It is an early Saturday afternoon when we stop past Wits Art Museum (WAM) in Braamfontein. A warm winter's day, the streets are thrumming with activity, and the dull thump of music and laughter can be heard from The Playground's Saturday market just a block away. It is hard to imagine that just five years ago these same streets would have been empty, with nothing but leaves and litter skittering between the concrete.
Of course, this was the case after that fateful day when President Cyril Ramaphosa announced South Africa would be going under lockdown. Faces were hidden with masks, the smell of sanitiser lingered in the air, and physical touch became a rarity as our lives were upended. In a poignant offering at WAM, Mapula Embroidery Project looks at the moments, days, and months after this announcement – weaving together both personal and collective memories to reflect on this period, and what it meant.
Mapula Embroidery Project is a community art collective in the Winterveld and Hammanskraal areas. Formed in 1991, Mapula has given a space for local women to document their struggles and triumphs. Aside from these awe-inspiring works, the project serves as a vital means of income and provides skills development for the 150 or so participating artists.
The exhibition, 2020 Through the Eye of a Needle: Remembering the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2025, brings together three bodies of work created by the collective since the pandemic. The first set of 14 'Covid Cloths' was commissioned by the University of Johannesburg in 2020, followed by 17 panels in 2021 dubbed 2020 Through the Eye of A Needle. Finally, Dealing with Adversity comprises six self-portraits created in 2023.
Photo: Johannesburg In Your Pocket.
Many of the works speak to the challenges of food insecurity, gender-based violence, and the losses brought about by the pandemic, but within these, there are lighter moments, and the power of the collective shines through, too.
In many ways, the exhibition was not an easy visit, as we were reminded of the various traumas we experienced. Be it the effects of isolation, the precarity of the economy and the increased unemployment Covid wrought, or the loss of loved ones. Some of what appears on the embroideries is intensely personal, and many of the images and phrases, such as "We have to call a hearse to pick up a dead person", words embroidered on Maria Rengane's piece, sent us reeling back in time.
Photo: Johannesburg In Your Pocket.
This does not mean you should not visit. While no doubt difficult, the exhibition serves as a powerful reminder of the community around us and of the strength and resilience it took to make it through this challenging time. In this regard, we were particularly touched by the areas that WAM has created for visitors to leave their own Covid stories. Not only did these add another layer to the works on show, but they revealed anew just how much we shared with those around us, even if in a socially distanced manner.
There are portraits of departed loved ones, messages of memory and confessions of the effects Covid had, and cards that commemorate all that was lost and gained. When we visited, two other groups were looking at the works, and though the only communication between us was some hushed gallery greetings and musings, we couldn't help but feel a closeness to them as we wrote down some of our recollections and pains.
This is part of what makes this exhibition so cathartic. It is vulnerable to revisit memories of a time when there was such widespread fear, struggle, and uncertainty. Yet, through the delicate threads of the Mapula artists and the intimate confessions of strangers who lived through the same time, we felt safe enough to sit in this space.
2020 Through the Eye of a Needle reminds us that Covid-19 was never just a series of statistics. The losses and changes it brought continue to reverberate, and Mapula’s embroideries offer a way to feel, remember, and honour them – while affirming that even in isolation, we were never truly alone.
Schedule a visit to see the exhibition for yourself. 2020 Through the Eye of a Needle: Remembering the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2025 is on display until Sat, Sep 13, 2025 at Wits Art Museum in Braamfontein. Follow @witsartmuseum_wam on Instagram for upcoming walkabouts and craft events that bring the exhibition to life.
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