Using art as a form of healing, Stellenbosch University (SU) staff and students gathered for a “Sip, Paint and Reflect” event in honour of Women’s Month. The commemoration, held at the university’s Victoria Hub on 13 August, marked the 70th anniversary of the historic Women’s March of 1956.
Participants at the Sip, Paint and Reflect event use the session to reflect on womanhood and social change, 70 years after the 1956 Women’s March. PHOTO: Amahle Thabethe
The Centre for the Advancement of Social Impact and Transformation (CASIT), the SRC Portfolio for Womxn and Queer Empowerment and the BA Student Committee all collaborated to organise the event.
The reason for doing a sip and paint specifically is to facilitate reflections, through art, that come from the shared table spaces where women can be celebrated, said Shanté Neff, the transformation programme coordinator with CASIT, and organiser of the event.
“I wanted to do something different. I feel like we are always talking, engaging and having critical discussions, but when do we actually get an opportunity to tap into our own personal creativity and to reflect on that?” said Neff.
Two paintings made during the session present different representations of black women, reflecting participants’ individual perspectives on womanhood at Stellenbosch University’s “Sip, Paint and Reflect” event on 13 August. PHOTO: Amahle Thabethe
The Women’s March has been a symbol of the struggles that women still face, said Jean Farmer, a staffer who attended the event, adding that women who had carried the nation were underappreciated.
However, she said, she was proud that the younger generation was carrying on the legacy of 1956 and fighting for other women.
“What I admire women for is that they do not only concentrate on their own struggle, they concentrate on the nation’s struggle. Whether it is men, women, children, you will find women fighting for everything,” Farmer said.
She added that it was beautiful to see women coming together to celebrate themselves and the older generation – all a reflection of true womanhood.
This event is one that allows for women and men to share their stories in a room with no judgement and to heal themselves through creative expression, said Jessica Chukwuyem, the chairperson of the SRC Womxn and Queer Empowerment,
The event allowed for a resilience unlike 1956’s, one that also made room for vulnerability and acknowledging that women should not always be expected to be strong, there is strength and liberation in vulnerability, said Chukwuyem,
“This therapeutic session is a chance for people to relive the consciousness of the women who marched in 1956, so what I would want people to take away from today is a redefined sense of womanhood and sisterhood,” Chukwuyem said.
Participants discuss their artwork during Stellenbosch University’s “Sip, Paint and Reflect” event hosted on 13 August. One participant uses her painting to address the stigma around discussing female anatomy, saying that the word “vagina” should be normalised in society. PHOTO: Amahle Thabethe
According to the Soul City Institute for Social Justice, a feminist organisation working to ensure equality for young girls and women, recent SAPS statistics showed that a total of 9 782 rape cases were recorded in 2025/2026, while sexual assault cases increased by 4.2%, and attempted sexual offences rose by 2.0%, from 656 to 669 cases.
It was these issues that prompted organisers to employ the event as a “quiet form of protest”, and to foster change through dialogue.