Mona Lisa, 2026
Charcoal
62,5 cm x 45 cm
Artist’s Statement
Mona Lisa borrows its title from Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. This artwork reimagines one of historically recognised figures through the image of an elderly Xhosa women. Often identified as iqaba “uneducated”, her wisdom is not found in formal education but in earth beneath her feet, the pain she endured, the rituals she maintained, the children she nurtured. Like the original Mona Lisa, she carries centuries of untold stories within her gaze. Yet her expression is not one mystery; it is wrapped in her blanket as she is wrapped in her history, she embodies generations of women whose resilience has been celebrated, even when that resilience required enduring silence, hardship and violence.
The head gear transforms her into a living monument of collective memory and protest. Resting upon her head are figures dressed black and purple, the colours of mourning and defiance representing South Africans who lay down together for 15 minutes in protest against gender-based violence (GBV) as it was declared a national crisis in South Africa. The grandmother carries her body as she carries memory itself, bearing witness to a burden that has weighed upon women for far too long.
This artwork doesn’t reject tradition, but it asks us to transform it. Culture preserves identity, belonging, and ancestry, yet it has never shielded women from harm. The artwork confronts a difficult paradox: women are often taught that perseverance is virtue, that silence is dignity and endurance is strength. Yet within that silence lie a sharp truth “women hold a knife where it cuts”. How do we honour ancestry without inheriting its silence? How do we preserve culture while dismantling GBV embodied within it? The answer starts with collective awakening, where perseverance no longer means enduring violence but confronting it, and where solidarity means protection rather than silence.
Mona Lisa is ultimately a call to action. Enter a state of reflection. Do not rush. Allow her gaze to meet yours and let her crown of protest rest within your consciousness. For a moment acknowledge the lives lost, women who endured, and the women who continue to rise and when necessary, lie down together for change. A moment of silence cannot stop GBV, but it becomes an act of witness and refusal. In that shared quiet, the artwork asks viewer to remember, to reflect and to act, because the future is shaped by what we choose to see and what we refuse to ignore.
