Jacqueline Maingard

In July 1990, a large group of black women in Soweto, South Africa stripped naked to prevent armed police and defense force units from demolishing their homes with bulldozers. The event was recorded by international media representatives and was presented on national and international television news. The video documentary Uku Hamba ‘Ze – To Walk Naked (1995) focuses on this act of resistance. It is a powerful juxtaposition of imagery that exposes the brutality of the state against the women’s vulnerability, while representing the potency of their action. It transforms and dramatizes the news footage of the event in slow motion, black and white sequences and integrates it with colour sequences where three of the women involved on that day speak about their memories and experiences. Filmed some five years after the event, in these personalised sequences the women speak direct-to-camera, subjectively addressing viewers without the mediation of a narrator. The intention is for the women to tell their story in their own words and actions without intervention.