The Common Thread

From Tapestries to Knitted Installations, a Compelling New Exhibition Pieces Together Art That Challenges the Idea of ‘women’s Work’

- Stefanie Jason

Paper fills Ernestine White’s office in the antiquated building adjacent to the Cape Town museum where she curates contemporary art. ‘When I’m curating, this is how I conceptualise the process,’ she says, explaining the piles of paper all over her desk, the books on the shelf and the pages that take up most of the white walls.

At the Iziko South African National Gallery (ISANG), the walls of Ernestine’s office illustrate just how the show she’s working on might look weeks before its opening – from tapestries that tell stories, to intricate lacework that is small yet incredibly detailed. The title Women’s Work – a phrase used particularly in the West to refer to tasks believed to be exclusively the domain of women – according to the curator, is a metaphor describing how artists challenge and reinterpret gendered spaces within a highly patriarchal society.