As Siopis says: “Shame is part of conflict, and current global conflicts have reinserted a sense of shame onto the public stage. Witness the recent abuses in Iraq! But however powerfully shame is recognized and represented, it has neither a single face nor a common language. It exists rather in fragments - in the cultural detritus left over from unexpected trauma, and in the imagined spectres of fear, loathing, loss and fright which surface in our visual cultures in the wake of traumatic woundings. Mostly these spectres show only the merest of traces - intense fear or fright in a shape, a texture, colours.
Shame involves psychological nakedness, exposure, humiliation, hurt, guilt, deep embarrassment. When shamed, we lose our dignity and integrity in full view of others - we live in a state of disgrace. But in South Africa the word "Shame" is also colloquially an expression of sympathy for, and identification with, someone else's public pain. If you should fall in the street people, for instance, might exclaim "Shame" or cry out "Sorry"!, even though they are not to blame for your fall. The Afrikaans version of this crying out at hurt is "Siestog!", tellingly translated as a mixture of disgust (sies) and pity (tog). Often "Siestog!" implies an almost sentimental kindness.
In the recent South African past, shame has been dramatised and confronted as a state of hurt and complicity in the hurt of others. Our Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) staged this hurt and complicity in public shows of shame, expressed in the languages of human suffering, apologetics, confession, protestations of good faith, exposures of bad faith. After this historical moment all sorts of urban legends have emerged which bespeak the state of shame, legends connecting the most public of political events to the most private and intimate of individual experiences.”

Penny has curated and organised a number of exhibitions, including “South African Women’s Mail Art” in the USA in 1990; “Women Choose Women” in South Africa in 1991; “Pictures as History” in South Africa in 1992; “Purity and Danger” in South Africa 1997. She has also worked in a number of community projects and contributed to anti-apartheid arts activities throughout South Africa.
Penny Siopis also writes on contemporary South African art and has a particular interest in gender and race issues as these intersect with notions of history and memory. She has also worked on a number of important projects.

