Stories of rain guide

CHAPTER FOUR

Oudtshoorn, there are several paintings by the Khoi
people depicting the Water-meid. It is believed that this
mermaid was not a positive life force, but an evil spirit
that would drag people into the water and drown them.
Most of all, the important messages behind the imagery
of the Water-meid is that water is a precious resource
and needs to be appreciated, particularly in areas that
have very little of it.

CLASS DISCUSSION

Now that you have heard some of the myths about where
South African mermaids come from, it is time for you to
write a story about a mermaid.
Your story must have a South African context; it can be
about a mermaid who lives in underwater caves, or in the
water supply of a city, or even on the beaches all around
the country.
Remember that mermaids can be a positive influence,
giving water to drought-riddled farms, or she can be
negative and drown sailors that look at her for too long.
Be creative!

51

CHAPTER FIVE Photos of De Doorns and the Hex River Valley

BACK TO THE
BEGINNING

The Hex River Valley

De Doorns, a small town in the Hex River Valley, was
the next stop on the journey. The N1 highway runs
through the Hex River Valley, and the mountains
that create the valley are some of the most
impressive and create the perfect environment for
growing grapes. This area produces some of the
best table grapes in South Africa. These grapes
are meant to be eaten and not used to make wine,
another one of South Africa’s great exports.

52

Arts Education CHAPTER FIVE

In De Doorns, the team led by Mr Ko, worked alongside the educators of the local high
school and held a workshop for the Grade 8 learners of the school. The workshop
discussed Land Art, environmental concerns and the importance of water.

The importance of water and environmental concerns.

Mr Ko addressing Grade 8 learners at Hex
River Valley High School.

CLASS DISCUSSION

Arts Education
1. Do you think Arts Education is important? Write a short paragraph describing

how you justify your response.
2. How would you explain Land Art to a grade 8 learner? Write a paragraph

defining Land Art in the language you think a Grade 8 would understand. If you
need guidance refer to Chapter 1 to remind yourself what Land Art is.

53

History of De Doorns

De Doorns (meaning the thorns) was initially a farm and has been known as this from as far back
as 1725. The farm was bought by the government of the Cape in 1875 in order to build a railway
station that would link Cape Town to Touws River and then to Kimberley. This small town is now
famous for its grape farming, most of which is exported to countries like the United States of
America and England.

Learners collected rocks for the labyrinth and Making a Maze
placed them on the ground to create a beautiful
maze. Strijdom van der Merwe and our team swapped
members, and shortly afterwards the team
organised a workshop with the primary school
learners of the Hex River Valley. The workshop’s
aim was to create a labyrinth and more
specifically, to create a space for collaborative
art-making. Each learner, from Grade 1 to Grade
8, was asked to find a river rock from the large
river beds which were almost empty as the rainy
season had ended. Once the learners returned,
they were helped by the educators and the
team to put these rocks into a pattern that
created a maze, much like the Snake Eagle from
Matjiesfontein.

54

CHAPTER FIVE

The team including Chesney Lupton, CLASS DISCUSSION
Phindulo Muzhambi, Ulrikke Sparre,
Evans Mathibe, Heini Lüttich, Mahmoud Make a Labyrinth as a Class
Maktabi and Marlene Hill visiting Clovelly, You are now going to work as a class and create your own maze.
an original homestead in De Doorns. Remember the following:
• You must plan your maze first. Discuss what shape it will be with your classmates

before you attempt to make the maze. It may help to draw it in advance.
• You do not need to use rocks, you can use any object such as shoes or sticks or

even litter to create the shape.

55

Our team had PLETTENBERG BAY
a great time
creating art in The team left the Hex River Valley to travel through Plettenberg Bay before the
Plettenberg Bay. final stop in Cape Town. Plettenberg Bay has been the home of Site_Specific
for several years and is a special space for the South African team members, as
they have repeatedly created Land Art in this space. The team used this stop to
recover from the journey before the big final event in Cape Town.

