Wo.Mansion
Welcome to the Wo.Mansion, an international collective of thirteen female photographers whose work has been curated into a unique interactive tour showcasing their artistic interpretation of their experiences of Covid-19.
The project was led by Anna Gunn and the 360° virtual gallery was created by Katherine Gooding.
Each photographer was given six squares, or cube faces, to build the walls, floor and ceiling of their rooms. The cube faces are stitched into an equirectangular 360° image, then added to the website with videos and extra information to convey each artist’s experience of 2020.
Take a tour of the Wo.Mansion, and make sure you click on all the info buttons to read each artists story and inspiration behind their images.
My room was inspired by the 5 month alcohol ban that was enforced in South Africa, during lockdown. Ironically, we are once again under lockdown with the alcohol ban imposed upon us. To read more about the inspiration for my images, scroll down or Visit my room in the Wo.Mansion.
The wine that I used in my images is made by one of my clients, female business woman and entrepreneur Koni Maliehe.
Giving back
The Wo.Mansion project supports the health and reproductive rights of women throughout the world. You can help by giving to Planned Parenthood. Donate
As a South African, living in South Africa, where gender based violence is rife and one in five women experience abuse at the hands of a partner, my room also supports The Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children. Donate
The Candle Room
Each artist has added a photograph of a candle to a room, in the Wo,Mansion, to remember those who have been lost or are grieving as a result of Covid-19. Everyone who views the Wo.Mansion is invited to upload their own image of a candle in memory of loved ones affected by the virus. #womansioncandles
About my room
Initially my plan was to create a few deep and meaningful images, depicting the uncertainty, stress and heartache, that came with lockdown. My husband and I own a restaurant which employs 44 members of staff. And as the unemployment rate in South Africa is 30%, each one of those staff members support numerous other members of their extended families. So having no turnover and no income for 5 months had a ripple effect on so many people in our lives.
I had a few ideas of the images I was going to create. Me buried in huge amounts of paperwork, while I applied for UIF (Unemployment Insurance Fund) benefits for our staff. Me on the phone to a helpline, that never seemed to get answered and when it did it was always by someone who was not qualified to answer our queries or sort out the issues. More paperwork to apply for a bank loan to pay the staff, once we realized that the government was not going to come through in time. Waiting for approval of the loan. More waiting. More phone calls. More paperwork. My husband meeting our staff at the grocery store to buy them essentials to keep them going until the loan came through. I even planned to include a couple of light hearted images. Me peeking out from a pile of cinnabuns as my daughter discovered a love for baking.
But after going through my ideas, I decided to change direction completely and instead of dwelling on the negatives of not operating for 5 months, I decided to focus on the positives. Well, as restaurant owners, there was really only one BIG positive. We had wine!
In South Africa, our government banned the sale, manufacture, transport, bottling and export of alcohol completely. So while most the nation turned to brewing their own pineapple beer or raiding their cupboards for any dregs that they could find, we, as restaurant owners, in the wine Valley of Robertson, had access to more wine than we could consume. Getting the wine from the restaurant to our home was another thing completely and normally involved some kind of undercover operation.
So this is me indulging in wine during lockdown.