The White Elephant

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Lauren Alexander with Clare Butcher, Charles Nkosi and David Blom (Oom Bolo). THE WHITE ELEPHANT CARDBOARD MONUMENT PROJECT 2011 Featuring; Ezekiel Budeli, Erik Hopmans, Mzie Gojo, Roli Mhlanga, Lehlohonolo Mkhasibe, Victor Mofokeng, Teboho Mokhemisa, Joseph Monnatlala, Thomas Moremi, Mzi Nyathi, Alex O'Donoghue, Tumelo Mokopakgosi, Nathan Ruphus, Thulisile Shongwe, Thulani Zondo and many more. P3

description

Published by the Dutch Art Institute and Mediafonds, this book intends to document, but also to create a platform for reflection following the Cardboard Monument project, and its influence on the Kliptown area, in Soweto Johannesburg. Design: Foundland Texts: Clare Butcher and Lauren Alexander, with Charles Nkosi and Oom Bolo Cover Illustrations: Victor Mofokeng, Funda Community College

Transcript of The White Elephant

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Lauren Alexander with Clare Butcher, Charles Nkosi and David Blom (Oom Bolo).

THE WHITE ELEPHANT

CARDBOARD MONUMENT PROJECT 2011Featuring; Ezekiel Budeli, Erik Hopmans, Mzie Gojo, Roli Mhlanga, Lehlohonolo Mkhasibe, Victor Mofokeng, Teboho Mokhemisa, Joseph Monnatlala, Thomas Moremi, Mzi Nyathi, Alex O'Donoghue, Tumelo Mokopakgosi, Nathan Ruphus, Thulisile Shongwe, Thulani Zondo and many more.

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26 JANUARY 2011Introduction: David Blom (Oom Bolo) with Charles Nkosi

All the participants of the Cardboard Monument project gathered inside David Blom’s House. Oom Bolo, as he is affectionately known, is an elder and community leader well known in Kliptown. He grew up in the area, and despite hav-ing no formal qualifications or profession he is committed to collecting and preserving social and political memory, which is not necessarily represented by government-initiated projects, like the Walter Sisulu Square monument in Kliptown. He has created his own museum in his home, by collecting artefacts from his neighbours and community. There are endless stories connected to each object and its strategic placement in his personal archive. Bolo was aware of the Cardboard Monu-ment project we were about to embark on. On this day he took it upon himself to give a motivational introduction to all young artist participants before showing us a slideshow of photographs and stories on his beamer. He has collected and recorded these over the past 30 years in Kliptown.

Introduction by Oom Bolo, with Charles NkosiAt Oom Bolo’s house, Beacon Road, Kliptown, Soweto

Present: Lehlohonolo Mkhasibe, Joseph Monnatlala, Victor Mofokeng, Thulani Zondo, Thomas Moremi, Mzie Gojo, Mzi Nyathi, Thulisile Shongwe and Teboho Mokhemisa, Lauren Alexander, Charles Nkosi, Roli Mhlanga, Tumelo Mokopakgosi and Ezekiel Budeli

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Oom Bolo: Have you all been to see the Walter Sisulu monu-ment?

(Audience response: No, not everyone has seen the monument yet)

Oom Bolo: So, we don’t yet have an insight of the place. You know, what will happen, you are going to see what the tour-ists see, you are going to take instructions from the infor-mation you will find there. But, you are artists, artists don’t take instructions, they are creative people. So if you have not really looked at the place yet with the eye of an artist. If you don’t say; what is this? Where does it come from? And what can we do to make it work? Or what can we do to make the people of South Africa understand this monument? How many monuments are there around the country? What do they symbolise? What do people do there everyday? Maybe we will say the Kliptown monument; it’s a White Elephant. Maybe the Freedom Park in Pretoria is the same thing?

I’ll tell you guys something, one of our biggest challenges in South Africa, and it has been like this since the 18th century, we have an overwhelming flow of new people into the coun-try. Now we don’t like to make separations and talk about them and us, but none the less, the older generation who were part of the struggle, we want to see our heritage, our museums, historical sites being preserved, being shown to the public. But these people who arrive, have come for jobs from all over the continent, and especially in Kliptown, they are able to find a home. Now when it comes to such sites, especially political sites, it’s a bit difficult, you understand because those people don’t understand what they are about.

