Sue Williamson

Who were the women who formed the backbone of the liberation struggle in South Africa, and who, after the complicated birth of democracy, have continued to make their voices heard? Goodman Gallery presents All Our Mothers – an ongoing series of photographic portraits – in which one of South Africa’s most important living artists, Sue Williamson, attempts to address this question.

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All Our Mothers follows Williamson’s critically acclaimed exhibition, Testimony, held at Goodman Gallery London in 2021 and marks the first time that that this important body of work will be exhibited in the UK. The ongoing series spans four decades, from the 1980s through to the present day, and provides an invaluable record of the undervalued role of women in South African history.

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The courageous women captured in this series faced down the apartheid security police, they were imprisoned, they fought to prevent State demolition of their homes, they marched in the streets to protest against ‘non-European’ women carrying identity passes, they were deported after their partners were killed in jail, they left the country to continue the struggle from beyond its borders – some forced into exile.