Judy Seidman

b. Connecticut, USA, 1951. Lives in Johannesburg. 
Judy Ann Seidman’s art flows from the twinned beliefs that “culture is a weapon of struggle”, and that “the personal is political” – an approach to culture born in Africa’s liberation struggles. Her paintings, drawings and graphics explore personal and collective experience, emotion, belief and vision; speaking of and to people’s movements, from national liberation and worker struggles to feminism and HIV activism.

Education

1973: Master of Arts, Fine Art (Painting), University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, USA
1971: Bachelor of Arts, Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin.

Solo Exhibitions (South Africa)

2019: Drawn Lines, Museum Africa, Johannesburg.

Group Exhibitions (International)

2005: Na Cidade, Jazz, Luanda, Angola.
1984: Botswana National Museum and Art Gallery, Gaborone, Botswana.
1980: Judy Ann Seidman and Pitika Ntuli, Pentonville Gallery, London.
1980: Judy Ann Seidman and Pitika Ntuli, Institute of Education Gallery, University of London, London.
1976: Hemingway Art Gallery, New York.
1976: Botswana National Museum and Art Gallery, Gaborone.
1975: Exhibition of paintings and drawings, British Council, Lusaka, Zambia
1974: Exhibition of paintings and drawings, National Library, Lusaka.
1973: Masters of Fine Art exhibition, University of Wisconsin Art Gallery, Wisconsin.

Workshops, Arts Facilitation & Policy

2016 - present: Facilitator, Feminist Women's Art Network, One in Nine campaign, South Africa.
2008 - 2012: Facilitator, One in Nine advocacy media and Naledi Ya Meso art-making and gender workshops, CDP Trust, Johannesburg.
2007 - present: Facilitator, Khulumani Art Healing and Heritage Workshops, South Africa.
1996 - 1997: Member, Curriculum 2005 Arts and Culture Learning Area Committee, Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, South Africa.
1996: Consultant, “Respect for Cultural Diversity” curriculum, South African National Defence Force civic education programme, South Africa.
1995 - 1996: Member, Arts Education Policy Task Team, Gauteng Ministry of Education, South Africa.
1994 - 1995: Sub-committee member, Visual Arts of National Education and Training Forum curriculum development, South Africa.
1994 - 1995: Chairperson, Strategic Management Team, Gauteng Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts, Culture, South Africa.
1993: Curriculum development, Dakawa Arts and Crafts school, Grahamstown.
1991 - 2001: Consultant, Curriculum Development Project for the Creative Arts, Johannesburg.
1988 - 1990: Cultural Studies curriculum development, Foundation for Education with Production, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
1985 - 1989: Graphics editor and training supervisor, Mmegi wa Dikgang, Botswana.
1978 - 1983: Teacher, Thokoza School, Mbabane, Swaziland
1978 - 1983: Teacher, Maru-a-Pula Secondary School, Gaborone.

Publications

2017: Drawn Lines, an autobiography of Judy Ann Seidman, Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, California.
2013: Justice, redress and restitution: Voices of the widows of the Marikana Massacre, Khulumani Support Group, Johannesburg.
2011: Naledi Ya Meso Handbook, Curriculum Development Project Trust, Johannesburg.
2011: Art as Advocacy Handbook, Curriculum Development Project Trust, Johannesburg.
2010: One Woman, Sketches/diaries, letters/notes: Fragments from Anita Parkhurst Willcox, Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, California.
2007: Katorus Stories, South African History Archive, Johannesburg.
2007: Red on Black, the story of the South African Poster Movement, STE Publishers, Johannesburg.
2005: Hlanganani Basebensi: A brief history of COSATU, STE Publishers, Johannesburg.
2005: Every worker a union member, COSATU Collective, Johannesburg.
2002: My Comrade with AIDS is still my Comrade, COSATU Collective, Johannesburg.
2001: The Social Protection handbook, COSATU Collective, Johannesburg.
1993: Fighting AIDS, National Progressive Primary Health Care Network booklet, South Africa.
1991: Images of Defiance: Protest Posters from South Africa 1980 - 1990, Raven Press (Written together with Posterbook Collective), Johannesburg.
1990: In Our Own Image, (textbook for  secondary school level Cultural Studies for Southern Africa), FEP, Gaborone.
1979: Bayezwa: Paintings and drawings of Southern Africa, South End Press, Boston.

Writing

2016: National liberation is necessarily an act of culture: Visual arts of the armed struggle in Southern Africa, paper given at Conference Politics of the Armed Struggle in Southern Africa
2013: Khulumani! Talking to the concept, structure and outcomes of Khulumani Support Group’s Art, Healing and Heritage Workshops, paper by Judy Seidman and Nomarussia Bonasa for Khulumani Support Group at Dance for Life conference.
2010: The Art of National Liberation; Thami Mnyele and Medu Art Ensemble retrospective, Thami + Medu exhibition catalogue, Johannesburg Art Gallery and Jacana Press, Johannesburg.
2010: Education for liberation, Chimurenga magazine, Cape Town.
2006: Drawn Lines: Belief, Emotion, and Aesthetic in the South African Poster Movement in Phillippa Hobbs, ed. "Messages and Meaning: the MTN art collection", MTN, Johannesburg.
2004: South African Art Historians, with Jillian Carman, paper on South African Poster Movement, Durban.
1997: Imagery and AIDS in South Africa, paper presented to Images and Empire conference in Yale University, Connecticut.
1992 - 1994: Africa South and East, Johannesburg.
1986 - 1989: Medu Art Ensemble Newsletter, Gaborone.

Other

2006 - 2008: Curator, Poster Collection, South African History Archive, Johannesburg.
2004: Specialist advisor, Images of Defiance, MuseumAfrica, Johannesburg.
1995 - 1997: Executive member, Arts and Culture Alliance, Gauteng.
1994 - 1995: Executive member, Arts Educators Association, Gauteng.
1981 - 1985: Member, Medu Art Ensemble, Gaborone.

Collections

Botswana National Museum and Gallery, Gaborone, Botswana
Mayibuye Centre, Cape Town, South Africa
MTN collection, Johannesburg, South Africa
Museum of Revolutionary Art, Leningrad, Soviet Union
Museum of Modern Art, New York
South African History Archive, Johannesburg, South Africa

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