Site_Specific is a collective of volunteers who are passionate about art and
nature. They aim to facilitate and promote conversations that consider our
cultural practices and the impact this has on nature, seeking out a collaborative
relationship between our human needs and environmental concerns. 

Although some land artworks become permanent installations, much of our
practice is ephemeral (meaning it can disappear in minutes, hours or days)
in nature – creating non-destructive, non-invasive, impermanent artworks,
temporary installations, performances, and interventions that dissipate as the
climate and environment reclaims the work. 

56

CHAPTER FIVE

Look carefully, nature creates its own art.

Seed pods and leaves from trees create beautiful artwork.
57

CHAPTER SIX

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

Cape Town, originally called the Cape of Good Hope, is
a complicated space for South Africa. It was the place
where the first settlers and colonisers arrived in 1652.
The city is fraught with complex relations between
different cultures, religions and races.

Photos of the city.

58

CHAPTER SIX

The artists began to prepare themselves for the final
presentation of their journey at the AVA Gallery. Many of
the Hillbrow participants had never visited the Mother
City (Cape Town is also known as the Mother City)
before, and they spent time taking in the sights of the
harbour and Table Mountain.
The final workshop was hosted in Khayelitsha as a
collaboration between the Paraplegic Association of the
Western Cape, Yatoo, Site_Specific and the Outreach
Foundation. The topic of this collaboration was the
scarcity of bees and its implications for us as humans if
we lose them as a species. The workshop also discussed
the mythology of the rain bringers in the Karoo and
Cape Town. The final discussion of the workshop
focussed on how to use recycled materials to create
artworks.

Evans Mathibe holding his bee
in a window in Simonstown.

59

Bee Exodus by Jaco Sieberhagen

The bees of the world are experiencing a moment of
endangerment. Industrialisation is destroying their
habitat. Jaco Sieberhagen, an artist, is creating an
artwork that he hopes will promote and revive the
world’s bee population.

CLASS DISCUSSION

Now it is time for you to engage with your knowledge of bees. Do some research
about bees and their possible extinction.

Then make an artwork of a bee that you would circulate atyour school to remind
your school peers to respect and look after one of our smallest, yet extremely
important insects.

In conclusion

Land Art forces one to look beyond the confines of a gallery or museum. It allows us to look at the world as our
canvas and to create art using materials that are around us, like sticks, rocks, leaves, pinecones, thorns or even
ice.

Land Art helps us reconnect with nature whether you are the artist or the viewer. It is not only pleasing to the
eye but generally portrays the land artist’s own unique message.

It offers everyone the chance to create. You don’t have to know how to draw or paint; you just have to let go and
allow the environment to ‘speak to you’.

After doing the activites in this book, we hope that you feel inspired to create Land Art at your school, your
home, or in your town. Remember to take photographs of your work so that you can share it with others.

Have fun with your art and experiment with a variety of materials and designs. Remember to respect the
environment and that most Land Art is temporary or is left to change with the elements of nature. It is a
collaboration with the environment.

60

CHAPTER SIX

Phindulo Muzhambi celebrated her 21st birthday in the Hex River Valley.
61

CHAPTER SEVEN

FINAL THOUGHTS

Notes from the Workshop:

We participated in a workshop on 4 October 2016 held at the Endlovini Community Hall, Cross
Roads, Nyanga in collaboration with the Western Cape Paraplegic Society, Yatoo International
Project, South Korea, Site_Specific from South Africa, and the Outreach Foundation based in
Hillbrow. Vernon Openshaw was the coordinator for this event.

The workshop consisted of several discussions; the first was an introduction around the topic of
the scarcity of bees and the fact that these creatures feel the environmental impact first. Their
scarcity is an indicator of our environment in crisis, specifically the lack of water and that the
ecosystem globally is dysfunctional. The second discussion was around rain stories where we
discussed the mermaids in the Karoo, the story of the water bull and how the ancestors of this
land treated water, as well as the practical performance that was created around the need to call
for rain and ask for rain. The rain dance introduced several different cultural voices that came
together and explored new rituals to honour and respect water. The last discussion was about
doing research on how we create art, specifically Land Art. This was a discussion on a more
practical way of looking for material, recycling material, collecting stories and how these different
approaches can become intertwined creatively to make art, share art and share knowledge. The
most important factor discussed is how creative resources can be found around us with everyday
materials.

