The Emerging Arts Activists

My personal experience with stereotypes occurred in my matric year when I was approached by a male class member who was absolutely disgusted by the fact that I had applied make up, wore a somewhat ‘fancy’ dress and had my hair done, on the day of a test. I could tell he was not pleased by the facial expression he gave me, which was followed by the words “Girls like you are incapable of getting good grades. I bet you fail most subjects because you’re always putting make up on and getting girly. You exist to look pretty.” This had obviously hurt me and I was quite confused by his remarks as I have never shared my marks with this classmate. I didn’t have much to say in return. He had made the assumption that I was stupid. We proceeded to write our test, of which, was returned fully marked within the hour. The male student was livid to find out that I had passed with 80% as well as surpassed him as he received 60%. I believe the broader issue is that people make judgements and...

I have witnessed at campus that security guards would flirt with campus girls and whistle at them as they enter the campus gates. The broader issue is that men look at women as if they are some type of object. This happens mainly because women are taught to be submissive and men are brought up believing that they are dominant. This, as well as the idea that women need to impress men to gain their attention, leads men to believe that females dress to impress them or they dress because of the attention they receive from the men. This creates the problem of women believing they are inferior to men due to their decisions 'appearing' to be based around the men in their lives. However, this is also implied because of how small women are in comparison to men, in the physical sense. This leaves women 'superficially' defenseless, I believe this instills fear in the women that they cannot fight back or stand up to these men, because of their much smaller build. Another universal ...

A year ago, mid August 2016, I was walking down the streets of Hillbrow, reaching to a point where I felt was a downfall. A woman of two children(girls) was literally chased out of a small space she called home. Reason being that she went against the rules of serving a husband as a woman should, doing some duties that she was never comfortable in doing. Which led to her going out in different places, JOB HUNTING. To this desire she got herself sleeping in the streets with two innocent soully children. Pity, I felt it was not in my place to interfere until now. A few days after that, I went out of my house, dressed in my number one pair of trousers, walking in a way I call a jumpy walk,feeling all confident and happy in my favourite colours. I bumped into some old ladies talking about how they wouldn’t let their daughters dress like that, that they felt I cross-dressed. It got to me but I thought hey that’s how they feel, I cannot change one’s opinion. These moments struck me in such a ...

I stood uncomfortably outside my aunt's house as she disgustingly and pitifully looked at me as i walked in. I knew why. It was because of the way i was dressed: torn jeans, baggy t and shoes that screamed look at me, the way a typical teenager would be dressed in. She then asked me what my plans for the future were and what were my thoughts on marriage. I told her the truth, which was a mistake.I told her about the career i would follow and that marriage was for me, it was a very disguised way to trap one.All hell broke loose because a serious lecture followed. I was told the function of a women which really angered me, ' to serve your husband and bear him children, heirs' those were exactly my aunt's words.She told me that a career was for men only, i just had to worry about keeping him happy. after that frustrating encounter with my aunt, i thought a lot about it. Why is it happening and why are we allowing it? The answer is just laying in the air really, we are ...

The fundamental aim of the Emerging Arts Activists programme is to expose, explore and instil a basic socio-political grounding in young arts activist through arts-based problem-posing approaches. EAA is supported by the Apartheid Museum, University of Johannesburg (UJ) Transformation Unit and UJ Community Engagement. The project is managed by artist-curator-educator Farieda Nazier and co-facilitated by film maker Mocke J van Veuren. The project intends to promote art practice and related modalities as socio-political transformative tools.  We focus on critical contemporary histories towards post-apartheid conscientizing, reconciliation and inevitably decolonisation  The project culminates in a curated travelling exhibition (Apartheid and UJ) showcasing art works produced during this workshop  Provide access to the Apartheid Museum’s pertinent collections and archives towards deeper understanding and awareness of South African contemporary history This year's progr...