That’s why each and every one of you needs to select some-thing that you think is very, very important. I don’t think that your headmaster or teachers should say: “This is what you are going to do”. We need to move away from the mind-set of the classroom, we must close the doors of the class-

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room behind us. We must become who we are, and what we have learned, and how do we want to implement the knowl-edge that we have already? How do we see ourselves grow, within ourselves, and not based on what the headmaster says? What can we do, how can we change things? If we still have that classroom mentality. We will always wait for the black-board and to be told what to do, wait for instructions. When will you start giving instructions? When will you become your own CEO? When will you become your own director? And say now we are out there and now it depends entirely up to me. What is my creativity? How can I contribute towards this programme? Maybe it’s a suggestion or an idea which we bring to the table? You are not forcing it upon people. You know what is the best thing in life, for somebody not to be scared to be creative, and to talk. You must also remember to talk within the framework of what is needed, we need to stick to what we are doing, and the more you talk, you become innovative, your art comes from the inside. Now when you come, to my museum and you look at the piece of broom in the corner. You could say, look at this broom. How many yards have been swept with that broom? Why do they use a broom like this, with one hand at the back and one hand in the front? Why do people sweep their houses in this manner? Why do some people wake up at 5am and sweep the yard? And today they are not doing it at all?” It’s all a discussion of art. Business has its own language, and art also has its own language. You understand.

Artists, most of the time, question such things, each and every thing symbolises meaning to them. How can it be used in an art form? I’m going to show you images of Klip-town, and I’m going to take you around the area. But what I wouldn’t like to see, is you saying, ok, we see this, we see that, its very nice. You are going to listen to nice stories. But once you are done, then so what? We have listened to this and that, and so what? Whatever you see, whatever you listen to, ask yourself how can I develop it, what can I do with this information - those are the important aspects of being an artist. It is our God given talent that we know how to draw

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and how to write, but we must know what to do with same things. What I’m trying to say is, we are going, to one of the very, very big places, the square, the square is so very impor-tant. You know, Kliptown brought our democracy to us, not Soweto. Kliptown is where the democracy started - Kliptown is where most of the compilation of the Freedom Charter started. This place is not a small place, you guys must also think as big as the place is. When you say the Walter Sisulu Square, where the Freedom Charter was adopted, it’s a huge heading, and it is internationally known.

Art can be a tricky thing, especially if you don’t understand it. That’s why it’s very important for us to work together and to understand the significance and the importance of differ-ent types of art. Different ways of how people express them-selves through art. You know, not everyone can understand these things. We cannot blame the government for these things - we must blame ourselves.

Charles Nkosi: In fact today, Bolo, we were hoping, to inter-act, through you, with the people of Kliptown, on our way to the square from here. That would help us to understand the soul of Kliptown. The project is not just about taking images and putting them together as part of the concept of the Cardboard Monument; it’s the people that make the concept work. So, if we are here and we are able to relate to the people on the ground, get the ethereal texture and the feel of the place. You don’t just feel the place by walking through it and talking to nobody. The soulness of the whole thing needs to be based on how we interact. For example the last time we came to the jazz breakfast for the elderly of Kliptown held here. It taught us a very good and positive angle, that you are talking to the people who make history. History is not made out of a vacuum, it is made by people. People are the conduits of the spoken word that is taken from way back in time, through oral tradition of history and now if you interview people. We have got cameras and we are able to, as part of the package that we will be having for the Cardboard Monument, record history. There will also be

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visuals that make part of that history, it’s a story, we are tell-ing a story, kind of interpreting it like you were saying. It is putting us together as a collective, and it shouldn’t leave the people of Kliptown in the peripheral of marginalised people because, this is not a so-called intellectual project that is for the schooled. It belongs to the people, the ownership of the whole idea belongs to the people, because the presentation of this whole project will go to the people of Kliptown, of Soweto, of Gauteng. The people will be talking about it after the presentation of the project, but what is good is that we are looking at it lasting longer than the four days that we will be on the square. So that it should be captured in the peo-ple’s minds, for a longer period.

