Dreams, Wishes and Expectations_RECYCLED – An exhibition in its second edition

Following the success of the Dreams, Wishes and Expectations exhibition at the Voices of Women Museum in 2017, a continuation will be held at the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town. Curator Coral Bijoux gives us in-depth insight into the exhibition.

A colonial legacy, forbidden heritage/s and a hankering for the past in the present, to affirm an authentic African dream, is what defines the Dreams, Wishes and Expectations_RECYCLED exhibition, led by the Voices of Women at the Castle of GoodHope in Cape Town. To consider dreaming, again as a protest and at the same time, a declaration that to ‘dream’ a world that acknowledges the individual within the collective of people is to be connected to the very soil we fight over. The dreams(framed narratives of women) that are situated in the hallways of the Castle space during this exhibition echo a past that ‘stole’ dreams and futures from people by its sheer ‘being-ness’. A letter by the curator to Jan van Riebeeck, first Commander of the Dutch East India Company (DEIC) in the Cape from 1652 to 1662, sets the tone for the Voices of Women Dreams exhibition. The letter implores Van Riebeeck as DEIC representative to ‘doe het goede (do the right thing)’. An interesting consideration is that by the time Van Riebeeck left the Cape, there were more slaves than officials stationed there, few women, some free burgers, and a smattering of children. It is, of course, not clear how many of these children were, in fact, of mixed race.

The curator’s letter asks him, ‘Wat doe je als dromen worden gestolen? (what do you do when dreams are stolen?)’ By this, it is hoped that there will be a response that breathes new life into this tiresome realisation: the realisation that the colonial presence negated many a people in the hope of blunting cultural and psychical minds; mostly because skins and languages and practices were different to theirs. And of course, the commercial or economic imperative was paramount. This difference, which is mirrored in today’s landscape, holds true and while it attempts to, cannot negate the feminine persona in Africa. We view Gladys Mgudlandlu’s Landscape, which is a proud, yet humbly priced rendering of Eastern Cape land as opposed to Pierneef’s million-rand investment pieces – a subjective disparity – and ask this time, ‘Hoe repareren we het? (how do we repair it?)’ We consider the life of Krotoa and what appears to be her compromise in this space. Much like Sarah Baartman, we ponder on notions of compromise as mechanisms of survival and what the alternatives were/are?

Jackson Hlungwani, Helmeted Angel (c. 1990), Carved and burned wood, MTN Art Collection PHOTO Jan Potgieter

In the wake of the 2019 election year, we must consider the shape we want our living socio-political and cultural landscape to take. Becoming conscious of the fictitious barriers we are burdened with and which are outlined in Google Maps, old-style atlases and inscribed in our identity documents of not-so-long-ago, we are aware of these restrictive ideologies that are emblazoned in our minds and which cannot be easily erased. These inherited mindsets repeat in mantra-like form, even among the younger generations, rendering us ‘baggaged’ before we can even begin to dream again. To dream with fresh eyes requires a certain innocence, a negation of knowingness. How, then, is this possible? Considering the many narratives in word and cloth by women, one can only suppose that beneath the cloth of sorrow is a dream, behind the blanketed and crossstitched and threaded mark-making is a wish; and through the tragic echo of an experience is an expectation, that something would transform itself into a repowered sense of self.

The exhibition features selected artworks from the Voices of Women Collection, where women’s artwork defiantly rendered in cloth and thread and framed conceptually by their narrative outlines the circumstances embedded in the memory (cloth). The presence of the Colouring-in Series by Sue Williamson and the ever-present Prospect: Saartje Baartman (Sarah Baartman) by Penny Siopis in the exhibition series, translates some of these truths within the defiant presence of UCT SRC’s The Spirit Lives On: Biko and Lionel Davis’ Spirit of No Surrender. Resistance poster prints by various activist artists during apartheid echo women’s determined protests and Gerard Bhengu’s pieces speak of traditional ways, while selected pieces become transformative devices that may assist us into the future. These include angels in the form of Helmeted Angel by Jackson Hlungwane, the dreams, wishes and expectations_RECYCLED installation photographic prints by Coral Bijoux and Kwesi Owusu-Ankomah’s Soft Gentle Depths, as well as a Mami Wata mask as feminine goddess reference, provoking an African feminist perspective. Included in this exhibition is Andries Botha’s framed embroidery and personal narrative. The initiator of the Amazwi Abesifazane-Voices of Women project, Botha now places himself amid the collective and allows you to gaze back at him. This action posits the sentiment that to transform – which, in this instance, means to begin to dream again – one must look ‘the self’ in the eye and consider engaging all complicity in the negation of dreams. An exhibition during challenging times, which speaks difficult words through imagery and thread, must unravel within these walls that echo the first compromise.

Aerial view of Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town

During installation and the three-month exhibition period, members of the public are invited to participate by writing their letters to Van Riebeeck and by doing so, ultimately to the Dutch East India Company (DEIC) of 1652, that we may continue to engage in dialogue as well as continue to question ourselves and each other, until we confront our answers.

The exhibition will open early in 2019 and will be accompanied by walkabouts, discussions and presentations by the curator and guides of the Castle.

We also encourage you, should you not be able to view the exhibition physically, to submit your letters online at www.amazwi-voicesowfomen.com