AVA Gallery
26.06 - 31.08.2025

“We are here! Not because the men say so or not because somebody has done us a favour, but because we were there when it was fought for and we were part of the fight for freedom.”

– Ruth Mompati

Kganya Mogashoa’s latest exhibition at the AVA arrives with impeccable timing, showing during Women’s Month and offering a powerful celebration of feminist resistance. Through a dynamic blend of painting, sculpture, textiles, video, and even scent, Mogashoa reclaims the visibility of women who shaped political struggle in both personal and collective narratives. It is a continuation of her earlier Sheroes Rands series, which reimagined South African banknotes with women’s portraits in place of men. Both projects share a central aim: to represent the unrepresented and insist on women’s visibility in histories from which they have often been erased.

‘Reflections of a Queen’ foregrounds portraits of iconic female struggle figures, including Harriet Tubman, Ruth Mompati, Rosa Parks, and Rita Ndzanga. When choosing the women to represent in her portraits, Mogashoa notes that many of the names come from buildings or streets passed daily, yet their faces and stories remain largely unknown. For her, these encounters feel deeply rewarding, as they signal that her work is reshaping perceptions and restoring the forgotten faces of women who deserve far greater recognition. Alongside them sits a striking self-portrait, situating the artist within this lineage of resistance.

In the middle of the room sits a bust crowned with silk fabric, twisted cord, and shweshwe fabric. The sculpture invites viewers to imagine an African queen fearlessly claiming the space as her own. Traditionally worn at celebratory events like weddings, the shweshwe fabric serves as a reminder that women deserve recognition every day, not only on designated occasions, and challenges viewers to reflect on how often they honour the women in their own lives.

As Fatima Meer’s words echo across one canvas: “Regardless of how many years we have spent in this life, we must get up and shout.” Other portraits are inscribed with Bible verses, signalling how Mogashoa’s faith underpins the project. One incorporates the scripture 1 Chronicles 16:11: “Seek out the Lord and His strength; seek His face continually.” This choice of verse shifts the act of looking from the political to the deeply personal. While this element initially feels somewhat unexpected, it can also be read as a powerful assertion of the artist’s own religious identity. Her lived experience, inseparable from her artistic vision, deserves a place in the narrative just as much as the women represented in the rest of the exhibition. 

Meanwhile, mirrors situated among the portraits destabilise the act of looking: depending on who stands before it, the meaning shifts. For example, when I look into it as a white, cisgender woman, I am reminded of the celebratory aspects of my own womanhood, but also of the fraught history of white women within the struggle movement — of contributions made, but also, perhaps more importantly, of complicities and silences. The mirror refuses neutrality: it holds up not only the image of the self but also the weight of history, asking each viewer to reckon with their position in relation to these legacies. 

Mogashoa hopes that the mirrored works prompt viewers to self-reflect. She stresses that, without self-love and awareness, it is difficult to extend genuine care or concern, and this deficit directly affects how women are treated in everyday life. By encouraging others to examine their identities, the works invite opportunities to challenge harmful social constructs and build a society more attuned to women’s daily realities.

‘Reflections of a Queen’ celebrates women’s resistance while issuing a call to action, emphasising that self-awareness is the starting point for meaningful change. Through layered media, Mogashoa reaffirms that memory is alive and demands re-visioning. Her feminist critique addresses gender-based violence and the broader disparities that continue to mark women’s lives in South Africa, using art as a tool for accountability and transformation. 

This review was produced as a part of the AVA Art Writing Workshop, facilitated by Keely Shinners. This project was made possible thanks to the support by the City of Cape Town.