Venus VS Modernity: The story of Saartjie Baartman

17/08/2021

Lizzo is Saartjie too.

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12/02/2021

In honor of Black History Month...

Today we pay our respects to Sarah Baartman whose tragic story reminds us that the exploitation of the Black feminine physique started many years ago.

Saartjie "Sarah" Baartman (1789 – December 29, 1815) was the most famous of at least two Khoikhoi women who were exhibited as freak show attractions because of their large buttocks and elongated l***a in 19th-century Europe under the name “Hottentot Venus”.

According to popular history, Baartman was born in 1789 in the Gamtoos Valley of South Africa. When she was barely in her 20s, she was sold to London by an enterprising Scottish doctor named Alexander Dunlop, accompanied by a showman named Hendrik Cesars. She spent four years in Britain being exhibited. The fact that she had protruding buttocks and an extended l***a minora made society view her as this “wild or savage female”.

Her treatment caught the attention of British abolitionists, who tried to rescue her, but she claimed that she had come to London on her own accord. In 1814, after Dunlop's death, she traveled to Paris. With two consecutive showmen, Henry Taylor and S. Reaux, she amused onlookers who frequented the Palais-Royal.

Baartman lived on in poverty, and died in Paris of illness in December 1815 at the age of 25. Those who knew her closely in Europe said that she was an intelligent woman with an excellent memory, particularly for faces. In addition to her native tongue she spoke fluent Dutch, passable English and a smattering of French. She was adept at playing the Harp, could dance according to the traditions of her country and had a lively personality. Her shoulders and back were described as "graceful", arms "slender", hands and feet as "charming" and "pretty".

After her death, her body was dissected and her remains were displayed. For more than a century and a half, visitors to the "Museum of Man" in Paris could view her brain, va**na and skeleton.

Her skull was stolen in 1827 and subsequently returned a few months later. The restored skeleton and skull continued to arouse the interest of visitors until the late 20th century when complaints begin to rise from feminists who believed the exhibit was a degrading representation of women. The skeleton was removed in 1974 and the body cast in 1976. Her body was finally laid to rest.
Salute to a fallen Queen: Sarah Baartman

(The photo below is of the body cast of Baartman that was on display in a museum. It looks like an ancient Goddess statue to me.)

24/10/2020

Lebogang Mashile is an award winning South African poet, performer, actress and producer.

24/10/2020

To watch the film version of Venus Vs. Modernity, please register using the link below.

The show starts at 20:30 South African time and 19:30 West African time. For friends on the East coast of the US, it starts at 14:30 (2:30pm) your time.

Venus Vs Modernity tells the story of South African icon Saartjie Baartman whose horrific experiences of exploitation on account of her ample posterior have become a reference point for black women’s body image and representation worldwide. It is an emotional, hilarious, poetic, musical and layere...

24/10/2020

24 October 2020
Johannesburg, South Africa

Venus Vs Modernity: The Story of Saartjie Baartman by Lebogang Mashile is being screened tonight at 7:30pm West African time and 8:30pm South African time.

The film version of the award-winning stage play forms part of Ake Arts and Book Festival. Ake is a four day Pan-African literary arts festival based in Lagos, Nigeria. In a moment in history defined by COVID-19, as well as the cataclysmic events taking place currently in Nigeria, Ake is simultaneously running one of the largest curated digital festival programmes on the African continent from 22-25 October.

The events occurring right now in Nigeria, Congo, Namibia, the United States, and South Africa mirror what is happening to Black people in many parts of the world. This makes Ake Festival, and other cultural platforms like it, absolutely vital in order to interpret, analyze, and give meaning to the events of 2020.

The creation of the film version of Venus Vs Modernity is a Pan-African partnership between Ake Festival, its founder, author and organizer, Lola Shoneyin, and poet and playwright, Lebogang Mashile. The one act, two hander play stars opera singer Ann Masina as Venus and Lebogang Mashile as Saartjie. Masina recently won the Best Newcomer Award at the Naledi Theatre Awards for her breathtaking and boundary breaking performance in the title role.

