A solo exhibition by Gabrielle Goliath, the Standard Bank Young Artist award winner for Visual Art 2019, is currently on exhibition at Iziko South African National Gallery.
Presented as an immersive audio and video installation, This song is for… is made up of a unique collection of dedication songs – playing sequentially, and each one chosen by a survivor of rape. These songs are of personal significance to the survivors – songs that take them back to a particular time and place, evoking a sensory world of memory and feeling.
As collaborators on the project, the survivors shared not only their songs, but also a colour of their choosing and a written reflection. Goliath also worked in close collaboration with a group of women and gender-queer led musical ensembles to reinterpret and re-perform the chosen songs.
Gabrielle Goliath – Artist Statement
Speaking to the work, Gabrielle Goliath reflects: “In a work like This song is for… I am seeking to resist the violence through which black, brown, feminine, queer and vulnerable bodies are routinely objectified, in the ways they are imaged, written about, spoken about… What I have in mind is a more empathic interaction.”
WHERE: Iziko South African National Gallery, Government Avenue, Company’s Garden, Cape Town 8001
WHEN: to 27 Apr 2020
