Martha Ndhela

Helen Sebidi

Gillian King

Octavia Nkosi

Helen Joseph

Sanna Naidoo

Penny Slopis

Shelly Sacks

Sue Williamson

Curator's Statement, January, 1990

South African Mail: Message from Inside presents approximately 400 unique postcard sized works by over 200 South African women of all races and circumstances. Included are paintings, photographs, drawings, prints, beadwork, collages both flat and dimensional and written statements. The exhibition came about thru the collaboration of American and South African artists. In compliance with the cultural boycott, South African Mail: Message from Inside seeks to promote the culture of liberation. The exhibition presents the current circumstances of progressive women in South Africa and their hopes and dreams for a future South Africa which is democratic and nonracial.

In curating this exhibition, I traveled to South Africa in November of 1989. I saw cities, rural areas, townships and "Homelands". I met many wonderful progressive people, both black and white who deepened my appreciation for the long struggle against the oppression of apartheid by their courage, vision, dedication, sophistication and their gentleness. I was impressed by the concern of South Africans for democracy, that cumbersome system of truly participating in the choices and institutions which affect one's life. South Africa reminded me of the spirit of the late 60's in America except that the South African struggle has been going on for alot longer and at far greater personal risk. I visited South Africa at a time when the political climate was more open than it had been in some time. People could speak more freely, Demonstrations were allowed. But the struggle is far from over. The government has opened up and cracked down again before.

I spent the first half of my visit to South Africa asking people about apartheid. How does it work? What can you do? What can't you do? I spent the last part asking people what South Africa will look like after apartheid. If all the apartheid laws were miraculously gone tomorrow, it would mean that South Africa could begin the long process of healing from the scars of the many years of oppression.

The press restrictions imposed by the white minority government under the state of emergency make it extremely difficult if not impossible for outsiders to follow developments in South Africa. This exhibition with its approximately 400 artworks presents messages directly from progressive women in South Africa. There is alot they would like us to know about their lives and to know about ours.

I am honored to include a statement by Helen Joseph. I am also honored to include the work by a group of women who are relatives of political prisoners held at maximum security prisons in the Western Cape, including Robben Island. There are expressions from both black and white women about the futility and cost of apartheid to all the people of South Africa and about the paradoxes and contradictions of the system of institutionalized racism and classism.

Because of the urgency of the struggle against apartheid, the struggle of women and the development of feminism in South Africa is problematic. The relative privilege of white women is based on the oppression of blacks and specifically domestic workers. Black women are not much in evidence in the art schools due in part to their economic and child rearing responsibilities. As A visitor, it would be possible to be in South Africa and never "see" apartheid the cities are the domain of whites. Townships are difficult to get to. They are in dips in the landscape and far enough off the road as to make them "invisible". this exhibition is the beginning of an attempt to find out about the lives and aspirations of people who are almost never asked and never heard from. the traditional artwork of the African women includes embroidery, beadwork and mural painting. Most of this work has been done anonymously. Issues of "high" and "low" art are raised as soon as one begins to consider the art of the women of South Africa.

Between a quarter and a third of the work in the exhibition is by women of color. A more equitable proportion would be around 80%. This inequity is in itself a reflection of apartheid and its persuasiveness. Progressive people go to great lengths to try to circumvent the separations imposed by apartheid. The Artists Alliance in Johannesburg and the Visual Artists Group of the Cultural Workers Congress in Cape Town put out the call for entries for South African Mail: Message from Inside. They organized workshops in progressive schools, black and "colored" townships and black "homelands" and held regional exhibitions of the show in South Africa. In particular this exhibition could not have happened without Rayda Becker, Shelley Sacks, Helen Sebidi, Penny Siopis and Sue Williamson.

Janet Goldner