Notes

‘The art of Mary Sibande tells the tale of her alter-ego character, ‘Sophie’, a domestic servant who finds refuge in dreams where she emancipates herself from the ghoulish realism of an ordinary existence. Exploring the construction of identity within post-apartheid South African society, Sibande’s work probes the stereotypical contextualization of the black female body …

By way of Sophie’s mythical uniform, Sibande obliterates self-degrading notions of inferiority that could be inherent to her own family’s history or by extension to her socio-cultural background. She is the first in her family to reach academic accomplishment … while her mother and grandmother both worked as domestic servants. Poking at the power relationships between women, the art of Sibande also sheds new light on issues regarding race and gender … Her battle against injustice and ignorance through the medium of art is in itself a triumph over prejudice.’¹

1. Joyce Bidouzo-Coudray. (2013) Mary Sibande | Triumph over Prejudice. [Online]. Available: http://www.anotherafrica.net/art-culture/marysibande- triumph-over-prejudice [12 December 2018].

Exhibited

Another example from this edition is in the permanent collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain de la Réunion and in the Scheryn Art Collection.

Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Contemporary Art from South Africa, 19 March to 15 May 2011. Billboard image for the exhibition.

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Institute for the Humanities Gallery, Sibande on Campus, 9 September to 25 October 2013.

Literature

Thembinkosi Goniwe. (2011) Desire: Ideal Narratives in Contemporary South African Art. Pavilion of South Africa, 54 Venice Biennale, Johannesburg: CulArt Productions. Another example from the edition illustrated in colour on the front cover.

Mary Corrigall. (2018) Contemporary African Art Ecology: A Decade of Curating, Cape Town: Corrigall & Co. Another example from the edition illustrated in colour on the front cover.