A DAY after this year’s launch of the annual 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign, Chinese-South African mountaineer and philanthropist, Angela Yeung launched the EmpowerHer: 8 849 Bras for Humanity National Exhibition as part of a mission to empower GBV survivors, at the Women’s Jail on Constitution Hill in Braamfontein.
Opening just days after President Cyril Ramaphosa had declared GBV a national disaster, the Johannesburg-based jewellery designer and founder of Impilo Collection Foundation – who on May 24, 2025 became the fourth South African woman to summit Mount Everest while symbolically carrying a bra to the summit – spelt out that the exhibition was a national awakening which had begun when a young girl once requested of her, “Please bring me a bra next time.”
In her opening address to an audience which included Nepal’s ambassador Professor Kapil Man Shrestha and Joburg’s Old China Town mayor Walter Pon, among others, the Brand South Africa ambassador mentioned that the request cracked open a reality which stayed with her into the heart of the Himalayas and followed her to the top of the world where she raised a bra on the summit of Mount Everest for every survivor who ever felt unseen, unheard and unprotected.
Yeung cautioned that the bras – which took her entity four years to collect – weren’t on display as a decoration, but as a testimony which served to reassure victims of gender-based violence that: we see you, we will not be silent.
The amount of bras were a symbolic target representing every meter, every story for every voice demanding change, she deduced – further adding that the mission was to deliver every one of the underwear to women and communities who needed them the most, across all provinces of South Africa.
“When I stood on the summit of Everest, I promised that every metre climbed would represent a voice for change. This exhibition is that promise fulfilled a reminder that healing begins when we stand together,” surmised Yeung.
The exhibition’s main installation is titled, The Mountain of Bras, and is composed of multiple bras symbolizing unity, resilience and collective strength.
It is housed in one of the spaces where women such as Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Fatima Meer were once incarcerated during the apartheid era.
Which per se contextualizes the choice of venue for its symbolism of transformation from a site of oppression to one of justice, currently. This being in line with the installation’s mission of utilizing art to transform public spaces into places of accountability.
Interactive pledge walls where visitors can publicly commit to ending the scourge of gender-based violence, also formed part of the exhibition.
The launch included a panel discussion titled “From Bystander to Ally – How Communities Can Interrupt Violence” ‘which explored themes of dignity, gender and healing through art and activism. It featured, et al., the input of Advocate Thando Gumede, an internationally acclaimed human rights defender and GBV policy contributor as well as that of Dr Keitumetse Mashego – a clinical psychologist and advocate for mental health and emotional resilience.
It opened at a time when South Africa continues to face one of the highest rates of GBV in the world – a tide Yeung’s foundation seeks to turn into action through empathy, education and solidarity. Furthermore, Impilo is building a collective movement which calls every South African to rise together.
Having opened on November 26, the exhibition will be accessible for public viewing until December 10, 2025.
Subsequent to its Johannesburg ‘internment’, the exhibition is scheduled to be displayed under the theme “Carriers of Courage”, at other venues across all of the country’s provinces in 2026.
Impilo Collection Foundation encourages support for its mission by inviting individuals, corporates and communities to donate, partner and collaborate.
Impilo Collection Foundation is a philanthropic organisation which supports humanity through awareness campaigns, fundraising events, and community engagements which, since its inception during the COVID period in 2020, has touched the lives of over 100,000 people in South Africa.
In five years, the foundation has delivered one ton of sanitary pads; 10 000 litres of sanitizer to 60 000 leaners around the country; hospitalxhBq7LPNryt& beds, books, blankets, stationery and uniform; and ECD educational program.
Image Jacob MAWELA (Angela Yeung, the founder of Impilo Collection Foundation limned posing around the bra exhibition at the Women’s Jail on Constitution Hill in Braamfontein).
