My creative practice takes place on the lands of the Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri Woiwurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and families, acknowledging their deep and ongoing spiritual connection to Country. I extend my respects to Wathaurong Waddawurrung peoples, whose lands I was birthed and raised upon that have deeply shaped me and my experiences.

I acknowledge Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri custodianship of the lands, waterways and skies that I continue to live, work and benefit from, recognising that sovereignty was never ceded. I come with an intention to deepen my understanding of ancestral pathways as a diasporic being, while sharing, learning and creating on unceded lands (Melbourne, Australia).

I extend this acknowledgement and pay my respects to peer African and Indigenous peoples across the globe viewing this website.

And she was wearing trousers

Arts House, Wurundjeri Woiwurrung Country - North Melbourne
,
30 Jun - 6 Aug 2022

And she was wearing trousers: a call to our heroines curated by Naomi Velaphi and Roberta Joy Rich, brings into focus some of the many women who defined, defied or described Southern African culture from the seventeenth century to today through a series of premieres and new commissions. Installations, film, performance and conversations unearth often-forgotten feminists, exploring ideas of identity, connection, distance and self.

The forms of inquiry taken here are as diverse as the experiences of the women behind them. Working from archives across independent publishers, oral histories, public and private, the academy and the internet, the women Brenda Fassie, Dorothy Masuka, Krotoa, Thenjiwe Lesabe, Queen Lozikeyi and figures alike have served as catalysts into an imagined world by which hope, loss, love and determination are explored.

Exhibiting artists include blk.banaana, Kirsty Marrilier, Tariro Mavondo, Sethembile Msezane, Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Jabu Nadia Newman, Rara Zulu as well as a collaborative textile print by Roberta Joy Rich with Zhenya Alvaranga, Claris Ncube, Nita Okoko, Robyn Rich, Tab Sejoe, Phillipa Smith, Vikki Steeneveld, Naomi Velaphi and blk banaana, printed at Spacecraft Studio.

Public programs including panel conversations with Samira Farah and Zara Julius, essays and artists' works can be accessed via the And she was wearing trousers archive.

Photo's by Jody Haines.

Exhibition wall text for "And she was wearing trousers: a call to our heroines", listing artists blk banaana, Kirsty Marillier, Tariro Mavondo, Sethembile Msezane, Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Jabu Nadia Newman and Rara Zulu, curated by Roberta Joy Rich and Naomi Velaphi, 30 June–6 August 2022. The introductory text is set on a slant inside a dotted triangle.
Gallery corner hung floor to ceiling with an orange-and-white patterned fabric installation with colourful diamonds framing archival photographs of African women. Folded printed fabrics sit in a clear case on a timber stand in front.
A bunched indigo-and-white cloth resting on a folded orange geometric print inside a clear acrylic case, with the orange patterned fabric walls blurred behind.
Detail of the textile: a black-and-white photograph of a seated older African woman in a pink fabric diamond, printed onto orange-and-white zigzag-patterned cloth.
Detail of two portraits in black-and-white on the orange pattern textile installation: a young African woman in a headpiece framed in blue, and a smiling African woman framed in yellow, with a group photo and a geometric diamond below.
Corner view of the orange-and-white textile installation walls, decorated with photo portraits of African women and geometric motifs in colourful diamond frames. A clear case holding folded printed fabrics sits on a stand in front.
Full view of the textile installation: three fabric walls in orange-and-white pattern with a black-and-white geometric border, dotted with diamond-framed portraits and motifs. A curved teal bench sits in the foreground and the fabric display case stands at right.

Installation views of Auntie's Curtain, 2022, collaborative textile screen-print.

Books in a display case: a yellow hardcover, "Women Writing Africa: The Southern Region", and a pink paperback, "Women in Southern Africa" edited by Christine Qunta, alongside archival photographs and printed text cards.
A dimly lit vitrine of books, photographs and text cards, including an orange paperback about Lozikeyi Dlodlo, Queen of the Ndebele. Behind, a projection shows a figure in a long white dress standing on rocks above a distant city.
A small video screen in a wooden frame on a timber stand, showing a hand holding an old photograph of two uniformed African women soldiers, with the subtitle "(Mama laughs)". Black headphones hang from a rail below.
Video projection of an African woman in a white long dress with a wide white circular hat, carrying a basket up rough stone steps followed by an African child dressed in white. In the foreground, folded fabrics in a clear case and a teal curved bench sit in the darkened gallery.
Video projection of an African woman in a flowing white dress and wide circular hat, seated among burnt shrubs holding a yellow bowl. A teal S-shaped bench and a timber vitrine face the screen in the dark room.

