Exhibition honours victims of femicide at Durban Art Gallery

IN South Africa, there is a cross-cultural perception that it is acceptable for a man to punish a woman through violence or even death.

Artist Andrea Walters will present a multimedia exhibition at the Durban Art Gallery honouring the women murdered by their partners, entitled #OverMyDeadBody, which opens on Thursday, March 3 at noon and runs until the end of May.

The #OverMyDeadBody exhibition will comprise of 50 Sunlight soap sculptures of the mouths of the silenced women. It will include an audiovisual performance and domestic items that refer to intimacy, sexuality, and violence.

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“My strategies that honour femicide victims are influenced by my experience of intimate partner violence (IPV), since memories are activated by domestic objects. The #OverMyDeadBody exhibition attempts to counter the ongoing perception that it is acceptable for a man to punish a woman through violence or death. I believe that when women survivors see artwork on IPV, it provokes an instinctive response: they remember because they cannot forget,” said Walters.

The local artist drew inspiration from her personal experiences and poured her pain into her art, “My creative process began by gathering data and images of SA femicide victims through the media. I sought materials that would best represent women across socio-economic boundaries since femicide affects all cultural and racial groups. I decided to sculpt their mouths on Sunlight soap bars found in most households, and used in some cultures to prepare bodies for burial. My mother’s passing inspired a death shroud embroidered with the victims’ names. I hope that ‘something’ happens between the viewer and the artwork, evoking individual emotional responses such as grief, empathy, or pain,” she said.

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Walters will conduct interactive walkabouts for the public, as well as with school learners at the exhibition.

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