The Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and Ukrainian Association of SA have joined forces to bring to life a specially curated exhibition aimed at improving “public understanding of the impact of the war in Ukraine, particularly on women and children”.
The Womanly Face of War will run for most of August and September in three cities and is curated by leading members of the Ukrainian women-led artist collective Sunseed Art.
The exhibition is “based on four female artists’ personal perspectives of how the Russian invasion of Ukraine has impacted on women and girls, including the horrors of sexual and gender-based violence and how mothers have been forced into perilous roles as fighters and lifesavers”, according to the organisers.
It will be preceded by a panel discussion led by Annah Moyo-Kupeta, a SA human rights lawyer; Janet Jobson, CEO of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation; Nataliya Popovych, Ukrainian activist and co-founder of Sunseed Art and; Olesya Drashkaba, Ukrainian artist, curator and co-founder of Sunseed Art.
“There will also be a live-streamed online-only public dialogue between African and Ukrainian speakers on the issue of a just peace for Ukraine and the impact of the war on Africa”.
This will feature Graça Machel, co-founder of Amnesty International Ukraine Myroslav Marynovych, Ugandan peace activist and founder/executive director of the African Youth Initiative Network Victor Ochen, and Ukrainian human rights lawyer and head of the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine, Oleksandra Matviichuk.
The exhibition will be free and open to the public at the following venues:
- The Trevor Huddleston CR Memorial Centre in Sophiatown, Johannesburg from August 12 to 16, 9am to 5pm daily;
- The Desmond and Leah Tutu Museum in Cape Town between August 19 and 25 from 9.30am to 3.30pm daily, and;
- Durban in early September (exact date and location to be confirmed).
To register, click here.
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