CAPE TOWN – The internationally acclaimed Bold Beauty Project, a powerful photographic exhibition celebrating the beauty, strength and individuality of women living with disabilities, has made its African debut in Cape Town with a month-long exhibition at 33BREE in collaboration with The Artists Gallery.

Among the seventeen women from across the Western Cape featured in the exhibition are Dr Marlene le Roux, CEO of Artscape, who lives with polio. Dr Le Roux is a champion for the rights of persons with disabilities and serves as the patron of Lief en Leed, which is an associated NGO of Artscape. She served as co-curator and mentor throughout the entire process of bringing the Western Cape chapter to life.

Also featured in the exhibition are two West Coast women: Danilene Swarts, who is hearing impaired and hails from Mamre, and Nikita Scott, a well-known singer from Atlantis who uses a wheelchair.

Swarts is also the treasurer of the Lief en Leed Organisation for Persons with Disabilities in Mamre, an organisation celebrating 40 years of self-empowerment and resilience.

Founded and managed by persons with disabilities, Lief en Leed refuses to be confined to any box. The organisation has a bold dream of establishing a Centre for Excellence on land it already owns in Mamre, a pioneering project conceved and driven by persons living with disabilities at the centre of the design.

The opening on Wednesday evening, 5 August, was attended by disability champion and constitutional court former judge Albie Sachs, one of the founders of South Africa’s constitution. Judge Sachs lost his right arm and vision in 1988 when a car bomb was placed in his car by apartheid security police.

Originally founded in the United States by Shelly Baer and Dr Eva Ritvo, the Bold Beauty Project has received widespread international recognition. Its most recent milestone was its presentation at the 61st Venice Biennale earlier this year, where it formed part of the prestigious Personal Structures, Confluences exhibition at Palazzo Mora.

For its African debut, the project has been reimagined through a uniquely local lens. Seventeen women from across the Western Cape have been newly photographed by a group of acclaimed South African photographers, creating an entirely new body of work that celebrates their individuality, resilience and personal journeys. Accompanied by their own stories, the striking large-scale portraits offer an intimate and deeply moving exploration of identity, beauty and representation.

“Art has the unique ability to challenge perceptions without raising its voice. The Bold Beauty Project is not about disability; it is about visibility, dignity, and celebrating remarkable women exactly as they are,” says Jaret Loggenberg, Managing Director of The Artists Gallery and 33BREE.

“Persons with Disabilities must never be reduced to problems to be fixed, or hidden from view. This project is about sensuality, strength, and the radical act of accepting yourself fully with every challenge, every scar, every story. To be a Person with Disabilities is to navigate a world not built for you, and yet here we are. This exhibition gives voice to that truth through Art. It says: Look at her. See who she is. As she is,” adds Dr Le Roux.

Presented under the exhibition title “As She Is”, the project is an invitation to move beyond assumptions, to see each woman not through labels or stereotypes, but through her individuality, courage and authentic presence.

• The exhibition is part of the HEAT Arts Festival, with The Artists Gallery participating as an official venue. It runs until Saturday 29 August 2026 at 33 Bree Street, Cape Town, with free admission to the public throughout the exhibition period.