Document

Venus vs Modernity – a didactic ensemble of the summarized life events of Saartjie Baartman performed by Lebo Mashile. See it at the Market Theatre in the heart of Newtown this September.

What Is It?

Venus vs Modernity presents the life and journeys of the iconic Saartjie Baartman. Traversing 10 years of her life, including her journey to Europe which promised not only a better life, but fame and glory thanks to her ample posterior.

Lebogang Mashile and Ann Masina explore issues in need of being elevated in today’s current framework of hyper visibility within the arts industry. They also give the Saartjie narrative a voice never heard before – her own. A story told from the perspective of the victim who may perhaps not have seen herself as such in certain circumstances. Venus vs Modernity tells the story of a young woman travelling to an unknown world and how her alter ego in some way embraced the madness and misogyny of it all.

Don’t miss this theatrical re-telling of a tragic story, so well known that it has become part of our history.