Best known for her roles in hit TV series Rhythm City and Generations, actress and director Mmabatho Montsho presents her first foray into visual art Manyano, a solo exhibition at Constitution Hill. A nostalgic recounting of the history of the Methodist Women’s Prayer and Service Union (popularly known as the Women’s Manyano), in her paintings Montsho traces the advent of an organisation with over 62,000 members from all over Southern Africa.

Innately political, the Women’s Manyano was formed to address key women issues and provide women with leadership positions denied to them in conventional, patriarchal church systems. A member of the Women’s Manyano herself, Montsho draws on her childhood experiences of growing up in the union in her deeply symbolic artworks challenging stereotypes and prejudices often associated with black women.

The union’s military-inspired uniforms are a key focal point; inspired by the colonial British soldiers’ uniform, each element holds deep significance such as the black skirt, sock and shoes representing blindness, the white bib and hat representing enlightenment and the red jacket standing for blood. Montsho explains “the double meaning of liberation through blood intrigues me, whether it is the blood of Christ, or the blood of our people –black women in particular– shed in pursuit of liberation. I am also intrigued by their commitment to wear their symbolic blindness without shame”.