Jacqulyn Willard

Welcome to the Women’s Prison at Constitution Hill

With a single glance I am stripped naked before you.
I am a woman.
You stare at my curves and see my worth.
You are a man.
I appear passive, vulnerable, exploited because you have pushed me into this position— and you think you know me.
Who knows my story better than me,
you?
A Woman.

I am not saying all women are the same, what I am saying is that there exists a common thread to the woman experience.  This experience is ancient and untold.  Men have held the power of the pen and with this pen comes permanence; transcendent of time and place.  History is recounted and eternalized through the eyes of a man.  Unheard and pushed to the margins is the forbidden history of the world through the eyes of a woman.

I never knew how deep I craved this secret fruit of knowledge until I had a taste.  Welcome to the Women’s Prison at Constitution Hill.  Here you have the rare opportunity to exist in a history that is WOMEN.  The prison was used as a holding place for women political prisoners during Apartheid.  The women kept here have come back to recreate prison as they remember it.  Their interpretations are artistic and stunning.  You have never seen beauty quite like it.

One woman’s interpretation of her inhumane holding cell held nothing more than a simple wedding dress.  She had been banned from attending her own wedding.  Think about that.  As you walk along the outside corridors you can read about how women prisoners were denied sanitary pads during their menstruation period.  Explicit is the detail of how a women’s biology can be used against her; to break her spirits, humiliate her and make her suffer.  It is the woman experience to bleed once a month, but this experience is not considered “appropriate” conversation.  To behold a public display detailing the exact ways in which women resisted this degradation— was a powerful moment in my life.

Painting of inside jail done by Fatima Meer when she was incarcerated.

Scattered and displayed among the prison are paintings created by the women while in prison.  The paintings capture your eye and engage you in a depiction of prison life.  However, because you are standing in the center of the painting it feels not so much a depiction, as a reality.  The resources to create such impeccable work were not to be found in these prison walls, yet the artists found a way to express themselves in the most suffocating of circumstances.  The strength, determination and perseverance of these women radiate from within the prison walls.

The Women’s Prison at Constitution Hill will always serve as a reminder that there are many versions of any given history.  It is our responsibility to seek and create our own.  As a woman, experiencing this prison reaffirmed the magnificence of keeping pen in hand.  The value of stripping naked your own history is inestimable.  You are the only one who can determine the worth of your story.

Signing off, Jacqulyn Willard, Team mate Pedagogy of Action 2007