‘The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power.
You just take it…’

-Rosanne Barr-

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1. 250ml vodka
2. 25 needles
3. Thread

No, this is not a shopping list for an alcoholic tailor.

Part of setting up for the ‘25 pricks’ video performance meant buying alcohol at 10am on a Sunday. That was not the hard part. The challenge was to ply myself with shot after shot of vodka one hour before show time and still be able to thread 25 needles in 25 minutes.

‘25 Pricks’ is her personal journey…

Of reaching out…

Of being seen but not heard…

Of being sin and always had…

Of enduring nasty pricks…

But still getting it done…

For the tortured souls we’ll always be

That shit will find a meaning with we

Lie a while if you must

But never fly the flag at half mast

One, two, twenty five needles

Yes, yes, life’s full of riddles

Life will send you a big storm

But keep calm and carry on

It’s birthday month for me this March. The Pisces in me anticipates a new set of gills to swim her out into uncharted waters.
I’m done being pricked.

Jackie Karuti’s portrait
© Uli Zeisluft

Jackie Karuti also known as ‘Jackie the Third’ (the 1^st and the 2^nd were not relevant hence there is no mention of them) is a visual artist working in the fields of painting, performance art and installation. She also models for artistic photography, writes, illustrates and directs animation projects.
‘The Third’ is based in Nairobi Kenya and indeed speaks Swahili.
You can find more of her work and random musings here…

http://thethirdroomstudios.blogspot.com

Jackie Karuti’s portrait by Zanele Muholi.
Johannesburg (2012)

Jackie was amongst 24 Women artists and researchers ArtsWork Workshop (2012) titled Refiguring Women hosted by the Goethe-Institut in partnership with co-curators Nontobeko Ntombela and Jabu Pereira.  The arts series consisted of workshops and conferences.
It addressed different contributions from women in various art fields and also seeked to support the exchange among professional women in the arts in Africa.
The workshops also touched on how women in the visual arts and question gender related topics.

For more on Refiguring Women check:
http://www.goethe.de/ins/za/joh/kul/mag/frs/en10470224.htm