Tina Ramos Ekongo is our fourth Anti- Apartheid, Now project commissioned artist. We will be launching her series of portraits entitled Umfazi, Owesifazane, Vrou! during October 2022. Tina has chosen to depict five black and brown female activists against aparthied whose stories are either under-known, under-heard or have been misrepresented. The title of her series uses the words for ‘woman’ in isiXhosa, isiZulu and Afrikaans, three of the most spoken languages in South Africa.
Initial sketching for the portrait of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Tina Ramos Ekongo (2022)
When we spoke with Tina about the process of her commission, she reflected on how the women she chose to represent inspire her, both as a feminist and as an African woman.
She says, ‘Growing up in a society where traditionally the role of women is focused on taking care of the house and the family, working outside of the house was not seen as a job a female could take.
Today, women play an important part of the economies of multiple African countries and have important roles in governments but historically women often didn’t have public facing or decision-making roles in leadership, industry nor in their wider communities.’
Tina chose to paint portraits of Amina Cachalia, Annie Silinga, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Rahima Moosa and Ida Mntwana.
For Tina, it was the fact that these women took to the streets in demonstrations and spoke out publicly against injustice whilst at the same time facilitating caregiving role within their own families and their communities that inspired her to paint their portraits in the hope that their representations in portraiture would provoke conversations around traditional and contemporary notions of “women’s roles” as well as provide an impetus for women of all ages, across the African continent and in the UK, to take more forward-facing roles in their local and wider communities.
Tina says,
“I chose these women to feature in my series of portraits, to highlight their contributions to the struggle for freedom in South Africa and to inspire others to become activators for positive change across society.”
Work in progress, “Winnie Madikizela-Mandela”, by Tina Ramos Ekongo (2022)
Work in progress “Annie Silinga” by Tina Ramos Ekongo (2022)
Written by Matthew Hahn, Anti-Apartheid Now! Project Producer, October 2022
