The Unbured Casket (G20 OOH)

As South Africa prepared to receive world leaders at the G20 Summit, Women For Change prepared a different welcome message. One that exposes a national tragedy the government continues to ignore.

More than one million people have signed a petition calling for Gender Based Violence and Femicide to be declared a National Disaster. Despite this, no meaningful action has been taken. So instead of allowing the moment to pass with silence, we placed a billboard on a major highway just before the summit.

The message reads: “Welcome to the country where women are only safe in a casket.”

The billboard features the Unburied Casket, a hand beaded Zulu casket enlarged by 33.8 percent to reflect the rise in femicide and to honour the 5,578 women murdered in a single year. By positioning this truth at the gateway to the city, we ensured that global leaders would confront the reality South African women face every day.