Judy Seidman

Judy Seidman is a cultural worker and visual artist, now living and working in Johannesburg. She was born in the USA, went to secondary school in West Africa and then to university in Madison, Wisconsin (USA) where she studied sociology and fine arts. Judy worked as a painter in Zambia from 1972 to 1975, doing occasional graphics for the South African liberation movement in Lusaka. She lived in Swaziland from 1975 to 1980, where she taught at the Thokoza school for refugees from the Soweto uprising, and exhibited with sculptor Pitika Ntuli.
In 1980, Judy moved to Gaborone, Botswana, where she worked for five years with Medu Art Ensemble. The South African Defence Force attacked Gaborone on June 14, 1985, killing 12 people and destroying Medu. Judy stayed in Botswana after the Gaborone raid and worked with the liberation movement.

Since 1990 Judy has lived in Johannesburg is still painting, doing graphics, and facilitating workshops on finding voice for people engaged in struggles for justice.; . She has written on Medu Art Ensemble and the art of the liberation struggle. Judy Judy worked at the South African History Archives as head of the poster collection; and has written extensively on the visual art of the liberation movement,. including Red on Black, the story of the South African poster movement (2007, STE, Johannesburg).