Cape Town - Courtney, a short film featuring the parents of three-year-old Courtney Pieters talking about the impact of losing their child, will from part of an exhibition at the Castle of Good Hope next week titled We Cannot Be Silent.
In the film by Yazeed Kamaldien, Juanita Pieters and Aaron Fourie revisit the spot near their home in Elsies River where their daughter's body was found dumped on May 13 after she was raped and murdered allegedly by a man who had been living with the family.
The couple express loss, anger, grief and disbelief as they struggle to understand why their friend, Mortimer Saunders, allegedly took their daughter's life.
Saunders will appear again in court on 24 August.
Kamaldien is part of a group of artists working in photography, film, performance and visual art who have united to honour the lives of girls and women who have been lost to rape and murder in our country.
Under the exhibition title We Cannot Be Silent, the creative collective is looking beyond news headlines, delving into personal spaces and aiming to sensitise audiences to the impact of rape and murder.
“We Cannot Be Silent questions women’s safety, whether at home or when they make their way home on the streets of central Cape Town.
"This exhibition is a creative expression of concern from artists who see themselves and their work as part of the solution to ongoing abuse that girls and women face," the organisers said.
“We Cannot Be Silent opens on August 9 at 11am at the Castle of Good Hope. At the opening, Jazzart Dance Theatre will perform excerpts from Our Women, a dance piece that takes the audience through the many journeys a woman walks in life, as a stark reminder of how much we need strong women and how much we owe to women as a society."
Other artists showcasing work as part of the exhibition include Sumaya Hisham, known for her photographic exhibition about Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Hisham’s images will tell the story of Rene Tracy Roman, a 13-year-old girl murdered in Lavender Hill in March.
She also shows how Roman's mother is coping after her loss.
Award-winning film-maker Nadine Cloete, best known for Action Kommandant about anti-apartheid activist Ashley Kriel, will show her intimate short film featuring women talking about how safe the streets of Cape Town really are for them after sunset.
Eunice Geustyn, executive head of the Ruth Prowse School of Art, visually explores the statistic that one in three women are physically assaulted in South Africa.
Young photographer Wandie Mesatywa has used photography as a means for healing from abuse she experienced in her past.
American documentary photographer Alexandra Deitz will have her project, Embracing Dignity on show. This is a co-operative endeavour with Cape Town NGO Embrace Dignity.