ORMs Shines a Light on Local Female Artists this Women’s Month
Women’s Day may have come and gone but a unique partnership between Iziko South African National Gallery and ORMs is giving us more reason to celebrate powerful women in South Africa. Launched on Women’s Day, Thursday 9 August, the People’s Project, showcases a photographic piece titled Location 4: District Six, by multi-disciplinary artist, Thania Petersen with the aim of raising awareness around gender inequality in the local art community.
With the aim of supporting the local art community, the People’s Project features new artworks every three months, with the chosen works being displayed at the Orms Print Room in Roeland Street, Cape Town. For Women’s Day this year, Orms has chosen to showcase permanent collections of the Iziko South African National Gallery in an effort to promote the works of South African female artists, and to make these artworks more accessible to the public, and not just within galleries.
Location 4: District Six forms part of a series titled “I am Royal” and refers to historical and cultural issues facing Cape Town today with the image focusing on one of the sites of forced removals in the 1950s, which once thrived with diversity but is now hauntingly empty. This draws attention to the effects of partial segregation from the apartheid era, and the alarmingly slow rate at which it has attempted to be restored.
According to Thania Petersen, “I think it is of utmost importance that the people of South Africa know that this collection belongs to them. It is theirs to enjoy and engage with. Most commuters don’t have the time nor space in their lives to see their very own art collection, which the curators at Iziko National Gallery work so hard to collect and preserve for them. It is wonderful that the work can now spill out onto the streets and into the public for All to see at any given time of day or night.”
In recent years there has been evolution, but the patriarchal rule of the past is still evident. Women in the art industry receive little to no recognition, especially and even more so for women of colour. While socio-economic factors may appear to the public as progressive, by allowing access to fellowships, and scholarships being granted to more artists of colour, daily struggles still exist, and need to be shown. Not only this, but South African society does not regard the role of artists as important to the development of society, when in actual fact, it is a brilliant tool for bringing issues to light and starting conversations.
For more information visit the Iziko Museums website.