Mavis Mtandeki and Primrose Talakumeni began photographing in 1989, both
of them women in their mid-40's. As members of UWCO (United Women's
Congress) and, later, the ANC Women's League for whom they were photographing,
their work, initially, reflects the aims and requirements of these organisations:
namely to investigate and document the living circumstances, conditions and
activities of Black women living and working in the Western Cape; their political
and their social activism.
Of immediate note is the courage that seems to describe the women
in the photographs by Talakumeni and Mtandeki, despite the obvious
impoverished and oppressive surroundings that locate them. These women are the
matriarchs: strong, independent, weighty; often monumental and quietly heroic
. In Mtandeki's photograph of 'Xoliswa Vunguvungu' (1989), a skilled
mat weaver and vegetable grower from Khayelitsha, this monumentality is most
apparent. The subject is depicted sturdily towering over the still-life of
bread and tomatoes in front of her. Her powerful presence is as the provider:
the firm matriarch in the shack where she lives with her sister,
sister-in-law, cousins and children. But she is a strong and empowering presence also
outside of her home where she teaches the women of her community weaving and
gardening skills, encouraging both interdependence and self-reliance.
(Researched and written by Tracy Murinik and Emma Bedford)