Latest news with #Matriarchs
The Citizen
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
Artist celebrates women with Nespresso coffee capsules
In light of Women's month, Nespresso has partnered with artist Pam Friedman, to honour women through her pieces. Read more: David Krut Projects showcases artist's latest exhibition Friedman's solo exhibition: Matriarchs, opened in Rosebank on July 31, and celebrates eight women whose courage, compassion, and conviction shaped the course of history across continents and centuries. Nespresso brand team member Keabetswe Legodi explained that the coffee brand believes in the upliftment of women and communities. 'We are about sustainability, regenerative thinking, and upscaling things without them losing their purpose or value, all while preserving the world. Pam's art stood out because it was made from used capsules, upcycled to art that represents powerful women in our society. ' Friedman explained that the creative hub that housed her art was filled with almost 30 000 capsules, each filled with stories, survival, beauty, and strength. 'I also honour our African heroines, including Queen Nandi, whose protection birthed legacy, and Queen Lozikeyi. Coffee isn't only a drink; it's a ritual of rising, which awakens us and reminds us that transformation is rich, slow-brewed, and bold, like the heroines I have paid tribute to through my pieces.' The artist added that she took what the world threw away, reimagining the waste into portraits of power. Follow us on our Whatsapp channel, Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok for the latest updates and inspiration!
IOL News
07-08-2025
- Entertainment
- IOL News
The Hangout: Art that speaks in capsules and courage
It was founded by one of those rare people who seem to glow from within. Candice Berman has a remarkable ability to create platforms for others and she does it all with kindness, compassion and effortless grace. Stepping into her gallery is like stepping into a world where possibility and passion meet. There is a space tucked away in the heart of Rosebank that feels nothing short of magical. The Candice Berman Gallery is not only a beautiful gallery but also a hub of warmth, creativity and community. The recent launch of Matriarchs, a solo exhibition by Pam Friedman, brought that special space to life in the most beautiful way. And I do not just mean beautiful to look at. The room was filled with people whose warmth, energy and authenticity radiated from them, proving that true beauty comes from the inside. The exhibition is presented in collaboration with Nespresso. Keabetswe Legodi, the brand's social media and PR specialist, summed it up perfectly: 'This collaboration is a tangible expression of our values. We are committed to reducing waste and uplifting women, not only through our products but through partnerships that challenge and inspire. This is what regeneration looks like: giving voice to artists, meaning to materials, and power to purpose.' Isn't that incredible? Pam Friedman's work is nothing short of extraordinary. It is astonishing to witness how an artist can take what many would consider rubbish and turn it into something so rich in meaning and beauty. Each piece tells a story. Each piece gives a voice to a part of womanhood that may have gone unnoticed. The use of repurposed coffee capsules is more than clever. It is symbolic. These materials are given new life, much like the stories Pam shares through her art. Her work does not just inspire admiration. It sparks hope. Matriarchs honours the always changing journey of womanhood. It captures the way women continuously move between roles, rediscover who they are, and find ways to bring care and creativity into the world. It is a moving tribute to the quiet strength of starting over, to nurturing with purpose, and to redefining oneself with courage. 'Reinvention is not just a necessity, it is a feminine superpower,' says Pam. Throughout Women's Month this August, the Candice Berman Gallery is celebrating women in the most beautiful way. Located at 223 Jan Smuts Avenue in Rosebank, the gallery is welcoming visitors to experience Matriarchs and all it represents. The atmosphere is warm and inclusive and the art will leave you feeling deeply inspired. It is almost hard to believe that such intricate, powerful characters have been created using used coffee capsules, but then again, that is the point. There is magic in reinvention. So visit the gallery, and support the brands and women who are telling bold stories and following big dreams. Just like Pam Friedman, Candice Berman and Tanya Krain do. You go girls.
