Durban - The “Voices of Women Museum” is now virtual and will be launched on Friday. And while the concept “museum” is up for constant debate, the space speaks for itself in the form of its building in downtown Durban, at 168 Palmer Street.
Developed as a concept in 2012, the museum has a substantial collection of about 3 000 women’s narratives and story cloths.
“In 2017, we were full of hope for this home, which began as the first physical museum space for the ‘Voices of Women’ until the national lockdown, riots, and flooding gave us the final push to locate it in cyberspace,” said curator Coral Bijoux.
“The archive has been moved and sits in a safe, dry space, while the museum has a new life, based in the Palmer Street building, in its 3-D virtual form.
“After travelling around South Africa, the ‘Voices of Women Museum’ found its physical home temporarily, in a building nuanced with odd corners, floors one could view work through, and a ‘masculine’ street with cars, car dealerships and car body shops; some debris, urine and faeces for added measure.
“It was also a space that rained down the walls, through the roof, and onto the exhibition space. We needed a solution to safeguard the precious works of narrative for future generations.
“The museum considers that to be a woman means many things, particularly in South Africa. It’s the way we walk, talk, engage, make, create, challenge, sit, laugh, are sometimes victimised, but always powerful,” said Bijoux.
“Diverse in outlook, experience, genders, and descriptions, we are, loosely, as one.
“We open this space, virtually, and invite you to visit, engage and support us. It is a work in progress. The museum will continue its work quietly and, sometimes, not so quietly, through a platform that will encourage us to take our voices and use them as they should – speaking sometimes into the proverbial void, but speaking also to those who want to listen, hear, and engage,” she said.
“The museum is supported by the MTN SA Foundation, with a nominal budget set aside each year for our work.
“To a large extent, much of the work is done voluntarily, which makes this outcome so much more rewarding,” said Bijoux.
Later this year, the museum will launch the “Voices of Women” annual exhibition curated by three young dynamic women.
Visit the virtual Voices of Women Museum here at https://voices.of.women.my3ideas.co.za
The Independent on Saturday