Exhibition shines Sunlight on women silenced forever by their partners

Laundry staple Sunlight soap is the medium featured in an upcoming art exhibition that pays homage to South African women who have been killed by their partners.

Multimedia artist Andrea Walters drew on her own experience of domestic violence and daily stories of femicide and intimate partner violence (IPV) to create #OverMyDeadBody, which will open at the Durban Art Gallery on Thursday.

Over several months Walters carved soap bars to reproduce the mouths of 50 women who were killed by their partners, including former model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp, Western Cape township tourism pioneer Vicky Ntozini and Gauteng makeup artist Tshegofatso Pule. The sculptures rest on Perspex shelves with suspended death shrouds.

The multimedia exhibition, which runs until mid-May, also includes a video of Walters reciting the names of the women in alphabetical order, and mentioning how some of them were killed.

Walters said: “I trawled through social media and found the stories and images of these women who had been silenced by their partners.

“I chose to carve out their mouths because they were unique to them and represent their voice.

“I used the Sunlight soap bars which are as South African as Mrs Balls chutney because that’s how prevalent domestic violence and IPV is in our country, across all social spheres. In addition memories are activated by domestic objects and I want people to remember these images, these women, these victims.”

Campaigns like #OverMyDeadBody are a powerful and creative way of raising awareness of the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide.

—  Thandiwe McCloy, communications manager for People Opposing Women Abuse

Walters, who previously created Abject of Desire, a work using embroidered Kevlar material and laser-cut steel to highlight Steenkamp’s murder at the hands of Oscar Pistorius, said she wanted to provoke a response from ordinary people to effect change around gender roles, intimacy and violence.

“Our laws are useless in preventing these deaths. We all know how effective a protection order is. We need to change the stereotypes that justify the cross-cultural perception that men can punish women through violence and death. And that’s what I am trying to do here.”

Thandiwe McCloy, communications manager for People Opposing Women Abuse, said: “Campaigns like #OverMyDeadBody are a powerful and creative way of raising awareness of the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide. Over the years, Powa has partnered with various agencies to run award-winning campaigns and exhibitions to drive messaging against women abuse.”