Trevor Stuurman Faces Allegations of Appropriation from Artist Collective Woza Sisi

A woman-led collective called The Woza Sisi Collective accused Stuurman and THK Gallery of copyright infringement, citing disturbing similarities to their 2023 exhibition Your Beauty Is My Concern. "Passing someone else's work without credit or passing it off as your own is not homage; it is theft," Tsholofelo Kodisang, a member of the collective, posted on Instagram and shared side-by-side posters of the two exhibitions.

Now, the matter is headed to court.

Maubane was despondent, but Kodisang was adamant that something could be done. "People have been saying that Trevor's been doing work on hair. We've seen his work on hair, and that's okay. But the work on hair that he's doing now, he's never done work on salons. With this show, it's specific. When we did Your Beauty Is My Concern, we were responding to [Maubane's] work," says Kodisang.

Then, they had considered different themes. Kodisang created something that aligned with her established self-portraiture work, while Simphiwe Julia Thabede, another member of the collective, made a collage that inspired the show's title. "There are too many similarities between our work," Kodisang explains. "It's just a one-word difference. He's done work on hair before, but never specifically on hair salons. When we reviewed his artist statement, we recognized our bias, but couldn't ignore that his text didn't reflect his work. Instead, it read remarkably similar to our own written material."

Stuurman responded to questions that OkayAfrica posed via THK Gallery: "Being accused of theft and having my character questioned in public has been deeply hurtful – especially because my work has always centered Black beauty, particularly the strength, dignity, and creativity of Black women," he states.

Writer, filmmaker, and cultural worker Motheo Mamabolo amplified the issue in a widely shared Instagram video and later expanded on her thoughts in an interview with OkayAfrica. "We need to redirect the conversation to Woza Sisi," she urges. "Their work already existed in publication and in exhibition. This is about more than just credit. It's about how the creative sector handles the re-manufacturing of ideas, especially when those ideas come from underrepresented voices."

Mamabolo insists that, at the very least, Woza Sisi deserves acknowledgement. "What would have been meaningful is a clear gesture of engagement — to credit the collective, to recognize that the title and the framing weren't born in isolation."

For his part, Stuurman maintains that the inspiration came from everyday visual culture that surrounds us, particularly in the township and urban barbershops and salons. Phrases like Your Beauty Is Our Concern appear on posters and signage all over these spaces. They're part of a rich, visual vernacular that speaks to care, transformation, and community.

The controversy has sparked a broader reckoning within South Africa's art world about the slippery boundary between homage and appropriation, especially where power, race, and gender intersect. Woza Sisi's work, grounded in community and collaboration, aims to affirm the dignity and ingenuity of women whose labour often goes unnoticed. Stuurman's exhibition, while aesthetically captivating, now faces questions over whether it extracts from that same well of creativity without offering due recognition.

The gallery maintains its support for Stuurman, stating: "The exhibition is curated with care, cultural awareness, and a long-standing commitment to celebrating Black beauty and identity. The matter has been escalated into a legal process; we were advised to allow the proper channels to unfold and refrain from public commentary. We remain committed to fostering a platform for dialogue, representation, and the authentic expression of African narratives."

What's at stake is not just attribution, but visibility; who gets to be celebrated, and who is rendered invisible.

During OkayAfrica's visit to the gallery, a representative said a meeting was arranged between the two parties, but Woza Sisi "never showed up."

Kodisang says they were told that Stuurman wouldn't be present and resorted to legal representation at that point. The collective posted the court documents on Monday. "THK's attorneys contacted our attorneys because the matter was supposed to appear in court today. They asked for a postponement to next Wednesday," she tells us.

As the court date looms, so does a larger question: how can the art world make space for collective memory, without erasing those who shaped it?