Exhibition/Project Statement
Guardians of the Seed
This is a non-extractive feminist research and photo-documentary project led by RWA and supported by the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies of the University of Johannesburg, the University of Cape Town’s Ethics Lab, and the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute (TNI). The exhibition depicts a dynamic context and a multi-dimensional view of rural women’s that challenge the dominant portrayal of them as helpless and poverty-stricken. The pride is evident when guardians tell their stories of how conserving and multiplying local seeds has helped them to send their children to school, build their homes, become economically self-reliant and autonomous. Each seed protected, harvested and sown is not necessarily perceived by the guardian as a political act against big agribusiness, but is a significant step in the struggle against corporate power in the countryside. Each individual act of the seed guardian becomes a collective wave of solidarity across the region. The team in charge of the design and production of the exhibition consists of three activist-scholars: Dr Daniel Chavez. Uruguayan visual anthropologist and political economist based in The Netherlands. He holds a BA in Social Anthropology (University of the Republic, Montevideo) and a MA and a PhD in Development Studies (ISS, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague). He is a Senior Researcher at the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute (TNI) and a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg. Dr Donna Andrews. South African political economist and feminist theorist. She is a Senior Researcher at the EthicsLab of the University of Cape Town. She holds a MA from the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague and a PhD from the University of Cape Town, which focused on capitalism and nature. Dr Suzall Timm. South African criminologist focusing on regulation. She holds a MA and a PhD in Criminology from the University of Cape Town. She is a Lecturer at the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies of the University of Johannesburg, responsible for the course on Urban Informal Economies. Together with Dr Andrews, she co-designed the course on Radical Activism: Epistemology, Agency and Positionality.