The Khoi woman Saartjie Baartman became famous when she was exhibited as the ‘Hottentot Venus’ in London and Paris between 1810 and 1815, the year of her untimely death. Celebrated South African composer Hendrik Hofmeyr explains how, in writing the opera Sara Baartman, he had to sift through the many myths surrounding her life to arrive at an operatic portrait of a remarkable, complex and multifaceted individual. The talk will include a screening of the final scene of the opera.
