Negligée

Medium:	Installation
Date:	2023

Countless survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) are accused of ‘asking for it’ implying that they dress provocatively and want to be raped.

Many women in underprivileged communities in South Africa don't wear bras because they cannot afford them, this is taken to mean that they want sexual attention.

The @impilo_foundation empowers survivors of GBVF via social projects like the #empowerher bra drive through which they distributed 6200 bras to 3100 women in 2022, thereby positively impacting the lives of these women.

Angela Yeung, founder of Impilo, invited multidisciplinary artist Jenny Nijenhuis to collaborate to amplify the work she does in support of GBV survivors.

The resultant artwork ‘Negligée’* (2023) disrupts the rape myth narrative by contrasting an innocent item of women’s clothing, a white nightie, with the idea that a nightdress is a sexual invitation.

These slightly altered lyrics from the Tori Amos song titled ‘Me and a Gun’ are stitched onto the nightdress.
YES, I WXORE A SLINKY THING
DOES THAT MEAN I SHOULD SPREAD
FOR YOU, YOUR FRIENDS, YOUR
FATHER? **
The song ‘Me and a Gun’ is about Tori Amos being raped when she was twenty-one.

Angela summited Island Peak Everest in the Himalayas on 4 November 2022 at 6200m. In 2024 her goal is to collect 8848 bras, the same height as Mount Everest, which Angela will be climbing to raise funds to contribute towards an educational centre in an existing safe-haven for survivors of GBV in Katlehong, South Africa.

@sibusiso.vilane the first African man of colour to summit Everest 20 years ago, has just completed his 20th anniversary summit, he carried and wore the nightdress. Negligée was flown on Everest as a symbol of upliftment and empowerment.

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