UP Museums’ latest exhibition unravels the rich narratives of textile art, celebrating women’s histories and cultural heritage.
Courtesy of University of Pretoria
The University of Pretoria (UP) Museums proudly presented a thought-provoking exhibition that brought together textiles from around the world. Showcasing both the simplicity and complexity of the medium, ‘Bokgabo ba mašela: The Art of Textiles’ highlighted textiles’ historical and cultural significance and their role in shaping women’s lives and experiences across history and into the present.
The exhibition, which opened on 7 March and will run until 17 October 2025 at UP’s Bridge Gallery on Hatfield Campus, explored the power of textiles to tell long-forgotten stories.
“Textiles are often overlooked as a medium of artistic expression, yet they have been central to shaping history,” said exhibition curator Uthando Baduza. “This exhibition aimed to elevate textiles as an art form while acknowledging the powerful narratives of women’s lives woven into every piece. Through threads, fabrics, and weavings, we gained a deeper understanding of both individual and collective histories. From 12th-century Mapungubwe to the haute couture designs of South African fashion icon Marianne Fassler, these textiles carried stories of resilience, culture, and identity that deserved recognition in the context of art history.”
The exhibition featured a diverse selection of textiles from around the world, blending voices that had long been unheard. Signature works included the Keiskammahoek Guernica from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum and pieces by renowned South African artists such as Allina Ndebele, Nandipha Mntambo, André Naudé, Amita Mikan, and Christo Coetzee. Also on display were Neels Hansen’s dress designs worn by opera diva Mimi Coertse, alongside her showstopping 20th-century costumes. Recognisable cultural materials, such as Basotho blankets (courtesy of the Sanlam Art Collection), Ndebele attire, Zulu grass mats, a kaross, a Basotho mokorotlo hat, and UP’s Kaross centenary tapestry, further enriched the exhibition.
Many of these textiles, drawn from UP’s permanent collection, had remained in storage for decades. The exhibition repositioned historical threads in a contemporary context by bringing them into public view. It examined textile art as a practice transcending cultural boundaries and connecting people worldwide. It also interrogated the role of textiles within art history and reflected on how contemporary textile practices resonated in an increasingly interconnected world.
The exhibition paid tribute to the feminist movements of the late 20th century, which challenged the historical exclusion of textiles from scholarly inquiry and elevated the significance of women’s work in art. Scholars had long argued that the study of textiles revealed their profound impact on social, political, economic, and cultural spheres. As scholar Jennifer Goggin noted, textiles demonstrated “just how deeply the needle has pierced” various aspects of human existence. The exhibition explored the materiality and textuality of textiles, examining the social bonds formed between women, makers, and their communities while encouraging reflection on how these narratives could be understood in more profound, more meaningful ways.
“We often think of textiles as mere functional objects, but they are so much more,” Baduza said. “They hold memory and history; in that sense, they have the power to speak to us across time, linking ancient practices with contemporary narratives.”
The exhibition also played a crucial role in amplifying the voices of marginalised black female artists. UP Museums placed historical textiles—such as archaeological fibres from Mapungubwe and Paul Kruger’s presidential silk sash—on the same platform as contemporary works from women’s empowerment initiatives, including the Mapula Embroidery Trust, the Mogalakwena Art Centre, the Kaross Foundation, Rorke’s Drift, and Masana Tapestries.
“This exhibition highlighted how textile art in South Africa and globally had served as an essential form of storytelling, particularly for women of colour, who often used this medium to document and reclaim their experiences, identities, and histories, which had been excluded from mainstream narratives.”
‘Bokgabo ba mašela: The Art of Textiles’ invited visitors to reflect on the rich and complex histories embedded within these artworks. These pieces provided a window into the human experience. They offered insights into how textiles unearthed fragments of visual narratives, creating spaces for healing, empowerment, and the restoration of communities impacted by their histories. The exhibition underscored how textile art contributed to understanding people’s and places’ intertwined, multi-layered histories while foregrounding indigenous knowledge practices within a museum-art context. It further sought to celebrate the diversity, depth, and inclusivity of what a university museum could exhibit in fulfilling its social responsibility and sharing its collections.
The exhibition will run until 17 October 2025. For more information, please visit Univeristy of Pretoria.
