09/02/2026
The tell as old as time: a woman being herself in her element catches the attention of a man, this man has never seen a woman like her or any of the woman in her tribe. So he and all his community gawks at her and plan to harvest these woman for their own. Just to use them for entertainment and to please their curiosity. This is her story as well Saartji - a Khoikhoi woman from South Africa who was taking away from her home to be placed on display in a circus for the entertainment of the people who colonized her,bBecause her body and proportions were not of what they were used to perceiving. They took away her rights to her body. Spent time trying to make their bodies similar to her. Dehumanized her, poked at her, prodded at her, touched her. All while requiring her to be naked for their uncanny gaze… they moved her around from country to country in the European colonies. In France.. her body long after she’s passed away , has been dissected, with parts of her body removed from her and placed on display at a museum all the way up until May 3, 2002, and buried in her native village on August 9 of that year, National Women's Day. She was finally laid to rest after eight years of negotiating with the French authorities, just for the right to bury her. Now the story varies and some stories say that she was able to reclaim the rights to her body, and actually make a living from continuing to participate in the circus acts of displaying her body. But I doubt that has to be true. Because we know, historically, those who are in control of the media, tells the story that they would like others to digest. I’m assuming if we had a negotiate just to bury her in her homeland she was never free. This image may be more of a carrier free depiction of her-story. Why? because I would like to believe she had the right to her own body eventually. But there’s an intention with the shadow figures in front of her who gawked at her we don’t see what they’re looking like, but she sees their faces. She felt their eyes. She felt their disrespect. Their disembodiment of who she is as a woman placing her as a side attraction.. She is a lesson to all black women that your body is your!