PUBLISHING LABO*R: Medu Arts Ensemble

PUBLISHING LABO*R / Pressing Against Apartheid, invites you to scan, print, copy, edit and publish collectively.

“For me as a craftsman, the act of creating art should complement the act of creating shelter for my family or liberating the country for my people. This is culture.” – Thami Mnyele

Pressing Against Apartheid is a study in printing and art as tools of political struggle inspired by the work of Medu Art Ensemble which was active in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa from 1976 to 1985. Through a series of public screen printing workshops, participants are invited to produce and distribute prints on paper and textiles.

With Kebotlhale Motseothata we invite you to a screen printing workshop while going through the revolutionary heritage of Medu Art Ensemble and its contemporary legacies through narration and craft. 

KEBOTLHALE MOTSEOTHATA is a multi-disciplinary writer, scholar, journalist, poet, researcher, feminist and human rights defender. She holds an MA in African Literature, an Honours in African Literature, a BA in African Literature and Theatre and Performance and an N.dp in Journalism. Her work focuses on gender and culture in the liberation movement of South Africa, with a focus on the visual and poetic narratives produced by the women of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). She has also made an inquiry into the representation of women in the posters of the Medu Art Ensemble.