Visual Arts Students ProjectArtworks created by Stellenbosch University Visual Arts students.http://hdl.handle.net/10019.2/154622024-03-28T09:51:48Z2024-03-28T09:51:48ZMuraltia Spinosahttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.2/154742020-02-13T09:47:31Z2018-01-01T00:00:00ZMuraltia Spinosa
Description of Artwork
Originally inspired by the role of women in the South African scientific community, specifically in the realm of botany, we looked at the work of female botanists. During the early years of science in South Africa, when women were not yet accepted and valued as scientists, there were an unexpectedly high number of female botanists. We came to understand that this was a result of botany being seen as a somewhat acceptable pursuit for women, somewhere in between the practices of gardening, drawing and science. This belief allowed women to use botany as a foot in the door to academic pursuits, a way to gain recognition and respect from the wider academic community. In particular, we looked at the work of Margaret Levyns, the first woman to be awarded a doctorate in science from the University of Cape Town. Some of Levyn’s most notable work was on the genus Muraltia, colloquially known as the Skilpadbessie.
While some white women were fortunate to find a way to use science to gain standing in the patriarchal establishment, others suffered under science as a tool of oppression. Such was the case of Sara Baardman, a
Khoikhoi woman, who was displayed in circuses, freak shows and travelling zoos around Europe, all because of her anatomy. Baardman, like many Khoikhoi women, had large buttocks and elongated labia. European men made a profit by displaying Sara’s body to the public, while anatomists, zoologists and physiologists studied her anatomy and concluded that the Khoi people were the link between humans and animals.
We used the imagery of the Skilpadbessie, found in Levyn’s work on the genus, and labelled the images anatomically, as a tribute to how Baardman herself was reduced to a scientific specimen rather than a human being, and her anatomy labelled as such. The two figures in the centre represent both women and their experiences, of being elevated or subjugated through science.
456-12.jpg created from original Artwork in the Visual Art Students projects Collection held in the Manuscripts Section of the Stellenbosch Library and Information Service.
2018-01-01T00:00:00ZBeverley Ditsiehttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.2/154732020-02-13T09:49:32Z2018-01-01T00:00:00ZBeverley Ditsie
Description of Artwork
Beverley Palesa Ditsie was born in Soweto in 1971. Flung into an era where her race was discriminated against and her sexuality wasn’t accepted, she was not afraid to challenge social norms. She was a founding member of the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of Witwatersrand (GLOW), which sought acknowledgement of sexual diversity as a human right during and after the apartheid regime. In 1995 she was the first openly lesbian woman to address the United Nations to “adopt resolutions recognising sexual diversity” at a conference on women’s rights. An activist and a filmmaker, her unwavering strength and positivity of character became apparent in her documentary, Simon & I, dedicated to the plight of LGBT people during apartheid. The documentary follows Ditsie and Simon Nkoli (also a founding member of GLOW).
Considering her position as a lesbian, female, person of colour who experiences hostility and oppression from nearly all angles of society, she projects a remarkably uplifting, persevering and grounded attitude into the world. We feel it vital to commemorate her, and what she stands for, to avoid erasure and gain attention in our new democracy.
The colour scheme of our image represents her grounded and resilient personality. The image of her is from her speech at the first Pride March in South Africa, which she helped to promote and organise. The symbol is one used in her and others’ activism for LGBT rights.
456-11.jpg created from original Artwork in the Visual Art Students projects Collection held in the Manuscripts Section of the Stellenbosch Library and Information Service.
2018-01-01T00:00:00ZNkosihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.2/154722020-02-13T09:51:16Z2018-01-01T00:00:00ZNkosi
Description of Artwork
South Africa’s famous child Aids activist, Nkosi Johnson, was born with HIV and died at the age of 12 in 2001. At the time of his death, he was the longest-surviving child born with HIV in the country.
One of Nkosi’s major accomplishments as an activist was to reshape public opinion regarding the disease, since the stigma surrounding HIV/Aids meant that was only spoken of in pejorative euphemisms, such as ‘the whores’ disease’. One of the obstacles Nkosi faced as an individual living with Aids was discrimination when applying for school. When his foster mother, Gail, was filling out his application forms, one of the questions asked whether the child suffered from anything. She said Aids. Later the school had a board meeting where they decided that he would not be accepted. This was not the only event in his life where he suffered due to discrimination – his mother, Daphne, had lost both her job and place to live because of her HIV status.
He was posthumously awarded the first Kids Rights Foundation’s International Children’s Peace Prize in
Rome in November 2001 for his efforts in support of the rights of children with HIV/Aids, and his legacy continues through Nkosi’s Haven, which houses and supports HIV-positive mothers and children.
Nkosi rose to international prominence in July 2000 when he delivered his self-written address, televised worldwide, to 10 000 delegates at the 13th International Aids Conference in Durban. “Care for us and accept us – we are all human beings,” he said at the conclusion of his speech, “we are normal. We have hands. We have feet. We can walk, we can talk, and we have needs just like everyone else. Don’t be afraid of us – we are all the same.
456-10.jpg created from original Artwork in the Visual Art Students projects Collection held in the Manuscripts Section of the Stellenbosch Library and Information Service.
2018-01-01T00:00:00ZStrength Is Herhttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.2/154712020-02-13T10:24:58Z2018-01-01T00:00:00ZStrength Is Her
Description of Artwork
The design concept was derived from material found in the special collections section of the Stellenbosch
University Library. Three books that were of great influence and use throughout the research and creating process were: The Essential Kafir by Dudley Kidd, The Kafirs Illustrated by Georg French Angas and, most importantly, The Harmless People by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas.
In The Harmless People, being one of the first documentations of engagement with an unfamiliar ethnic group, a series of events takes place. However, a deeper meaning of the events was used as the focal point of the design, namely the struggle for power and the issue of gender within the community. Depicting the elaborate events that revolved around Kwi’s wife are elements such as the ornaments she stripped off her own and children’s bodies to remove their status when leaving the group, the Tsamma melons indigenous to the Kalahari desert of Botswana where they lived, the honey bees of a tale told to remind of respect and ego, as well as the yellow leaves spoken of throughout the landscape.
These were incorporated into the piece to describe and display the essence of the woman who chose to stand up for herself – one of the first signs of women empowerment, which at that time was not an important matter under male rule and dominance. This piece gives power to Kwi’s wife who goes
unnamed.
456-9.jpg created from original Artwork in the Visual Art Students projects Collection held in the Manuscripts Section of the Stellenbosch Library and Information Service.
2018-01-01T00:00:00Z