David Blom (Known as Oom Bolo, "oom" meaning uncle in Afrikaans) Oom Bolo has lived in Kliptown for most of his life. Today he lives in a house located just a few blocks away from the Walter Sisulu Square monument. Bolo is an active community leader and photographer. He has dedicated to the operating of his self- made museum and offers his home as a community meeting place. He runs a small snack bar from his home too, which funds his projects.

Sokhaya Charles Nkosi (Durban, 1949) Charles attended the Rorke’s Drift Art and Craft Centre in Durban from 1974 to 1976. He is a passionate teacher and from 1986 onwards, he taught at the African Institute of Art (AIA) at the Funda Centre in Soweto. He has participated in major group exhibitions in South Africa and abroad and has held a number of solo exhibi-tions. He is represented in museum and private collections in SA and abroad. He is currently the head of the Funda Community Arts Centre, visual arts department.

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THE WHITE ELEPHANTLauren Alexander

INTRODUCTION

“White Elephant” is the name given by Kliptown residents to the monument development built in 2005 called Walter Sisulu Square. This term used by various members of the community, refers to the huge and expensive development, which for them represents a false promise. A false promise because it was intended to bring the economy of tourism to the area and create jobs. More importantly the White Ele-phant was intended to celebrate promises which were once made on the square, by the founding fathers of anti-Apart-heid resistance, when they held the Freedom Charter signing here in 1955.

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In 2007, I first encountered the Walter Sisulu Square monu-ment. By 2011, I had gathered a team, conceived and co-ordinated a project which could function as critical observa-tion of the mammoth monument, in the midst of a gravely poor neighbouring area. The format of this project would be a collaborative process together with a Soweto based art school called Funda Community Arts College. The process would include fieldwork in the Kliptown area, and thereafter the building of a cheap and temporary monument as a form of commentary, on the usually quiet, unwelcoming, formal space on the square.

As a conceptual starting point, we would re-imagine the Freedom Monument, which is now part of the monument complex, in a new form. We wanted to make a connection to the existing monument structure, in its visual form, but at the same time we would have the freedom to create a new structure based on our research in the area, entitled Card-board Monument.

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lege. We worked together from January until March 2011. Between the 3rd and the 6th of March we formulated a programme at the monument square enabling a platform for what we had created. We invited musicians, performers, and school students from around Kliptown to participate in our four day event. The intention was to temporarily revive the square with a vibrant, young and politically engaged audi-ence.

For a brief few days the White Elephant came alive, and attracted passersby, tourists and friends to join in a lively and warm experience. Conversations were had, children who would usually be begging for money from tourists were able to watch, dance and ask questions. For a brief moment the distance between the White Elephant and Kliptown residents became slightly smaller.

On the day we dismantled our monument, a dark cloud descended over our project. As if the brief joy of the momen-tous success we had achieved had been too much, too soon. We had embarked on an ambitious public art project, and reached many people in the process both in Kliptown and in Soweto. It was all over. We had created our own exhibition space and work, where nothing had existed before. However we were leaving. The logistical and financial support behind the project was no longer there. The artists involved, most living in Soweto, were suddenly aware of their own depend-

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ency on these factors, in order to keep the project running. Bitter questions arose, “But how did we benefit?” and “Now what?”

Valid questions indeed. However this project was not intended to be a sustainable or permanent fixture in the Kliptown area. We were funded by a relatively small budget, a combination of Dutch and South African money, on the basis of our temporary monument structure plan. In the process of learning and investigation, we had benefited enor-mously in terms of what we had learned from each other.

I was reminded that the Walter Sisulu square, which we had looked upon so critically during the process of the project was also, to some extent, made with good intentions, and with the purpose of pleasing all it’s stakeholders and public. The monument square has become a disappointment. It has failed to create a suitably sustainable strategy, and therefore the public largely feels isolated from it.

Was there really a difference between what we had created together as temporary public art project and the White Ele-phant? Or had we perpetuated that false promise? I will now start from the beginning, and unravel my story. A network of historical legacy, community and artistic partic-ipation, business investment, and political manipulation, told from my subjective point of view.

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