Amazwi Abesifazane (Voices of Women) is on display at the Durban Art Gallery until July 15. A project of Create Africa South, a non-profit organisation, the exhibition showcases and promotes the creativity of women through the production of memory cloths.

This project is an innovation of Andries Botha, South African sculptor and cultural activist. It is part of his ongoing exploration of the relationship between creativity and society.

The aim of the project is to bring together many aspects of social development. Through the creation of memory cloths, the collective experience of women who have experienced loss and through the process of creation reach some level of catharsis, through which they can grow both spiritually, emotionally and financially.

Amazwi Abesifazane (Voices of Women) is in the process of collecting an archive of 1000 samplers that draw on the lives of South African women. These form a collective memory of life in South Africa to the present time. Each sampler is an original work to which is attached a profile of the artist and her story which is given in her mother tongue as well as English. This collection of 1000 memory cloths will be placed within the memory archive of South Africa. Since May 2000, memory cloths have slowly been accumulating and it is envisaged that the national archive will be completed in one year.

More details from Durban Art Gallery on (031) 311-2269.