Amie Lindiwe Hanan Soudien (she/her) is a researcher and art writer based in Johannesburg. Soudien’s research concerns the use of art, performance and the performing arts in the commemoration of slavery in Cape Town, the history of Cape Town, archival studies, popular media, gender and sexuality. She is the editor of Lesser Violence: Vol. 1 (2022) published by MaThoko’s Books. As an art writer, she has contributed to ArtThrob, ArtAFRICA, the Mail & Guardian, and Frieze, among others. Soudien is currently a PhD candidate in the department of Art History at Wits University, Johannesburg.
Thinking with the RCMC research theme ‘care/disrepair’, Amie Soudien will extend upon her PhD research concerning narratives of enslaved women situated in Cape Town to develop a ‘network’ of stories across the VOC empire in regions such as present-day Indonesia, Suriname and Brazil. She will work with the archival resources housed in the Wereldculturen collection, explore how these resources can be activated beyond the museum, and how they might contribute to the remembrance of slavery. An outcome of this research fellowship will be a ‘zine’ or publication, in which Soudien will experiment with artistic and proto-curatorial strategies that engage with representational care, harm and risk.