62

CHAPTER SEVEN

FINAL THOUGHTS

6 October 2016:

The opening of the GNAP Nomadic journey was held at the AVA Gallery on the 6th of October,
which coincided with ‘First Thursdays’ in Cape Town (First Thursdays is a public event and is
free to attend. On the first Thursday of every month, art galleries and cultural events around
Cape Town’s central city stay open until 21h00 or later, allowing people to experience the
cultural wealth Cape Town has to offer). We had several hundred visitors coming to see the digital
presentation. This included three visual presentations of the art made during the journey, the earth,
the horizon and the sky. The fourth presentation acknowledged all the partners, and the last was a
film presented by Evans Mathibe on the Outreach Nomadic Education Tour.

After completing over 6,000 kilometres with 19 local participants, nine international land artists, 6
kilograms of sugar, 5 kilograms of pap, 363 tea bags, 1 kilogram coffee, 24 litres of milk, 143 eggs,
new friends, new opportunities, exciting prospects and a different understanding of our local
landscape, our ancestors and our deliberate footprint; we all returned safely home.

The Hillbrow participants who participated on this journey returned with a new sense of self, and
a connectivity to a different awareness and spirituality of themselves and the land they live in. The
excitement of the journey, of being exposed to other cultural stories, and to discover parts of our
heritage, exposed a much bigger potential within each person. The power of this journey lies in
the capacity to bring back creative stories and experiences, which will be re-invented within the
Hillbrow neighbourhood as new versions of exploring who we are as a people. The participants will
share these experiences, new work will develop, and a new determination will be fostered amongst
the participants with whom we engaged. The possibility of playing on a national stage, and to have
international creative input from all over the world is creating a new language.

63

GLOSSARY

Aesthetic: concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty.

Activism: is to bring change to the world, social justice issues or educational values

Benevolent: good,kind

Biosphere: global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction

Carat: is the way that the size or weight of diamonds and gold is calculated with all ecosystems (from

Wikipedia).

Commodities: is a service or resources that we use to trade or make something to sell.

Conservancy: is when people come together and decide to protect and care for a specific piece of land, to ensure

that the environment is protected.

Ephemeral: something that lasts for a short while, like flowers or raindrops.

Eureka: is when something happens, a plan works, an answer is found that is unexpected. The term was used

by Archimedes when he made a discovery regarding displacement of water through body weight

Geoglyph: a large design or motive produced on the ground and typically formed by clastic rocks or similarly

durable elements of the landscape (from Wikipedia) (water rises equal to your body weight when you

get into a bath of water).

Geometric: is something that has lines and regular shapes like the patterns in a beehive.

Land Art: is also called environmental art, artwork made in nature like sculpture in the earth that is not always

permanent.

Mineralogy: a subject of geology specialising in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical

properties of minerals and mineralised artifacts (from Wikipedia)

Nomadic: is when people or animals are wandering in search of food or a safe space. They do no have a fixed

home.

Perception: is how we understand, hear or see an event or artwork.

Pigments: material that changes the colours or can change the light through reflections.

Practitioner: is a person who makes art, creates sculptures or follows a specific career.

Replicated: is to make a copy or to make many copies of one object or photo.

Public Art: art that is in public spaces for the public to see and touch or experience.

Roaming: is when we are on journeys but stay connected to our families.

Sangoma: is a person who can offer healing using natural medicines.

Shaman: is a person who can travel the spiritual world and see good and evil.

Site: a place or a point on this earth or in our playground or school.

Site-specific: is an artwork that is created for a specific place, a park, or a building.

