In 2015, a 3.5-meter-high sculpture by Lawrence Lemaoana was unveiled in Beyers Naude Square in front of the Central Library and facing the Gauteng Legislature in downtown Johannesburg (Fig. 1). The work depicts a female protestor who wields a placard saying “Democracy Is Dialogue”—a phrase which is also the title of the work. Carrying a child on her back (Fig. 2), she is poised with her right foot on two pillars that are angled towards one another and her left foot on one that is tilted seemingly precariously. The work reveals how ordinary mothers were a significant part of the liberation struggle that brought an end to apartheid in 1994. As the information plaque accompanying it makes evident, its depiction of a generic mother also “honours women as drivers of social change” (Fig. 3).Six years later, in 2021, another work appeared in the public domain of Johannesburg which comments on the idea of liberation and women’s social roles. Usha Seejarim’s The Mundane and the Magical was installed outside the Radisson Red Hotel in the Johannesburg suburb of Rosebank (Figs. 4-5). Constituted from the bases (or soleplates) of hundreds of domestic irons (Fig. 6), its two majestic wings—five meters in height—speak of an impetus to take flight from onerous burdens in the home.Both sculptures clearly invite feminist readings—particularly in terms of an intersectional feminism alert to the ways in which the complexities of gender biases are compounded and complicated through prejudices of race and class. In my engagement with the two sculptures in this article, I endeavor to be mindful of such intersections as I explore how both works convey ideas about women’s resistance to constraints and hardships. I suggest that, although both sculptures honor women, they ultimately convey messages that differ in emphasis from one another. Albeit that it inspires political and social proactiveness from those gathering at its site and honors women as ongoing “drivers of social change,” Lemoana’s sculpture’s celebration of female involvement in the liberation struggle is primarily commemorative in orientation: Liberation from oppression is implied to have been achieved through women’s brave and energetic commitment in the resistance against the apartheid state. Seejarim’s work also invokes reference to historical contributions by women to Johannesburg, I argue. However, in contrast to Lemaoana’s, it emphasizes the challenges that women continue to confront in contemporary South Africa.When exploring works in the public domain, it is important to take cognizance of the ways in which commissioning processes and the briefs given to artists may have impact on what they produced. As I reveal, while both sculptures can be viewed in relation to the artists’ individual interests and approaches in their own art practices, each was also shaped in response to the requirements of those commissioning works as well as with alertness to the sites in which they are placed. Crucially, both sculptures were envisaged as involving viewers. Democracy Is Dialogue is at a site that has historically been used as a gathering point for protests and public engagements, and the sculpture might be seen to mark a key point for rallying people sharing a common cause or enabling discussion. The Mundane and the Magical also invites participation but in an even more immediate way than Lemaoana’s sculpture—one that I define as “performative.”To enable my exploration, I draw on visits I made to the two sites. Additionally, Lemaoana shared with me the written brief provided him1 as well as his own proposal for Democracy Is Dialogue2—documents that made evident the demands of the commission as well as his own intentions. In 2024, Seejarim undertook an interview with me at her studio in which she explored the processes that led to the commissioning of The Mundane and the Magical as well as challenges producing and installing a sculpture of its scale and her ideas about its possible meanings (Schmahmann 2024). I also support my arguments through reference to other key works in the public domain in Gauteng. Such broader perspectives enable recognition that the two works were not made in a vacuum—that they, on the one hand, redress deficits in the acknowledgement of women’s contributions to the liberation struggle and the development of Johannesburg while, on the other, extending strategies or iconographies at play in some other examples of local public art.There has not been prior scholarly discussion of Democracy Is Dialogue that I have encountered, and available literature is largely limited to news reports and popular reviews. This article is envisaged as addressing that gap. The Mundane and the Magical has been the topic of an article in which its four authors provide short but valuable insights about the work from the perspectives, respectively, of an art historian, anthropologist, artist, and literary scholar (Allara, Auslander, Berman, and Schattschneider 2021). I build on that work here, not only interpretatively but also by contributing new insights about the commissioning process as well as the work’s relation to viewers. I begin with discussion of Democracy Is Dialogue and thereafter examine The Mundane and the Magical.Lemaoana’s sculpture is on the site of the original market developed shortly after Johannesburg’s founding in 1886, known initially as Market Square. The library building was completed in 1935, and the site was renamed Harry Hofmeyr