Assembling: Exhibition making and women’s labour was conceived of by curators Jade Nair, Nina Liebenberg and Carine Zaayman as both response and accompaniment to the Institute for Creative Arts’ symposium, Tongues of Their Mothers (16-18 September 2022). It was hosted in the Michaelis Gallery on Hiddingh Campus (UCT) and ran 16-19 September 2022. The exhibition was a moment of reflection on Under Cover of Darkness, a project concerned with the history of women in servitude, especially slavery, in the early colonial period at the Cape. It reflected on the process by which the project members developed the Under Cover of Darkness exhibition (2018) and the
the Uncovering: Women’s Invisible Labour in the Cape symposium (2021). Both the exhibition and symposium honoured the lived experiences of women of the Cape, from the colonial period to the present day, where many women’s lives are shaped by the service and textile industries. Viewers were invited to engage with these stories as well as the research methodologies and sources on which the curators drew for both the exhibition and symposium. The overall focus of the exhibition was on how feminist modes of collaboration and care can be enacted through the curatorial.
Assembling also aimed to deepen its feminist modes of collaboration, especially the decentering of a singular curatorial and historical voice, by inviting a group of womxn scholars from the University of the Western Cape’s History department (Robyn Humphreys, Mischka Lewis, Robin-Lea Karating, Amina Molatelo Malatji and Vuyokazi Luthuli) for a workshop, whilst installation was underway. During the day, the group shared their views of the materials on display and conversed about the links between the exhibition themes and their own research. The discussion held during the workshop informed a response presented by Robyn Humphreys at the exhibition opening event.
Here, Humphreys reflected on the curatorial strategies and materials in the exhibition as well as some of the discursive points raised by the UWC delegates during the workshop.
Assembling demonstrated how curatorship as a practice, instead of exhibition as outcome, fosters synergies and draws out points of conversion across time between the stories of women and the labour they perform. To this end, the curatorial team are working to produce a publication reflecting this exhibition and the previous symposium.
Visit the official Under Cover of Darkness website, here.
Below is a downloadable pdf of the Tongues of their Mothers symposium programme, of which Assembling formed part.
Exhibition credits:
Curators: Carine Zaayman, Nina Liebenberg and Jade Nair
Design: Terry Adams
Special thanks to the Institute for Creative Arts, Under Cover of Darkness and Michaelis Galleries for funding support.
Acknowledgements:
Toni Stuart, Maia Lehr Sacks, Robyn Humphreys, Suzana Sousa, Robin-Lea Kerating, Mischka Lewis, Ruvimbo Tenga, Dr Nancy Jouwe, Zayaan Khan, Dr Susan Levine, Fayruza Abrahams, Professor Siona O’Connell, Dr Erica de Greeff, Queezy, Professor Pippa Skotnes