This set of prints is part of an extensive body of linocuts Marasela created in 2005, in her first deep immersion in the technique. These linocuts explore the histories of exploited South African women, including Theodorah, the artist's mother (depicted here), who was a domestic worker and has faced numerous challenges in her life, and Saartjie "Sarah" Baartman, a Khoisan slave exhibited in Europe in 1810 as the Hottentot Venus. The artist makes work on the same theme in other mediums, including video, photography, and, most recently, large-scale embroidery installations.
Gallery label from Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now.
