Body Map Print

The Body Maps are artworks which were created by a group of women, The Bambanani Women's Group, based in Cape Town, South Africa. This print is a limited edition digital inkjet print made from the original painting, that was sold with the participation of the women who authored the art and the related stories, with proceeds allocated to HIV/AIDS organizations in South Africa.
The Bambanani Women were invited to tell their stories through a community outreach program initiated by the AIDS and Society Research Unit of the University of Cape Town (ASRU) and Médecins Sans Frontières. This program began to document the lives of this group of HIV+ women who were given access to drug therapies. With the help of Cape Town-based artist, Jane Soloman, the participants created Body Maps- life size images tracing the contours of their bodies that visualize the virus and articulate each individual history. Each Body Map image bears the name, the place and the date of birth, as well as the handprints and the footprints of its maker / subject. On the Body Maps, painted representations of wounds, marks and attacking HIV viruses appear together with textual fragments and areas of emotional significance. Each participant has selected a symbol of personal power and hope, often taking the form of a flower or a heart, to embody the optimism of the project. "Long Life - Positive HIV Stories," a collaborative book based on the Body Maps and on the accompanying stories they illustrate, profiles the lifes of the Bambanani Woman group. (Description from the Body Maps website--www.bodymaps.co.za/about)

The artist, Nomawethu, described the meaning of her body map: "In my left eye I have a birth mark and I just like it. It is part of me. That scar on my head . I was 17 and I was walking in the H section. There was R350 hidden in my bra. On the way I met three guys and they told me I must give them 50 cents. The first one he started to klap me in the face with his hand, the second one he draw a knife and he stab on top of my eye . I told myself I'm not going to give the money. It's better if I die than just give it. In my bra I also keep a knife and I took it and stabbed . All three robbers ran away but the community found the one I stabbed. It was easy to find him. They just followed his blood and they beat him very terrible. You see there are red flames there by my heart. It was 1998 in June when I found out that my sister had killed herself . She drank some paraffin spirits and threw a match and caught alight. Then she died in Jooste hospital. Her mouth was gone and her breasts. She did try talk to me and say you must look after my child. Then she died. It was because her husband was with another woman. He died last year of this HIV illness. On my painting I have written, "I want to have a cure for HIV" and "Try to be faithfully" of course "HIV is a killer". I'm standing with my hands up and my feet on the snake . In my opinion the virus look like a snake . You can't see it and it's moving in the secret ways and dark ways. Inkanyamba , a big snake that lives in the water, a destroyer like a hurricane that destroys everything on the earth and makes houses and trees fall down and kills people. But you see I am standing on the snake . With ARVs I destroy this virus too." [From the Memory Box website: Body Map of Nomawethu Ngalimani]

Print from a body map painting; outline of a body with writing around it, dark green background. Printed on canvas, stretched and framed.