Embroidered Voices: Exposing Hidden Trauma Stories of Apartheid

Abstract

For many Black South African women, speaking about the gruesome and demeaning treatment they experienced during Apartheid is not easy. Silence became normalized due to the unspeakable nature of what many of the women went through. They struggled to find a way to express their traumas and many lived and continue to live with these hidden transcripts of their lives. For some, shame and lack of safe spaces or platforms to speak/express their traumas contributed to this silence. Indeed, many women continue to struggle to find the language to express their traumas. This paper engages how, through visual narratives such as embroidery, women become active actors in the telling of their lived realities. Drawing from a qualitative approach and using visual narratives in the form of embroideries, the paper offers insights on how unspeakable lived experiences of trauma can be expressed. The paper further highlights ways in which embroidery can be used to connect both the personal and collective stories of Black women in South Africa and to show how suffering is an interpersonal experience. Finally, the possibilities and potentials of visual artwork, as a canvas that offers space for expressing stories of trauma, survival, and healing, are addressed.

Keywords:

• textiles
• embroidery
• needlework
• trauma
• visual methodologies
• decolonial

Acknowledgements

I would hereby like to acknowledge the women embroidery collective for their generosity and involvement in the project and for sharing their lives with me. I would also like to thank Prof Peace Kiguwa for the critical reading of my work in progress.

Disclosure statement

The author declares no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

The research was funded by the National Research Foundation and the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust.

Notes on contributors

Puleng Segalo

Puleng Segalo, Chief Albert Luthuli Research Chair, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa.[email protected]