The 'Hottentot Venus' Seen As a Commodity

Hottentot Venus
Baartman's exhibition poster in London

According to Sadiah Qureshi’s article, “Displaying Sarah Baartman The ‘Hottentot Venus’”, many representations of the Khoikhoi people (such as Sarah Baartman) were used to illustrate them as wild and savage. These depictions effectively demoted them from human status and made them ape-like instead. This appropriation and forms of categorization is what led to African flora, fauna, and people to be seen as commodities by the white colonist. Qureshi writes, “Sara Baartman arrived on England’s shores within this traffic of animals, plants and people destined for display as objects representing colonial expansion and as a means of economic gain; she served as both an imperial success and a prized specimen of the ‘Hottentot’”.^[7] Baartman was therefore seen as nothing more than an object put up for display; she was subsequently the physical representation of British activity in the cape and symbolized their conquests of African territory. Baartman was a “rare live specimen of the exotic”; she was of value to men like Hendrick Cezar, who showed her in the London entertainment scene which further emphasized a "culture of display".^[8]
Shortly after Baartman arrived in London in 1810, the public was invited to view the Hottentot Venus for only two shillings. Baartman wore a tight, skin-toned garment, giving the appearance that she was actually naked.^[9] The show took place upon “a stage two feet high, along which she was led by her keeper, and exhibited like a wild beast; being obliged to walk, stand, or sit as he ordered”.^[10] Baartman was put into the category of human curiosity and performed alongside other people who were physically abnormal according to Western standards. The association between ethnological exhibits and humans with an anatomical curiosity was not uncommon as they were often exhibited together.^[11] According to Qureshi, these exhibits blurred the boundaries between humans and animals. Like exhibits that display animals, the Hottentot Venus was shown as a supposed representation of her nation and race.