These are the forgotten. These are the women who live in rural South Africa,
who are put aside, terrorized, used, and cast away. Per capita, theirs is one
of the highest AIDS rates in the world, with an estimated rate of infection
of up to 40%. Yet they are not remembered. We close our eyes and pretend that
we do not see them, as they raise their children in abject poverty. We do not
see them struggling to survive in the aftermath of a system that has raped their
bodies, hearts and souls, a system which drove their economy and social developments
into the ground. These women have been subjected to starvation and genocide,
caught in apartheid’s web of retaliation, lies and greed.
In 1996, the newly elected African National Congress government of South Africa
instituted the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Under the direction of Bishop
Desmond Tutu, the commission’s objective was to “reconstruct the
history of life under apartheid with the purpose of setting the record straight
and developing a cultural and historical achieve[?]. They were charged with
gathering the stories of the victims of apartheid to instigate the healing process.
Sometimes this meant that the abusers of victims came to them and their families
and begged for forgiveness. In an instance where the victim had died, then this
forgiveness was asked of the families. The commission was on a search for truth,
recording details about abusers, what they had done and who they had done it
to, as well as uncovering concealed facts about crimes.
The commission recorded stories and made recommendations based on the histories
of 21,400 victims. But they failed to establish a broad view of what had occurred
because some groups were almost completely left out of the process, particularly
the indigenous women.
Andries Botha, a sculptor, created Amazwi Abesifazane: Voices of Women in response.
The project sheds light on the lives of this otherwise disregarded section of
the population. The women’s stories are first told aloud, and then transcribed
into both their native tongue and English. They are simply asked to tell about
one of the most significant or memorable events in their lives. After the story
has been written down, then the women were asked to illustrate her truth with
beads and thread onto a piece of cloth measuring about one foot by one foot.
The women were truly empowered when they began to realize that what they have
to say is important because it means something to someone. They started to see
the impact of their stories.
Some of the women had never sewn before, so they were taught by the traveling
Amazwi Abesifazane team. The product is amazing. I was awe struck by how simply
beautiful yet intricate and devastating these pieces truly are. With minimal
materials they have transformed statements of their past into archives for the
future. Most of the “memory cloths” show scenes of violence from
rape and murder to train wrecks complete with dangling bodies and spurting blood.
The collection includes some self-portraits, distorted in the way of traditional
African portraits. The history shines through.
At the exhibit panel discussion I attended I could hear the passion in the voices
of the women who work on this project. Tholakele Zuma is the area coordinator
for Amazwi Abesifazane: Voices of Women. She works every day with the women,
traveling from village to village, teaching and recording. Thinking back on
everything that I heard and saw, hers is the statement that most stays with
me. Zuma believes that it is her responsibility to give these women the tools
to create. “I don’t tell them what to make, that’s not my
job. I give them the tools and let them express the truth that no one has bothered
to ask.”
Amazwi Abesifazane: Voices of Women runs from April 23–July 22 at the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Betty Rymer Gallery, located
at 280 S. Columbus Drive. To learn more about Create Africa South’s Amazwi
Abesifazane: Voices of Women project, please visit http://www.cas.org.za/projects/voices.htm.
To learn more about Andries Botha, visit http://www.andriesbotha.co.za/.