Mint
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
How Suniti Namjoshi wields the spear and the shield of satire and fables
Gift this article One of the more enjoyable oddities of postmodern literature is the breathless, single-sentence composition. Gabriel Garcia Marquez's short story, The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship was written as one sentence, as were Bohumil Hrabal's novels Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age and Vita Nuova. In Matriarchs, Cows and Epic Villains, an anthology of Suniti Namjoshi's writing, the fable Broadcast Live spans just one sentence of 60-odd words, but ends up unleashing an entire chapter's worth of commentary. One of the more enjoyable oddities of postmodern literature is the breathless, single-sentence composition. Gabriel Garcia Marquez's short story, The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship was written as one sentence, as were Bohumil Hrabal's novels Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age and Vita Nuova. In Matriarchs, Cows and Epic Villains, an anthology of Suniti Namjoshi's writing, the fable Broadcast Live spans just one sentence of 60-odd words, but ends up unleashing an entire chapter's worth of commentary. 'The Incredible Woman raged through the skies, lassoed a planet, set it in orbit, rescued a starship, flattened a mountain, straightened a building, smiled at a child, caught a few thieves, all in one morning, and then, took a little time off to visit her psychiatrist, since she is at heart a really womanly woman and all she wants is a normal life." With that devastating final clause, Namjoshi indicts decades of popular culture that ran cover for a patriarchal vision of society—where the 'good" woman is 'rewarded" with heteronormative nirvana (societally approved marriage, babies), whereas the 'evil" woman is banished to spinsterhood. The preceding clauses are a broadside pastiche of 'hero narratives", another recurring theme with Namjoshi. Broadcast Live is a typical example of the author's satirical style, one which has served her well for over four decades now. The fables, poems and stories compiled here have been picked from her collections, Feminist Fables (1981), The Blue Donkey Fables (1988) and Saint Suniti and the Dragon (1993). These super-short entries (seldom over a page or so) make up almost 60-odd pages, while the bulk of the book is abridged versions of two previously published novellas, The Conversations of Cow (1985) and The Mothers of Maya Diip (1989). The latter, a modern classic, is frequently taught at Indian universities. Also read: Satyajit Ray's 'blackface' moment at Cannes 2025 In the introductory essay, writer Gillian Hanscombe (who is also Namjoshi's partner) compares Namjoshi's mind to a combination of Jonathan Swift's and Lewis Carroll's. As comparisons go, it's exceedingly apt, since satire and fabulism are Namjoshi's spear and shield—the 'spear" punctures hypocrisy while the 'shield" offers the protection (and plausible deniability) of timelessness. Case History is a brief but horrific upending of the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, while A Moral Tale is a plaintive remix of Beauty and the Beast featuring a lesbian Beast ('That's why its love for Beauty was so monstrous", Namjoshi deadpans). In From the Panchatantra, the brahmin central character (the Panchatantra is believed to have been composed by brahmin scholar Vishnu Sharma) prays until Lord Vishnu appears before him and grants him a boon. What follows is classic Namjoshi, sociological missives wrapped up in screwball comedy. The highlight of the collection remains The Mothers of Maya Diip (the lightly abridged version here is 120-odd pages long), Namjoshi's allegorical, uproarious novella set in what appears to be a matriarchal utopia at first glance. Maya Diip, however, is a place that takes convictions to their logical endpoints—male babies are ruthlessly abandoned here and only female babies are nurtured and cared for. All women are divided into grades A, B and C mothers. The island's leader Maya's daughter Asha helms a rebel faction of women and men who oppose the island's discriminatory practices. The Mothers of Maya Diip is a pointed parody of the novel Herland (1915) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, initially serialised in feminist magazines and only published in novel form in 1979. Herland imagined a feminist utopia where society is free from men and asexual reproduction (via parthenogenesis) is the norm. In her parody, Namjoshi plays dialectic ping-pong, commenting on both the cruelty of patriarchal systems and the limitations of second-wave feminism (especially its laser focus on reproductive freedom). A particularly funny scene involves Valerie, an immigrant from the West (hinted to be American) who has been living in Maya Diip for years. In the following passage, Valerie is trying to describe a patriarchal society from scratch, to somebody who has no conception of what it looks like. 'Ashans in my country have enslaved the Mayans in order to force them to have their babies; Ashan and Mayan babies then belong to a particular Ashan. Think of it this way… Every Ashan thought of himself as a kind of farmer and every Mayan as a bit of land or a field which could be his property. The babies are branded by his specific genes. An Ashan is always the grade A mother, and a Mayan is always the grade B mother... but the Ashan delegates his duties to the Mayan." Like the short fiction of her exact contemporaries Angela Carter and Margaret Atwood, Namjoshi's fables are premodern literature deconstructed and refashioned as postmodern commentary. This anthology worthy of her 'fabulous" career and a delightful body of work. Topics You May Be Interested In
Scroll.in
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scroll.in
Suniti Namjoshi
Stories written by 'The sun is a lizard and the earth is an egg': A new book of fables by Suniti Namjoshi An excerpt from 'Matriarchs, Cows and Epic Villains: New and Selected Fables and Poems', by Suniti Namjoshi. Suniti Namjoshi · 13 minutes ago How did the slave Aesop write his timeless fables? A fabulist travels to the past to find out In a new novel, Suniti Namjoshi writes of Sprite, who visits the sixth century Greek slave credited with literature's most enduring fables. Suniti Namjoshi · Jun 29, 2018 · 08:30 am
