Making Mountains of Change: An UP-CYCLED Art Exhibition
I think it is important that the world knows our story, how we struggled to occupy this land and made it our home and what our expectations are. If this community gets the necessary support, it will not be surprising if we also breed world leaders from this small informal settlement.
-Godfrey Khiva, Community Leader
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My name is Sophia Coleman, and I had the opportunity to study abroad in South Africa this Summer! For two months I studies Poverty and Development in the South African context, and completed a service learning project with South African non-profit Philippi Village. Myself and two other students worked with a neighboring community to co-produced an art exhibition that would serve as a fundraiser to provide waste management services to the community. Working with this community has been one of the most rewarding experiences, and I hope to be able to return to South Africa to continue this work.
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What informs this work
About Philippi Village
Philippi Village is a philanthropic partnership between Business Activator and the Bertha Foundation. They aim to support social and economic integration in South Africa by providing space for collaboration and entrepreneurial exploration within the township of Philippi. Philippi Village works closely with neighboring communities to create an integrated business hub in which residents can either find employment from tenants located within Philippi Village, or get the support and space needed to start their own small businesses in Philippi Village's container walk (a series of old shipping containers re-purposed into a shopping center).
Philippi Village’s closest neighbor is an informal settlement by the name of Siyangena. The two have previously collaborated to provide toilets for the community when Philippi Village had to put up a wall that separated the community from the land they had been using to relive themselves. During my time with PV we have partnered once again to address the issue of waste management in Siyangena, |
The issue of Informal Settlements in SOuth Africa
With an unemployment rate of 27.2% in South Africa, most communities lack access to affordable housing options for themselves and their families; hence, the people have to improvise by building shacks, often made out of waste materials such as plywood, rusted aluminum roofing etc. to house their families.
One of such communities is the Siyangena informal settlement (whose name means “we’re coming in”) in which 1000+ people have moved onto the land and called it home. Unfortunately, this land is owned by the Oasis Crescent Property Company who refuses to sell the land to the City of Cape Town so that Siyangena can be recognized as a formal settlement and receive water, electricity, and waste management services from the city (none of which the community currently has). Due to the lack of these resources and representation in the city government, Siyangena relies on the benevolent acts of philanthropic and non-profit organizations, such as Philippi Village, who help cater for the needs of the community. A large struggle for Siyangena is finding a centralized location for community members to dispose of their waste, resulting in trash to be strewn about the settlement. This is not only a health hazard to those who call Siyangena home, but can hinder the self-esteem of the community. During my time with Philippi Village we hoped to address this issue by raising money for a skip (or large dumpster) for Siyangena so that they have a designated location for waste disposal. This exhibition was an opportunity for participants to tell their stories and to highlight the waste problem that exists within their community. |
ABout the Exhibition Over the course of six weeks community members from the informal settlement of Siyangena attended workshops three days a week to create upcycled art pieces for the exhibition. Myself and two other students played a supporting role to the participants, planning out workshops, procuring needed materials, and ultimately doing all logistical planning needed to create the end product, the exhibition itself.
In these workshops, participants discussed what the vision of change for their community looks like, and came up with one word that represented that change. These words inspired each of paintings created for the exhibition. In addition, participants collected trash from their community and created upcycled art pieces to be displayed along with the paintings. Through this exhibition we hoped that attendees would have the opportunity to get to know the community of Siyangena, understanding the challenges they face, along with the resilience and passion that each community member holds. With this project we hoped to work with the community to create an event that both empowered participants and highlighted the needs of the community. The obvious goal of the exhibition was to raise money for the skip; however, we also wanted to deepen the relationship between Philippi Village and the people of Siyangena and help provide participants with skills they can use to sustain their livelihood. |
Making the EXHIBITION
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The Exhibition |
After two months of planning we finally completed the project. There were many times I didn't think we were going to get everything done by the deadline, but in the end it came together beautifully. The two hour exhibition featured not only the works of the community members, but vendors from within the container walk, local food and music, and lots of dancing and laughter. It was incredible to see how proud each of the participants were of their hard work. While they thanked us over and over, we kept reminding them that we wouldn't have been able to complete the exhibition if it wasn't for their dedication and commitment to the project.
I am still processing not only my time in South Africa, but the opportunity I had to work with such an incredible community. My time with the community of Siyangena showed me what true resilience looks like, and as I sang and danced with them during the exhibition I was reminded what community should look like as well. These are people who have very little, yet their capacity for love and excitement for life is unending. There is a South African ideal of 'Ubuntu' which essentially means "I am because you are". Ubuntu means that our own being relies on the connections we make with others, and Philippi Village hopes to strengthen this connection between the organization and surrounding community in order to uplift and provide resources that empower community members to take charge of the change that they wish to create in this world. This exhibition was just one of many events that hopes to achieve this.
I am still processing not only my time in South Africa, but the opportunity I had to work with such an incredible community. My time with the community of Siyangena showed me what true resilience looks like, and as I sang and danced with them during the exhibition I was reminded what community should look like as well. These are people who have very little, yet their capacity for love and excitement for life is unending. There is a South African ideal of 'Ubuntu' which essentially means "I am because you are". Ubuntu means that our own being relies on the connections we make with others, and Philippi Village hopes to strengthen this connection between the organization and surrounding community in order to uplift and provide resources that empower community members to take charge of the change that they wish to create in this world. This exhibition was just one of many events that hopes to achieve this.
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