Visual Art: is a way of expressing what artists see, hear, feel in pictures like drawings, paintings, sculpture, pottery,

photography or films.

64

CHAPTER SEVEN

Thank you to the following Organisations who Plettenberg Bay:
made this journey happen:
Ebenezer Estate

Outreach Foundation Stone Cottage

National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund Amakhaya’s Back Packers

Rand Merchant Bank Crags Primary School

Origin Centre Wits University Cape Town:

Boitumelo – Outreach Foundation Paraplegic Association of the Western Cape

Renosterspruit Conservation Reserve Iqonga Development Project

Moving into Dance – Mophatong Endlovini Community Hall, Cross Roads, Nyanga

Big Fish Productions AVA Gallery

Soweto: Hotel Verde

Credo Mutwa Cultural Village - Soweto And the people who made this journey special:

Ubuhle Bobuntu Arts Anni Snyman – Site_Specific

Morris Isaacson High School Strijdom van der Merwe – Site_Specific

Kimberley: Steven Sack – Origin Centre

McGregor Museum – Kimberley Professor David Morris – Mcgregor Museum

De Aar: Yvette Nowell

Khazimla Centre for Excellence Vernon Openshaw

Khazimla Karoo Eisteddfod Trust Dwight Snyman – Host

Rietfontein – De Aar Nadia Virasamy

Loxton:

Endangered Wildlife Trust Outreach Foundation Team:

J.J. Booysen Primary School Robert Ngubane

Laslappie Craft Project Alison Chiveve

Matjiesfontein: Gerard Bester

Lord Milner Hotel Johan Robyn

Rietfontein – Matjiesfontein Sizwe Bottoman

Matjiesfontein Primary School

De Doorns – Hex River Valley: 

Hex River Valley High School 

Buffelskraal Farm 

Clovelly Farm

65

Nomadic Educational Team: Este Matthews
Chesney Lupton Raymondo (Valie) Matthews
Erica Lüttich Godfrey Booysen
Evans Mathibe Johny Arendse
Pindulo Muzhambi Vaslin Maritz
Elney Monsiger
International Land Artists: Relwin Ferfaar
Seung-hyun Ko – South Korea Resthipile Lebata
Kim Soonim – South Korea Simpiwe Sibisi
Jasmine Lee – South Korea Thabang Selai
Patrick Tagoe-Turksen – Ghana Anthony Hill
Imke Rust – Namibia/Germany Attie van Wyk
Mahmoed Maktabi - Iran Marize Lotter
Reyhan Omidghaemi - Iran Heini Lüttich - Host
Eross István – Hungary Maggie Lüttich – Host
Ulrikke Sparre - Sweden Zelda Jordaan - Host
Marie Gayatri - Sweden Angus Greig - Host
Dave Swart - Host
Artistic Interventions and contributions: Annie le Roux - Host
Trevor Ndlovu Myfanwy Bekker
Dipuo Banda Dakalo Mulaudzi
Fransa Cole - Host Jonas Posner
Ronel Wheeler - Host Lerato  Ndlovu
Thulani Zondo Linda Michael Mkhwanazi
Lehlohonolo Mkhasibe Sinalo Nthuli
Katie Barnard du Toit - Host Tahliso Makaleng
Pieter du Toit - Host Cheslyn Serenge
Assanda Jeje Lydia Gogotya
Jasper Seidensticker Thandi Mke
Sibonelo Sibembe Thuli Maseko
Ingrid Schöfmann - Host Tshepo Ntuka
Bonnie Schumann

66

CHAPTER SEVEN

With thanks to Heini Lüttich, Phindulo Muzhambi, Evans Mathibe, Maggie Lüttich and Chesney Lupton.
Thanks to:

Educational writer - Nichola Myburgh Millen
Editor and proofreader - Chantal Meugens
Layout artist and designer - Donna Reid

Photographs - Evans Mathibe & Erica Lüttich
67

30 Edith Cavell Street
Hillbrow
2001

Tel: 011 720 7011
Email: [email protected]

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