Description
Caitlin Montague & Natasha Liow created this beautiful poster for the SA Shutdown protests in September, which they made available online for protesters to print out and take to the march. They are part of ANON. Pop Up’s new exhibition, RISE, taking place over October 2019 to Februar 2020.
Prints available to order on archival art paper from R500.
Proceeds to Nonceba.org.
Days before the Gathering against Gender Based Violence on 4 September, Caitlin & Natasha realized they hadn’t seen any visual representation of solidarity with the movement, only a couple of hashtags and a suggestion that those attending the demonstration should dress in black.
The photograph of Uyinene Mrwetyana used most broadly across all media platforms was one in which she was wearing a black beret. With the momentum of the movement gathering at a rate, the symbolism of a black beret felt important. Uyinene woke South Africa up, and her face had become the symbol of the need for change – she emerged as a single representative for the many thousands who are not seen.
Over the course of that night, Natasha and Caitlin worked on creating the image and its message. In the original photograph, Uyinene is smiling. Removing her mouth and replacing with text at once represents the loss of her stolen voice, but the word being the collective “we” represents solidarity – by standing together, South Africans are demanding the staggering frequency of rape and murder be brought down. Her eyes being the only facial feature depicted, we harness the strength of the visual. We as a nation cannot afford to turn our gaze away from this reality any longer.
Uyinene’s uncle has said that the family believes she has been made “a sacrificial lamb”.
We see her. We see you. We see all the slain women whose stories go untold. We see the men who perpetuate these crimes. We see the men who call out their brothers who perpetuate a culture of rape. We see the toxic system that allows this grotesque reality to continue.
