“Actions speak louder than words, because it’s the actions of people that we remember more than words…”
On Women’s Day, 09 August 2025, The Arts Company Soweto will be hosting the 2nd edition of its annual exhibition “Women of Substance” which presents a theme called “Gratitude is Served”.
Curated by the eloquent Palesa Suthane, the exhibition aims to honour women especially in the South African art landscape where their creative and cultural labour goes unrecognised. With the richly layered works in print, the show perceives gratitude not as sentiment but as an active acknowledgement of community, of presence, of legacy.
Suthane says in trying to find ways of saying thank you to the people we love the most, do we just use words, do our actions show gratitude, is it in the way we give back? This was a foundation of bringing about the theme. And for her “actions speak louder than words, because it’s the actions of people that we remember more than words, in acts of love and acts of service. I will always remember what you did. So, Gratitude is served is in the everyday actions and how you show your gratitude even after I forgot what you’re thanking me for”.
TACS’ Women of Substance invites audience in a space where printmaking goes beyond being just a technique but also a testament. The featured artists offer a work that speaks to parts of themselves, sharing fragments of themselves with us, as the curator puts it, works that speak to resilience, memory and serving gratitude into the subject and the process.
The theme is not one that is just metaphorical, but it is structural because the layout of the show, the programming and tone are all reflective of the concept of setting a table where women are not only invited but they are centred, honoured and sustained.
Suthane attests that this exhibition will not just be a show but an experience as the visitors will get to experience the presence of the artists externally and then looking at the artworks, picking up the artists’ motives and that is an intimate and personal form of expression that allows the audience to see the artists from an internal standpoint.
This year, TACS has partnered with Women Who Collect because it opens up an opportunity to enquire if printmaking is the type of art that collectors are looking at and if that is not the case, this would be the time to see if that conversation can change, and change the practices of collectors only collecting paintings etc. This collaboration aims to draw attention to the networks of care and commitment that make artistic careers possible.
Featured artists: Anokhi Parikh, Keonah Nyembe, Liz Maelane, Nene Mahlangu, Olwethu de Vos, Puleng Mongale, Sam Ngcobo, Teresa Kutala Firmino, Vanessa Tembane and Zanele Montle
“Congratulations, the artists are so brave, I am so grateful for them taking the risk of creating in such a short space of time and for having the courage of taking in printmaking in the way that they did, I am proud of them and I hope that they will continue to develop more print artworks in their practices and I hope this whole experience shown them that it is possible and that they can do it easily” says Palesa in sending a message to the artists.
This is for art lovers, collectors, community members, Women of Substance 2025 invites everyone to experience what comes out when care, creativity and gratitude take form in ink, in conversations and community.
Private viewing in collaboration with Women Who Collect
Sat, 9 Aug 25 / 11:00 – 14: 00 pm, Public Opening – Saturday, 9 Aug 25 16:00 – 19:00 pm at Ellis House Art Building, Studio 11, 1st Floor West Wing
23 Voorhout Street / Bertrams / Johannesburg.
By Sinentlahla Mbokwe
