Postcolonial Perspectives: Jodi Windvogel on Femicide in South Africa
Fiona Wachera
Uyinene Mrwetyana was raped and killed by an employee, Luyanda Botha, at Cape Town’s Clareinch post office on August 24, 2019.
The rape and murder of the 19-year-old University of Cape Town student – who had gone to collect a parcel – exemplified the prevalence of femicide and gender-based violence in the second-largest economy in Africa. It sparked widespread outrage and ignited national conversations about the pervasive nature of violence against women in South Africa, given that Uyinene Mrwetyana was assaulted in a government building.
Jodi Windvogel's visual record of the crime scene is a testament to the banality of spaces where femicide occurs. Windvogel's documentation not only memorializes Uyinene's final location but also serves as a call to action for sustained efforts to confront and dismantle the cultural and social structures that perpetuate violence against women in everyday settings.
Jodi Windvogel – a Cape Town-based documentary photographer and video producer – began in 2017 a long-term documentary project, The Body at Risk, which investigates the endemic issue of femicide in South Africa and underscores the urgent need to tackle broader societal issues, especially the patriarchal structures that perpetuate male dominance, rigid notions of masculinity, and female subordination, all of which significantly contribute to high rates of femicide in South Africa.
Jodi's exploration of societal injustices and human rights issues started within the field of videography. Influenced by the multifaceted social tapestry of her Cape Town upbringing, Jodi became aware of the nuances of the socioeconomic disparities within the city. This ignited a passion to wield the camera not merely as a recording device but as an anthropological tool for social commentary.
Leveraging her background in fine arts and recognizing the enduring value of visual narrative, Jodi transitioned from video production to documentary photography. This shift did not negate her video expertise. Instead, it allowed Jodi to broaden her artistic toolkit and refine her visual storytelling. Jodi’s shift from moving to still images was fueled by her desire to embark on an extensive photographic inquiry that amplified the voices of South African women and girls' voices and affirmed their fundamental rights.
When I met Jodi in Nairobi, she was the first photographer I ever encountered who didn't carry a camera around. She explained that this was because she understands the power a camera wields and the power dynamics it sets up in interactions. Her approach prioritizes getting to know people first.
Femicide, the intentional killing of women and girls because of their gender, has reached alarming levels in South Africa. One South African woman is murdered every two and a half hours. Police figures record that 10,818 rapes were reported in the first quarter of 2022. During the final quarter of 2023, gender-based violence in South Africa escalated, with 1,135 women murdered (a 3.1% increase compared to the same period in 2022) and 285 children killed. In total, 18,474 women and 2,281 children were victims of violent assaults. According to the South African Police Service (SAPS), shooting was the leading cause of death among female victims. Over a third of women murdered were killed by a current or former intimate partner. All in all, research conducted during 2022/23 revealed the femicide rate in South Africa was five times higher than the global average and rising over the last five years.
The alarming numbers of murders, rapes, and other sexual offenses underscore the severity of the crisis. Jodi's ambition has been to humanize the stories indicated by this data and illustrate the profound impact of femicide on the daily lives of women and girls. Her goal was to reveal a narrative in which the intersection of systemic failures intersect with societal norms and perpetuate gender-based violence.
However, with limited data availability across African countries, the assessment of longitudinal trends related to femicide is constrained. Limited up-to-date information is a significant problem, hindering transparent reporting, effective policy-making, and intervention efforts. This underscores the critical need for investment in enhanced data collection and cross-regional collaborations to address the dynamics of femicide across different regions in Africa.
In The Body at Risk, Jodi engages with the stark realities experienced by women and survivors of femicide, including intimate-partner femicide (IPF) non-intimate-partner femicide (NIPF), and suspected rape-murder. Jodi’s project skillfully captures the physical environments, seemingly banal, that have become scenes of blight and brutality. Jodi uses composition and perspective to evoke a sense of emotional depth and solemnity, inviting viewers to contemplate the omnipotence of femicide.
The Body at Risk is a poignant visual narrative that aims to provoke deep societal introspection about seemingly ordinary spaces like post offices, schools, and homes, now sites of pain and fear. It also fosters a profound dialogue on the intersections of gender, violence, and power dynamics. This artistic yet reportorial approach invites viewers to engage in contemplation, encouraging a deeper understanding of the profound human impact wrought by gender-based violence.
Through The Body at Risk, Jodi sheds light on the spatial dimensions of femicide, emphasizing the need for a more nuanced understanding of the societal factors that perpetuate violence against women. Her photography underscores the imperative to confront the pervasive nature of gender-based violence, ultimately advocating for systemic changes and enhanced protections for vulnerable populations. Jodi's documentation of femicide locations in South Africa represents a distinctive visual anthropology that enhances the scant data on femicide in Africa. By capturing and mapping these spaces, Jodi contributes valuable insights into the geographical contexts of gender-based violence, highlighting the ordinary and often overlooked locations where women and girls experience assault and murder.
Jodi Windvogel is the Fujifilm GFX Challenge Grant Programme 2023 recipient. She advocates for grassroots organizations like Women for Change SA, which play a pivotal role in advocating for the safety of women and girls by amplifying the profiles and narratives of victims. By commemorating the names of women and girls lost to femicide, these activists humanize the statistics and emphasize the devastating impact of femicide on individuals, families, and communities. Through public acknowledgment and remembrance, Women for Change SA promotes accountability for addressing systemic failures that perpetuate violence against women and creates online platforms for dialogue, advocacy, and community engagement, fostering solidarity among those affected by femicide and mobilizing collective action toward change.
Despite these grassroots efforts, the initial optimism of advocates, supporters, and activists dwindled when it emerged that in December 2023, Minister Lindiwe Zulu was accused of mismanaging 100 million rands (more than $5 million) designated to assist survivors of gender-based violence. This happened one month after the National Assembly passed the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Bill. These funds were inappropriately allocated to nonfunctional civil society organizations lacking mandates for addressing gender-based violence, highlighting a stark gap between legislative intent and effective implementation. Nonetheless, through their advocacy endeavors, these organizations continue to apply pressure on policymakers, law enforcement agencies, and citizens of South Africa to strive toward creating safe spaces for women and girls.
In African contexts, where femicide data remains scarce, photography goes beyond documentation. The camera empowers African activists and journalists such as Jodi Windvogel to create counternarratives, visually capturing the harrowing realities of femicide and gender-based violence. These images serve as evidence, demanding attention and disrupting the silence surrounding femicide, even as the numbers get numbing. Furthermore, these photographic archives are combating data erasure, ensuring that the stories of victims are not lost. In the hands of Jodi Windvogel, the camera is a powerful tool for protest and advocacy, bearing witness and fostering public memory of the desolate reality of femicide in South Africa.
This is the third article in Fiona Wachera's series Postcolonial Perspectives, which showcases new photography from Africa and visual stories that foreground embodied experiences and challenge colonial histories.
Wachera is a media strategist and the photo editor at Everyday Africa. Their work blends hands-on design for photo, art direction, and media project management, utilizing varied communication mediums, design disciplines, and research techniques. Wachera has collaborated with storytelling teams at the World Press Photo Foundation, Black Women Photographers, Code For Africa, the ICRC, amongst others.
Excellent photos, Jodi!