Fecund Group Exhibition: A Feminine Rebirth in Art at Everard Read Cape Town

Fecund, opening at Everard Read Gallery from 9 to 26 July 2025, explores female identity, fertility, and creativity through the eyes of three women artists in their 60s: Josie Grindrod, Clare van Zyl, and Jann Cheifitz. The exhibition challenges Western cultural narratives that tie women’s value to youth and fertility, using rich symbolism such as embroidered uteruses, mythological figures, and floral motifs to express ongoing female generativity beyond childbearing years. Here’s everything you need to know.

Fecund: An Exploration of Femininity and Identity

Featuring a variety of art forms and themes, Fecund highlights that women’s ability to create is not confined to or limited by their body clocks. The title, originating in Catholicism and meaning ‘of the earth’, highlights the reproductive and regenetive nature of ideas, regardless of their age or longevity.

Each artist has a substantial career behind them – Grindrod ran a decorating business, Van Zyl heads a film production company, and Cheifitz a textiles business in the US. However, the trio are determined to not let their age prevent them from creating art.

Grindrod and Cheifitz contribute a wide range of artworks, from textiles and prints to sculptures and paintings, that reinterpret classical and mythological representations of femininity. Drawing on figures such as Eve, Lilith, and Venus, they unpack how Western art and religion have historically defined and limited women’s identities and worth.

Meanwhile, Van Zyl, as curator and installation director, shapes the exhibition as a living, evolving space – comparing it to a garden that continues to grow and shift.

The exhibition is intended to be expanded over its two-week run as works are continuously added, contributing to the overall theme of rebirth and the reinterpretation of ideas.