Mary Sibande and Sophie Ntombikayise Take Central Court
Exhibition
Exhibition Overview
Mary Sibande and Sophie Ntombikayise Take Central Court
Megan Koza Young, curator
Central Court, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas
Emerging artist Mary Sibande lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa. This work, the first in a U.S. museum collection, culminates Sibande’s series of sculptural installations featuring four generations of women in her family, all of whom worked as domestic servants. The name Sophie comes from a real and imagined collective narrative. The wonderfully overblown gown—an artificial hybrid costume of maid’s uniform and regal Victorian dress—provides the tableau on which Sibande unveils her story. Through Sophie-Ntombikayise, Sibande addresses the “traditional” role of black women in South Africa and other countries with a history of black servitude.
