Art as a Weapon of Memory: Judy Seidman Brings Women in Live Music to Life
As part of its ongoing mission to honour the unsung pioneers of South Africa’s cultural landscape, Concerts SA has partnered with renowned artist and cultural activist Judy Seidman to create a powerful series of graphic portraits celebrating iconic women in live music.
The portraits, featured in the upcoming print edition of Women in Live Music in South Africa – a research report edited by Gwen Ansell – bring to life the stories and legacies of 11 female musicians whose work shaped the South African music scene. From household names like Mama Afrika (Miriam Makeba) to lesser-known yet equally impactful figures, these portraits are more than illustrations: they are acts of remembrance and resistance.
“Art is a weapon of struggle,” said Seidman – a philosophy rooted in her years with the Medu Art Ensemble in 1980s Botswana, where she produced graphics for the South African liberation movement in exile.
🎼 Reimagining Memory Through Art
The idea for the portraits was sparked during the report’s development, as Ansell recalls:
“We were saddened by how many of the women who had blazed trails in live music were no longer with us to speak for themselves. So we asked: What if we gave them a place in the report, not just through words, but through images that might invite new generations to learn their stories?”
“I didn’t want these women to appear confined by their gender or genre,” Seidman explained. “They are not just jazz singers or activists – they are musicians, storytellers, innovators. I tried to reflect that in the movement and rhythm of each image.”
The evening crescendoed with a powerful performance by Menyatso Mathole and crew, sending waves through a crowd that included UK jazz powerhouse Estelle Kokot, and visual artist Judy Seidman, Dr Tu Nokwe to mention a few.
“It was a beautiful communal event. Peter Makurube’s spirit lives on.” – Estelle Kokot
🖼 A Life of Art and Activism
Born in the U.S. in 1951, Judy Seidman grew up in Ghana during Kwame Nkrumah’s Pan-African era, later studying fine arts and sociology in Wisconsin. After moving to Southern Africa in the 1970s, she lived and worked in Zambia, Swaziland, and Botswana, where she was deeply involved in cultural resistance through the Medu Graphics Unit – until the collective was violently targeted in a 1985 cross-border raid by the apartheid regime.
She relocated to Johannesburg in 1990 and has continued to create art that intersects with social justice. Today, Seidman paints, writes, and leads community art workshops that empower people to tell their stories through visual expression.
📘 More Than a Report
Women in Live Music in South Africa is not just a report. It’s a living archive – combining research, narrative, and now visual art – to spotlight the contributions of women who made (and continue to make) South African music unforgettable.
“These images are not about loss,” Seidman emphasized. “They’re about legacy. They’re about the rhythm and soul these women gave us – and the ongoing beat of their influence.”
🖼️ Print edition and portraits available by request.
📲Contact Judy Seidman for copies of her book or prints of the Women in Live Music Graphics: judyannseidman@gmail.com