Gardens (in honor of the mayor) but retitled the Library Gardens four years later, in 1939. The gardens underwent a change in 1968, following the completion of a double-level parking garage underneath them. A fountain was introduced, with “bronze figures by Ernest Ullmann, donated to the Citizens of Johannesburg by The Star and presented at an official function on 7 May 1968” (Kennedy 1970: 599). Placed at the base of the stairs leading up to the library, and overlooking this central water feature, was Ullmann’s stylized rendition of a father, mother, and child (Fig. 7), a sculpture that remained in situ for three and a half decades until it was stolen in 2003.3In 2001, the square was renamed in honor of Beyers Naude (1915-2004), who received the freedom of the city. A minister in the conservative Dutch Reformed Church and a member of the Afrikaner nationalist secret organization Die Broederbond (meaning “The Brotherhood”), Naude ended up resigning from that body and becoming a liberation activist and outspoken opponent of the apartheid state.Historically, Beyers Naude Square was the meeting point for mass protests.4 Its history as a space for communication and meetings was borne in mind by the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA)5 when they renovated the site in 2010 and 2011. The garden was remodeled to include a small amphitheater with a low podium where speakers subsequently often addressed surrounding groups (Fig. 8).Overseen by the JDA, Lemaoana’s sculpture came about as the result of an impetus to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the first democratic election in South Africa in 1994. A commissioning body called Artatwork, headed by Lesley Perkes,6 who was assisted by Milsuthando Bongela, invited a selection of artists to submit proposals, briefing them via a site meeting on September 9, 2014, and a guideline document. Artists had until October 31 to submit their proposals, and the adjudication process was scheduled to be complete by November 30. The successful artist would have until June 30, 2015, to produce the work. In making a work about democracy, artists were invited to—if relevant— refer to the Freedom Charter, a statement of principles that had been adopted by a grouping called the Congress of the People in 1955 (see SAHO 2011b), or to South Africa’s Bill of Rights in its Constitution,7 or indeed any international democratic institutions.Emphasis was also to be placed on the significance of Beyers Naude Square—and it was envisaged that the new work be placed in such a way that it would not compromise its function as a gathering space. The briefing document refers to two low plinths in front of the stairs to the library, one of which included a metal arc that was either a remnant of an Ullmann sculpture or simply a component of the previous water feature’s infrastructure (see Fig. 8, where the plinths and metal arc are in the foreground). Artists who chose to use this area of the site were invited to either integrate or remove the arc and plinths.8Finally, mindful of not only the loss of the Ullmann family group but also many other instances in which public art in South Africa had suffered neglect and been vulnerable to theft, emphasis was on creating a work that would be “durable and difficult to steal/vandalise.”9 Artists were that works from or that are to or may not be would work or work such as or was in the commission brief that called for a work on women’s to the liberation struggle which led to the of it is not that Lemaoana the in that Lemaoana’s sculpture was installed in 2015, were only a limited of commemorative works in Johannesburg and its that a female to the liberation struggle in South to the of South installed in the in in had been the were to the public a or two (see the developed at the at in Johannesburg, which as a in provided engagement with women as Lemaoana that his sculpture would an important in the recognition of women’s resistance the apartheid had not made public of gender had shaped some of his prior a that Lemaoana in a in and as has to of that South in of at the of to the included of the which and his of to use the of of (Fig. by his in and and at by his Lemaoana’s was also through in one work the of the to As at play was a not simply of but more in on for a work for Beyers Naude Lemaoana may also have about some prior works in the public of Johannesburg not to female celebrate Lemaoana’s had a with the title the about a called a domestic impetus to her is through of the domestic sculptures in some of were in downtown Johannesburg June and the (Fig. celebration of women is and Fig. a from Beyers Naude is at the end of the and on the of the This a who a of or to in the her a on her as she the to where she has a (see and The was on three women who had been in the for a of and a to the sculpture on their and through the following its and from one to the (Fig. a female with the and the the sculpture with in that it women’s to and difficult that his for the “Democracy Is was the of the and was that enable resistance to political and social oppression by the and its be their liberation from or strategies for what of the a of and and enabling the to part of a (see his Lemaoana that was in that in that of the a a is one to with or the and a who as the or cause of the of the The comments Lemaoana not this in his it is that the three or pillars the in Democracy Is Dialogue were to this The is in a of with her left foot