Acknowledgements
An exhibition curated by Emma Bedford for the Internet
contact: sang@gem.co.za
First exhibited at the Johannesburg Biennale
28 February - 30 April 1995
Exhibited at the South African National Gallery, Cape Town
10 May - 9 July 1995
This exhibition explores how artists are shaping new discourses on
gender by challenging patriarchal structures and values or
proposing new constructions of femininity and masculinity.
Concepts and experiences of silence, absence, lack and loss are
explored. Marginalised genres employing everyday objects and
interior spaces - genres to which women were historically
confined, as Arnold illustrates - are privileged over those
prioritised in Western art.
Everyday objects and spaces are transformed; those signaling
gendered authority are made vulnerable. Objects of abuse or
oppression become objects of defiance. Spaces which challenge
patriarchal ideologies are created. Attempting to
claim more feminine-friendly spaces, Sohn discovers that even
cyberspace seems yet another 'testosterone testing
ground'.
Several artists are concerned with ways in which colonial and
post-colonial history impact on women. While the triple
oppression of race, class and gender is exposed by
photographers Mtandeki and Talakumeni , women's efforts to
empower themselves and their communities is celebrated.
Siopis investigates the interrelationships between racism and
sexism and how these shape representations of women.
Williamson uses modest objects to recover and write women's
stories into history. Siebert and Gwintsa create spaces for the
contemplation of abundance in the light of a history of
dependence, oppression, poverty and colonisation.
Women with no formal art training, such as Zihlangu and Fester,
use whatever means is at hand to record their experiences of
solidarity despite the deprivations of imprisonment. Similarly
Mpofu and Mupfunde of the Weya Community Centre in
Zimbabwe use the applique technique to create narratives
which examine the patriarchal character of their society and
the ways in which this impacts negatively on their lives.
Many works expose the phallocentric world around which femininity
and artifice are constructed to service male desires. Lacanian
theory by which women are defined in negative terms as
lacking the phallus - the positive symbol of gender,
self-possession and worldly authority around which language
is organised - is rejected. In her composite works Romm draws
attention to the multiplicity of information assailing us
and calls for decisive action at this unique point in our history.
Several artists investigate personal history by examining social
practices that have shaped their lives and those of female role models,
exposing the oppressive forces that dominate women's
worlds and highlighting contemporary concerns with making
the world a more humane place for women.
Through her sculpture Krams addresses the stereotyping of femininity which
confines women to the arena of endless self-absorption.
In some works, artists transgress familiar systems of everyday
gendered meanings. New Yorker, Rosler, uses video
and Malherbe, sculpture to redefine objects of
domesticity, making them objects of defiance rather than
domination. Holliday employs signs which may be
deconstructed to reveal how inappropriate gender constructs
inhibit life and thwart change. Vorster undermines the
gendered hierarchies of Christianity by presenting woman as
victim and martyr.
A number of images and installations convey desires or states of
mind which cannot comfortably be articulated in the social
arena. Botha, Kriel and Thomson break taboos by dealing with
the terrors of physical and mental abuse and fears of assault
which stalk women. The latter also exposes the horror of
back-street abortion which haunts so many South African
women.
Humour is widely used to deal obliquely with taboo subjects or as a
palliative for coping with pain and frustration. Ironic titles
beg the question of whether women's worst nightmares are
taken seriously. Text is frequently employed, underscoring the
idea that no political reflection can dispense with reflection
on language.
Certain men's marginality to mainstream sexual, artistic or
theoretical conventions has led them to produce works which
are informed by feminism or resonate with implications for
women. Rejecting conventional constructions of masculinity,
Putter questions the nature of gender constructions and the
transmutability of gendered experiences. Acknowledging how
forcefully masculinity impinges on femininity, Richards
believes that male identification and desire need rethinking in
order to permit female subjectivity to be lived differently.
While certain artists are exploring new definitions of femininity
and masculinity, that are more appropriate to our time it is
alarming to note how few South Africans are concerned with
gender issues. 
The director, library and technical staff of the South African National Gallery for support and assistance.
Peter Dennis for computer and systems support
Mathew Hindley for Internet exhibition design
Ina Franke for assistance with typing