HOTTENTOT VENUS

Lady Skollie was invited by curators Azu Nwagbogu and Ruth Simbao to participate in a special project and competition at the 2016 Cape Town Art Fair titled “Consuming Us”. The body of work she presented for this exhibition was titled “Hottentot Skollie”.

The art fair took place from 19 to 21 February and this body of work will now be on show at the Worldart gallery from 3 to 31 March 2016.

“These works are entirely inspired by the life and tragedy of Sarah Baartman and the manner in which we consume and objectify the female form.

In this selfie driven era, the gaze on the booty is a never ending cycle. Baartman being the star of her own freak show, Hottentot Venus, kidnapped from her motherland for her extraordinary derriere and put on show for male consumption sends echoes through history in the way women are still perceived. The platform for objectification has shifted, no longer on a physical stage or cage but in a digital realm.

Instagram is technically just another cage right?

During Pornhub’s 2014-2015 year in review, statistics showed a 486% increase in popularity for the search ‘Big booty’.

Booty is a big deal.”

– Lady Skollie, 2016.