poised on one while her right two pillars which The her left foot and from which she would to the while the two plinths are the two with she to her political and the for the of a protestor with a child on her back was a from 9, when about women on the in to people to to to from which women had been (see SAHO for a The her child for not simply a rendition of one of the many mothers who brought were on them but was to also have As “The mothers of the on their the of the artist, the to women for the to the popular of women in the struggle towards refers to a phrase which as mother the on the that it about the of as of their own liberation as to the of her left hand, the a in a (Fig. The on one to historical of the rendition of her is the of in Lemaoana had in mind two in which the is with for political the an work the that was an as was the of Democracy by and a public sculpture at the of in which invokes the of through the at Square in on June while the of as an idea or the of the in a also in apartheid South where to such as is a the is not but to be the in a invokes the idea of a about to be This was as Lemaoana artist not with the plinths and metal remnant to be part of an Ullmann sculpture or the fountain infrastructure in the guideline document for those for the However, although not this in his proposal to the JDA, Lemaoana may well have of Ullmann’s of the family in his placed sculpture (see Fig. the work that had in 1968, when the Ullmann was and the and often in in the development of and with an while women in Johannesburg might be immediate when their were and this was not when they were mothers who their way the not have the or to their with them and were to them in the of outside The family in the Ullmann sculpture was an for many South who would have the work. the sculpture were In the library was the first in South Africa to be to people of (see and the of those who not simply the garden but also the building one can only about how the sculpture by Ullmann the apartheid one that those who any of it it from their for some it even as a of that were the of the apartheid to to such as Lemaoana’s sculpture is in a to that which the sculpture it may to the of those with the library and its gardens from decades by Ullmann’s of with a more engagement with the of for many in the of in such a way that the sculpture to South the is in some in the sculpture’s with the at play in public sculpture historically and the The sculpture’s to is also in some ways with public on the three plinths on which she the is way the of who up at Lemaoana has in a of the which was for a work that and might participation or significant to by of of the as an in which Lemaoana’s work a space where people are to or and on a the small amphitheater in Beyers Naude which Democracy Is Dialogue a meeting point for and groups (Fig. it is a site where people for for a on May 2024, against the of the Johannesburg Library to in the building (Fig. In that it has not only a to women’s resistance apartheid but also a rallying point for and of in the Seejarim’s sculpture came about through a more process than had Lemaoana’s, and a The Radisson who were their building in the a organization in Johannesburg to which Seejarim had been for works to for about a for the of the of the were the of the at the Seejarim be had public of the artists who in the in she a work a led by outside the in in Johannesburg (Fig. In she installed sculptures in at the site where the Freedom was by the Congress of the was also the artist who made the commemorative of that was at his in one to work in her outside the the of a made from a metal used to which was of the that and his used to their in an of on at the of was via of while the figures made to the of the Freedom were developed from of than from of she to have included a in her of this was of its historical to a at the site than it a domestic with However, when she was in Seejarim’s art was on the of the and the of This developed from at an first in which of works and that and she had them on the challenges of an of with that of and some of her works on the by making reference to from the her (Fig. made from an and a is a of from the and of a that to and the of that are not only but also to with and As I have in an of the to in her her at the in Johannesburg in included sculptures of irons that were in for at with her from and However, she subsequently to to in the she by the she had a of bases of irons in her studio that she had from a but had not what to with them. had with as a and the idea of making a of from bases to Seejarim’s proposal was and the Radisson that the work be as a Radisson provided Seejarim with some sites for the and she the one that was ultimately had initially that were in given her of would work and they were on a more and the Radisson that she this while given freedom and in of the and of the she was in one to with the of the Seejarim was to to the a of the of as irons was important to she used a on them. Red were to this at rendition of via domestic irons invokes the of the of the made popular in a by who his for her The was to “The as was to and by with which her was be the of the was not to be simply it was also to be to the point of and indeed to be or immediate As in her of this idea in a for in the of the had a mind or a of her but to with the and of Seejarim a at the in in the that The Mundane and the Magical was completed and and it included some works from the bases