the triangle shows how strong women can be. Power to overcome anything comes from within. The lily becomes a metaphor for women exposing their fragility as well as their strength in tough times.
Lily flowers are a symbol of femininity. Depicting them breaking the boundaries of the triangle shows how strong women can be. Power to overcome anything comes from within. The lily becomes a metaphor for women exposing their fragility as well as their strength in tough times.
The gold colour shows the divine power women have over the red triangle encasing them, the triangle symbolising men.
PIECING ME TOGETHER
CERAMIC
100cm x 100.5cm
the viewer is confronted with faces that have been beaten beyond
recognition, leaving the investigators to piece the faces together. This is the sad reality that women and children have to endure.
recognition, leaving the investigators to piece the faces together. This is the sad reality that women and children have to endure.
At first glance it is as if the heads seem to be floating. We are all fragile beings, ready to snap just like these ceramic pieces. The beauty of life is its fragility it must be handled with care.
ONE EYE OPEN
Computer-Aided Design
40.5cm x 28.5cm
Physical Abuse is any act of hurting or injuring a person on purpose. Symptoms include: bruises, broken or fractured bones, burns or scalds. The computer-aided design depicts an enlarged eye which alludes to physical abuse.
Often times, women hide their bruises because they feel ashamed and protect the perpetrator. Purple is the colour that represents Gender-based violence and by duplicating the shoulder it shows the urgency one has to act when a victim is abused or assaulted.
HEATED
Acrylic and charcoal on recycled wood
Acrylic and charcoal on recycled wood
Size: 122cm x 102.8cm
The police confirmed the CHARRED remains of seven-year-old Kgothatso Molefe on August 2, 2019. The portrait aims to glorify and memorialise the life of Kgothatso.
Through the use of charcoal, which is imbedded within the painting, aims to show what was left behind after Kgothatso was burned. The red tonal range which steaks across the portrait reflects the heat that took the victims life.
Rest in eternal peace, Kgothatso Molefe.
MADONNA WITHOUT CHILD
Photographic Screen Print
57cm x 17.8cm
A photographic screen print inspired by Duccio’s “Madonna and Child” depicts a figure covered with a white sheet, a golden halo but unlike the original, the figure is without child.
This represents the death of a child and the immense mourning a mother faces in the wake of her child’s death, specifically in the context of gender-based violence within Southern Africa.
SAVE ANNA
Mixed Media Assemblage (Recycled glass bottles, textile and steel)
Mixed Media Assemblage (Recycled glass bottles, textile and steel)
59.5 x 21.7cm
“Three children wake up to the grim discovery of their 38 year-old mother lying dead in Sebokeng, Vereenining. Father turns himself in to the police.”
The message in this assemblage has a play on words. By swapping the alcohol bottles name Savannah to “Save Anna”, it speaks to the victim Anna, who was brutally murdered by her husband. The 6 alcohol bottles represent the life lost every 6 hours in Southern Africa accompanied by red satin fabric representing the blood spilt.
MAN IN THE MIRROR
Acrylic on recycled wood
104cm x 102.6cm
The former president of South Africa Jacob Zuma was accused of sexually assaulting 31-year-old HIV/AIDS activist, Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo at his home in Johannesburg on 2 November 2005. Jacob Zuma was charged with sexual assault but denied the accusation.
Now ask yourselves; who are we supposed to trust if men in power violate the very same people they are supposed to protect? This painting is directed to all the men in power who refuse to see that GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE is a pandemic.
DISTORTED
Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas
Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas
91.5cm x 90cm
A victim’s account of Gender-based violence can be distorted by the media, by the perpetrator and even by the evidence left behind. When a victim is not there to tell their story who will SPEAK OUT for them?
Pregnant 28-year-old's body was found hanging from a tree two years ago, with a gunshot wound in the chest
Computer-Aided Design
Computer-Aided Design
97cm x 136cm
Tshegofatso Pule, a 28-year-old pregnant woman, was killed by hitmen arranged by her boyfriend. The photographs, resembling stained glass from Catholic churches, depict the victim's gruesome death, with lilies representing her feminine energy and missed opportunity of motherhood.
The lack of a baby in the photograph symbolises the loss of her baby. The staged manner of the photographs and lit candle serve as a symbol of hope and the end of the Gender-based violence pandemic.
“We need to stop speaking of violence against women as statistics. Each of those women has a name, an identity...”
— Graça Machel