Installation views of Sethembile Msezane, ISIMO (2020), film, duration 16:19 mins.

Two pink printed sheets of the poem "Prelude (Heroines Walk)" by Tariro Mavondo on a plywood plinth; one upright in a wooden stand, one atop a stack of takeaway copies. The poem's lines scatter and step across the page.
Close-up of the poem sheet, its lines drifting in steps down the pale pink page, including the words "water be living / a moving grace / water / be dancing papyrus."

Installation views of Tariro Mavondo, Heroines Walk (2022) printed transcription.

A dark gallery with a vertical screen displaying an Instagram chat with "princess_kro", with messages including "W ur Khoi courage" and "U did all those things and u helped all those men so maybe u can help me?". At left, a timber frame structure holds a small glowing screen.

Installation view of Kirsty Marillier, Slide into my displacement (2021), single channel video, duration 06:13 mins.

A blue-tinted, negative-like archival group photograph of women projected on a hanging scrim above a timber frame. Below, a monitor shows a glowing butterfly-shaped image over a pink horizon.
Video still projected on a scrim: a glowing teardrop-shaped mask-like form outlined in yellow-green, filled with blue dots and symmetrical patterns, floating among scattered blue dashes illuminate in the dark gallery background.

Detail of blk banaana, As high as the stars so far unseen (2022).

A darkened hall with a large screen suspended above spotlit timber stud-wall frames, showing a blue video with a pink triangular mask-like form. Four small speakers sit on a shelf below, with a teal curved bench behind.

Installation view of blk banaana, As high as the stars so far unseen (2022), single channel video projection, duration 05:00 mins.

Timber frame structures under dim amber spotlight, holding four small speakers on an upper shelf with coiled cables below. Behind, a blue-lit curtain carries the faint shadow of a patterned projection; a teal bench sits at left.

Installation view of Rara Zulu, Noli (2022), multi-channel sound installation, duration 04:37 mins.

Looking through a corner of the timber frame structure is lit purple by a small spotlight, toward a speaker on the floor. Beyond, a projection screen and the vertical Instagram-chat screen glow in the dark.

Installation view of Tariro Mavondo, Heroines Walk (2022), sound installation, duration 09:05 mins.

A hanging screen showing green line-drawn figures animated over an archival photograph of a segregation-era sign reading "...[S]LEGS BLANKE[S] / ...[E]UROPEANS ON[LY]". Below, a monitor plays glitchy footage with the yellow subtitle "...don't really know you and whatever".
Detail of the timber frame shelving holding four small grey speakers with neatly coiled cables, spot lit along the wood frame. A teal curved bench sits in the darkness beyond.

Detail of Rara Zulu, Noli (2022).

A tall timber frame lit violet in the foreground, with a blue dotted face-like projection glowing on a scrim above and the Instagram-chat screen visible across the dark room.
A studio monitor speaker on the floor in the corner of the timber frame structure, washed in deep blue-violet light.
A monitor mounted on the timber frame showing a blurred close-up of skin with the yellow subtitle "i lied in my bed and cried for like 40 minutes."

Installation view of Jabu Nadia Newman, A bed time story (2022), single channel video, duration 04:44 mins.

Close-up of the vertical screen showing an Instagram chat with "princess_kro", with sent messages reading "Thanks?", "But that's not what I meant", "Kro?", "Princess kro?", "PK 👑" and "Oiii", several reacted with hearts, marked "Seen."

Detail of Kirsty Marillier, Slide into my displacement (2021), single channel video, duration 06:13 mins.

The heritage facade of Arts House, North Melbourne, with giant red three-dimensional letters spelling "ARTS HOUSE" along the base. Three arched windows hold black-and-white vinyl artworks of woven African braid patterns and photographic body fragments.

Installation view of Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Memeza (2022), installation with adhesive vinyl on windows.

Detail of an arched window artwork: a black-and-white collage of two arms of a Black woman raised above a body of dense braid-weave pattern, one hand gripping a microphone, with a ribbon curling between them.

Detail of Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Memeza (2022).

Photo's by Jody Haines.