06/09/2021
Protea stand up
https://www.facebook.com/90981197877/posts/10160051425632878/
It's On!
We are excited to announce 2019 Alumnus Award recipient, Mandisa Mchiza's exhibition, Butch-Lez. Tell a friend and come through on Saturday 18 September 2021.
In her own words:
I AM NOT MY MOTHER'S SECOND CHANCE BUT I AM HER DAUGHTER
- Mandisa ß-Trix Mchiza
I am a butch identifying le***an who finds herself constantly being misidentified. My dress
sense in a cis-gender normative world is seen as “masculine”. My way of being leads to being perceived as an aggressive male.
I am not the embodiment of traditional notions of “femininity”.
With this body of work, I focus on challenging prevalent ideals of “femininity”. I am a female who has no interest in changing her s*x. I interrogate notions of gender and particularly my identity. The misrepresentation, and more often, lack of representation of women whose gender expression is like my own made this an important project for me to delve into.
I use photography as a medium to explore my gender expression and to visually articulate my sense of self. My process involves dressing up for the camera to reflect on ideas about gender. Artists and role models that I am drawn to inspire my props and staging. I intentionally superimpose self-portraiture and landscape to speak to ideas of “home”. The creation of these images through staging gives me freedom of imagination during the process.
My desire is to expunge the idea that butch women want to replace men.