Education and Employment

1974BA Fine Arts with distinction, Rhodes University, Grahamstown
1976 MA Fine Arts with distinction, Rhodes University, Grahamstown.
19791979 Postgraduate course in painting, Portsmouth Polytechnic, United Kingdom
1978Temporary Lecturer in Fine Arts, Rhodes University, Grahamstown
1980-3Lecturer in Fine Arts, Natal Technikon, Durban
1984Lecturer in Fine Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
1993Visiting research fellow, Leeds University, United Kingdom
1995 to presentAssociate Professor in Fine Arts, University of Witswatersrand
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1978 Collectors Gallery, Johannesburg
1979 British Council Student Centre, London, United Kingdom
1980 Hiscook Gallery, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
1982 NSA Gallery, Durban, Natal
1983 Market Gallery, Johannesburg
1987 Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
1990 “History Paintings”, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
1994 “Private Views”, Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg.
1998 "Charmed Lives", Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
2000 "Zombie", Gallery in the Round, Monument, Standard Bank National Arts Festival, Grahamstown
2002 “Sympathetic Magic”, Gertrude Posel Gallery, Johannesburg
“Pinky – Pinky and other Xeni”, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
2003 Kappatos gallery, Athens Greece
2004 ART UNLIMITED, Basel Art Fair, Goodman Gallery
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1978 “SA Art”, touring USA and West Germany
Two person exhibition with Gill Maylam, Settlers Museum, Grahamstown, and Natal Society of Arts Gallery, Durban
1981 Two person exhibition with Peter Schutz, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg
1982 “Cape Town Triennial”, South African National Gallery, Cape Town and national tour
1983 Two person exhibition with Clive van den Berg, Café Gallery, Durban
“Natal Artists” exhibition, Durban Art Museum, and Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg
“Natal Lecturers” exhibition, Studio Gallery, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
1984 Two person exhibition with Peter Shutz, Gallery International, Cape Town
Inaugural Exhibition, SA Association of the Arts Gallery, Pretoria
Wits Fine Art Staff Exhibition, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
1985 “Cape Town Triennial”, South African National Gallery and National tour
“Women Artists in South Africa”, South African National Gallery, Cape Town
“Women’s Art”, NSA Gallery, Durban
“Tactile” exhibition for the blind and partially sighted, Durban Art Gallery
“Tributaries: A View of Contemporary South African Art”, Old Market Johannesburg and West German Tour
1986 Two person exhibition with Peter Shutz, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
“Volkskas Atelier Award Exhibition”, SA Association of the Arts, Pretoria
Wits Fine Art Staff Exhibition, Goodman Gallery
“Basal International Art Fair”, Switzerland, with Peter Schutz
1987 “Vita Art Now”, sponsored by AA Mutual Life, Johannesburg Art Gallery
Standard Bank National Drawing Competition, Johannesburg Art Gallery
“Culture in another South Africa”, Netherlands
“Happy Birthday Andrew”, portfolio of graphics by various artists to celebrate Andrew Verster’s 50th Birthday, Goodman Gallery
Designs for tapestries woven by Marguerite Stephens, Goodman Gallery Johannesburg
1988 “Cape Town Triennial”, Cape Town
“Basel International Art Fair”, Switzerland
1989 Exhibition at the Portsmouth Collection, United Kingdom
1990 Curated and exhibited “South African Women’s Mail Art”, USA
1991 “Art from South Africa”, United Kingdom
“Vita Art Now”, Johannesburg Art Gallery
“Cape Town Triennial”, Cape Town
1993 “Parallel”, exhibition for South African entry Venice Biennale, Italy
“Absent Bodies/Present Lives”, United Kingdom
“Southern Cross”, Stedelijk Museum, Netherlands
1994 “God Bless Africa”, Elizabeth Gordon Gallery, Durban
“Anything Boxed”, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
“The Banquet”, Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg
“Displacements: South African Works on Paper, 1984-1994”, Block Gallery, Evanston, USA
“Spaces of Power”, Newtown Gallery, Johannesburg
Fifth Havana Biennial, Cuba
Work selected from the Fifth Havana Biennial shown at the Ludwig Kunsforum, Germany
1995 “Africus Johannesburg Biennale” - participated in three core exhibitions: “Black Looks White Myths” (Spain and South Africa), Museum Africa, “Taking Liberties - the Body Politic” (South Africa), Wits Art Galleries, “Objects of Defiance - Spaces of Contemplation” (South Africa and USA), Museum Africa
“Vita Art Now”, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg
“Objects of Defiance/Spaces of Contemplation”, South African National Gallery, Cape Town
“Panoramas of Passage: Changing Landscapes of South Africa”, Standard Bank National Festival of the Arts, Grahamstown. This exhibition was organised by the Meridian Centre, Washington, USA and traveled to various museums in the USA
“On the Road”, Delfina Studio Gallery, London. The exhibition was part of the Africa 95 Festival in September. It included artists from South Africa, Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe
“Siyawela: Love, Loss and Liberation in Art from South Africa”, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK. Traveled in the UK
“Mayibuye Africa”, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London
Kwangju Biennale (Korea) - one of two South African artists selected
“Eight from South Africa”, Centre for the Arts, San Francisco, USA
1996 “Gay Rights, Rites, Rewrites” Gertrude Posel Gallery, University of the Witwatersrand (Traveled Nationally)
“Earth and Everything: Recent Art from South Africa”, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK. Traveled in the UK
“Simunye”, Ten South African Artists, Adelson Galleries, New York, USA
“Faultlines: Enquiries into Truth and Reconciliation, The Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town
“Don’t Mess with Mr. In-between: 15 Artists from South African”, Culturgest, Lisbon, Portugal
1997 “Contemporary Art from South Africa”, The National Touring Exhibition Oslo and traveled to various venues in Norway
“Lift Off”, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
Sixth Havana Biennale, Havana, Cuba
“Purity and Danger”, Gertrude Posel Gallery, Wits University
“Photo-synthesis”, Standard Bank National Arts Festival, Grahamstown and traveling nationally
Wits Alumni Exhibition, Gertrude Posel Gallery, Wits University Johannesburg
“Africus Johannesburg Biennale”, “Alternating Currents”, Electric Workshop, Johannesburg
“Cram, Goodman Gallery at the South African Association of Arts Cape Town
1998 “Five South African Artists”, Fotofest, Houston, USA
“Democracy’s Images: Photography and visual art after apartheid”, BildMuseet, Umea, Sweden and touring the Nordic countries( curated by Katerina Pierre)
“Bringing up Baby: artists survey the reproductive body”, Standard Bank
National Arts Festival, Grahamstown and National tour( curated by Terry Kurgan)
“Holdings: Art and the Archive”, Graduate School, Wits University (curated by Jane Taylor)
“Eye: Africa: photography of a continent”, Paris and Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town ( curated by Pierre Sanner)
1999 "La Ville, Le Jardin, La Mémoire", (exhibiting My Lovely Day), Villa Medici – Académie de France à Rome, Rome
"The Paper Show", The Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg
"Truth Veils", Gertrude Posel Gallery, Wits University, Johannesburg
"Emergence", the Albany Museum, Grahamstown (curated by Julia Charlton and Fiona Rankin-Smith)
"Artery", Collaboration with Goodman Gallery, Mark Coetzee Fine Art Cabinet, Cape Town.
2003 Group Show Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels
ART 34 BASEL, Switzerland, Goodman Gallery
2004 ART 35 BASEL, Switzerland, Goodman Gallery
“Voice-Overs”, Group show, Standard Bank Art Gallery, Johannesburg
AWARDS
1978British Council Scholarship for Postgraduate study in the United Kingdom
1985Merit Award, Cape Town Triennial
1986Winner of the Volkskas Atelier prize to live and work at the Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
Anderson Capelli Research Award, University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg
1988Vita Art Now quarterly Award - Merit Award
1991Vita Art Now - Special Merit Award
Wits University Council Overseas Fellowship
1992Artist in Residence, National Festival of the Arts, Grahamstown
Guest Artist, South African National Gallery
1997 Delfina Studio Trust Residency, London
Civitella Raniera Foundation Fellowship, Italy
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, USA
Durban Art Gallery
Johannesburg Art Gallery
King George VI Gallery, Port Elizabeth
Afrox
Rembrandt Van Rijn Art Foundation, Stellenbosch
Rhodes University, Grahamstown
Roodepoort Museum
South African National Gallery, Cape Town
Pretoria Art Museum
Natal Tecknikon
Trust Bank
University of the Witwatersrand Art Galleries