Saartjie Baartman, whose ample bodied silhouette has been an iconic image for two centuries, was a woman of Khoi decent born in the Qamtoos River Valley in what is now the Eastern Cape in the late 1700s. At the age of 15, she was abducted and enslaved in Cape Colony. Just a few few years later she was put on display in Europe because of the shape of her body, and she immediately became a pop culture sensation. She endured a life of harrowing abuse that continued beyond her death that until her remains were returned to South Africa in 2002.

Venus Vs Modernity explores themes of history, colonialism, s*x work, romance, fame, religion, and body image through spoken word and music. It is a wildly entertaining ride examining the push and pull between freedom and slavery. From hip hop to opera, pop stars to advertising, the world depicted is every bit as much 2020 as it is 1820.

The original stage production, directed by Pamela Nomvete and Koleka Putuma, has been performed at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg and at Afro-Vibes Festival in Amsterdam. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, it is no longer possible for audiences to gather in theatres. Theatre makers are left with the challenge of how to make productions live on digital screens in order to access audiences.

Matthew Griffiths directs the film version of Venus Vs Modernity which is an intentional artistic experiment to capture the theatrical world of the play within the medium of film. This version also allows the story to travel while theatres worldwide remain in lockdown.

As xenophobic and nationalistic sentiments rise globally, and as Afrophobia rises in South Africa in particular, this artistic collaboration points to how the arts allow humanity to transcend physical borders, to expand conversations, and in so doing, to grow minds, and create the space to imagine solutions. It is honourable and immensely generous that the resources that made this film possible have been shared by a Pan African, feminist, creative platform located within a country that is on fire at this very moment - a country whose brilliance overflows to the extent that is is able to help capture the life of one of South Africa’s most important, and unforgettable daughters, Saartjie Baartman.

23/10/2020

Venus vs Modernity Ake Arts & Book Festival

22/10/2020

5 years ago on this very day, my family and I visited Saartjie Baartman’s grave and memorial site as I embarked on writing about her life in Venus Vs Modernity. Her gravesite had been desecrated by white supremacists in response . Today we have an award winning play that has been adapted into a beautiful film that we’ll be sharing with the world for the first time on Saturday. 🙏🏾

22/10/2020

The first glimpse at the Venus Vs Modernity trailer. Our film version of the play is being screened at this year’s on Saturday, 24 October 7:30pm West African time/ 8:30pm South African time.

I’ll share the link as soon as it’s confirmed. For now, save the time 🙏🏾

21/10/2020

The incomparable Ann Masina as Venus in Venus Vs Modernity: the Story of Saartjie Baartman which is being screened as a film for the very first time courtesy of this Saturday, 24 October, at 8:30pm South African time & 7:30pm West African time.

16/10/2020

I am ELATED to share with you that Venus Vs. Modernity is being screened online as part of Ake Arts & Book Festival on Saturday, 24 October 2020, at 8:30pm South African time/ 7:30pm West African time.

This is on the heels of Ann Masina winning the Best Breakthrough Performance award at this year’s Naledi Theatre Awards. This production was nominated for a total of 5 awards.

Venus Vs. Modernity tells the story of the life of Saartjie Baartman, a woman of Khoi decent who was taken from the Cape and displayed as a freak in Europe in the early 1800s. Baartman’s life has been an archetype for Black women’s’ body image and representation for two centuries. Through this play we collapse time and explore themes of slavery, colonialism, entertainment, body image, religion, and fame using poetry and music to tell a story that shows how these issues persist today.

It is poignant, thought provoking, wildly entertaining, and this production has been a labour of love for me for many years. It is my first time wearing the hats of writer, producer and performer at the same time in a theatre production.

Save the time and the date. We had sold out shows at the Market Theatre last year before taking the piece to in Amsterdam. Our last performance was at Soweto Theatre for for another sold out crowd in December of 2019. If you missed these, now’s your chance to watch it from the comfort of your own screen.

I am immensely grateful to and Ake Arts & Book Festival for sponsoring the recording of this production. At a time when South Africa is seeing yet another rise in Afrophobic sentiments dressed as nationalism, here is a Nigerian cultural festival making it possible for us to record the story of a South African icon. This is the power of the arts. The arts open minds, build relationships, and collapse borders in ways that politicians could never. Thank you Lola, and thank you to all of the partners who have assisted in bringing this story to life.