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Start Your JournalThey Don’t Make Them Like They Used To
⚡by Mary Sibande
Personal Reflection
She looks like she stepped out of a role, but the role is still holding onto her. The dress is too large, too dramatic, too full of presence to belong to everyday life. And yet the apron, the posture, the downward gaze keep pulling her back into something quieter, more controlled. It feels like two identities stitched together, not fully agreeing with each other. The blue is impossible to ignore. It turns her into something almost royal, almost mythological. But then there is that small red detail, almost like a wound or a secret breaking through the surface. It interrupts the fantasy just enough to remind you that this transformation is not simple. I kept thinking about how history lingers in the body. How roles get inherited, repeated, reshaped. She is not just wearing a uniform, she is negotiating with it. It doesn’t feel nostalgic. It feels like resistance dressed up as elegance.
About This Artwork
This work is part of Mary Sibande’s ongoing series centered around her alter ego, Sophie, a fictional character inspired by generations of Black women in her family who worked as domestic workers in South Africa. Sibande uses sculpture and photography to reimagine Sophie beyond the constraints of servitude. The iconic blue dress is a recurring element, symbolizing both labor and transformation. It exaggerates the domestic uniform into something theatrical, almost regal, allowing Sophie to occupy a space between reality and imagination. The title, They Don’t Make Them Like They Used To, plays with nostalgia, but also critiques it. It questions who “they” are and what exactly is being remembered or erased. Rather than idealizing the past, Sibande exposes the weight of inherited roles shaped by colonialism and apartheid. The contrast between the modest apron and the voluminous dress reflects tension between imposed identity and self-definition. Sophie becomes a site of negotiation, where history, fantasy, and personal agency collide.
- Artist
- Mary Sibande
- Location
- Albertina Museum, Vienna
- Date experienced
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