of the of the making reference not only to but more to of how the of the of the might on her the of the of the to be to a and to and than to of I not her she would have would have the of my This clearly had for Seejarim and other works in her at had been on the challenges of the and perspectives of an artist with about and on the significance of for for The Mundane and the Schattschneider that while the work indeed the idea of a as Schattschneider is also a at play for their and are not in a to As Seejarim more that liberation is in may be to that the of an artist, on the one hand, and of on the other, are ultimately that the artist who is female may be to the demands of her and social of mothers and may be viewed in the of the in which the work was made and how this and of domestic space. had in a space which was more it had with not simply domestic but also The that had on in South Africa may have instances of with their any and than a had to a from which a of women to take flight with Seejarim would that who were to be would but it the made the domestic a space for (in be that Seejarim’s and reference to the idea of the of the not that she was only a of and in which women with The Mundane and the Magical was also envisaged as to the many challenges by women in South This was through the work’s the work as not only in but also an historical commemorative Seejarim that she chose a for the sculpture that towards the and the original site of Johannesburg’s founding (in on the work’s historical (Allara, Auslander, Berman, and Schattschneider that it refers to both the of who in the and of women of who in domestic and in and the to a for and their in the of However, given the on women’s in Seejarim’s work I would that it is in only the of is its This is also in Seejarim’s own about the significance of its historical left their or had other the of those women, and the is in also the result of their (in in this the domestic irons are of the of In to Democracy Is which emphasizes the of ordinary women in the liberation The Mundane and the Magical to ways in which are largely left of the historical also the development of key group women in Johannesburg were domestic and the of the work from domestic irons would to reference to their in The Mundane and the Magical might be to of in that both works the of domestic through or of the impetus to its constraints through the of and that and women to domestic work in Johannesburg until but it was women who on this for such work was as the to the and new were developed for that the of of the of Johannesburg with as and that was for a not to have a or to be for were often for and and of their work was onerous simply it was and However, as from her with women in Johannesburg as domestic the apartheid many of or even more a many of domestic to be common in contemporary South Albeit that the of apartheid are not only and is new at domestic work to be an area of with where of are not and where are vulnerable to (see and for an In the of through The Mundane and the Magical is in not only to prior to but also to that the and from which many of those on it for their of I have a space where people are to or it would inspires would to be that it not on the of an to Seejarim’s in is in such a way that it invites a to the in that to complete the Seejarim’s work is in not simply but also up in public art the of has its in the work of In to with first in a that are and those that are instances in which of the is the of an than it or a statement of or what might a is it is a in a public which are to some and contemporary works which on or to or in the of it from what an depicts and to the and that it terms of The Mundane and the Magical might be to As with the of the bases of ordinary domestic However, is a important area of the two and that is their The with a on her which is in can be when one towards the sculpture from the (Fig. However, as one it that the sculpture in an of metal (Fig. one is in a the process of up to and the sculpture a of the in and of as she were while on the also an of its through the process of with in a way to The Mundane and the to be that, while a work may be in the it ultimately be or even Seejarim had envisaged that the of The Mundane and the Magical might complete the work by in the (Fig. but she had not how this would in a process of on the part of viewers. As she such of the work may not be by alertness to the meanings and about domestic by the artist, it suggest that made of the bases of domestic irons with they are people in the or those who have it they the sculpture a of both Lemaoana’s and Seejarim’s sculptures have the public art of Johannesburg by insights about women and their social contributions or I have a liberation from apartheid that is implied to have been achieved through a brave and female the engagement with the sculpture with that of a more work on a where one up to the its on the podium of an amphitheater is on a site with and in it in ways that are the of on than the sculpture inspires the to through and women from prior to to the of Johannesburg, Seejarim’s sculpture may also be as a that liberation from apartheid has not in brought freedom from the that in the domestic and through of its is not ultimately simply the the who up the to the sculpture’s is given the to their own as a of might in that, it via bases of Seejarim’s sculpture to constraints in their through an of
Brenda Schmahmann (Thu,) studied this question.