16 FEB | 2 MARCH | 30 MARCH | 27 APRIL
Border Walks are powerful, intimate artistic explorations of place with a diverse group of people.
They bring people into contact with nature, each other and the perspectives and practices of guests: who are artists, residents, environmentalists and activists. This unique concept provides a plural platform for diverse voices – uncovering the complex intersections of social and environmental issues. Border Walks are immersive, participatory experiences in ‘borderlands’ that lie between communities – wetlands, coasts, mountains and contested development zones.
They are free, all ages and completely inclusive.
Following contour paths on our mountains to uncover hidden stories; moving through areas full of new growth after recent fires; exploring the richness of our oceans; and stepping into contested borderlands territories, spaces that are friction points between our communities - Border Walks open up new ways of experiencing and understanding. Guests from diverse fields with diverse life experiences lead the way.
Transport is provided, with pick-up points in Masiphumelele, Red Hill and Ocean View.
Are you interested in booking this unique and eye-opening experience for a group of people?
We've created custom Border Walks for the Sustainability Institute and University of Alberta. They are a profound and inclusive model that inspires and puts people in touch with their own creativity, relation to nature and to humanity - no one is left unmoved by a Border Walk.
“This is emotional. Unsettling in a way I didn’t expect” – Lebogang, University of Alberta
“Absolutely gorgeous and rich experience” – SI participant
“The story of the families moved off the land has stayed with me, and inspired me to get stuck into my own project of change”- SI participant
"That was amazing. Thank you for organizing such a fluidly still and reflective day together...it was a very special place to share!" - Alliz
"Thank you for the chance to be still together, having a chance to recharge and become more real." – Caroline
Border Walks is supported by the City of Cape Town - Arts and Culture Department.
It has received past support from Afrika Burn Outreach and the Institute for Creative Arts ,UCT.
Border Walks are powerful, intimate artistic explorations of place with a diverse group of people.
They bring people into contact with nature, each other and the perspectives and practices of guests: who are artists, residents, environmentalists and activists. This unique concept provides a plural platform for diverse voices – uncovering the complex intersections of social and environmental issues. Border Walks are immersive, participatory experiences in ‘borderlands’ that lie between communities – wetlands, coasts, mountains and contested development zones.
They are free, all ages and completely inclusive.
Following contour paths on our mountains to uncover hidden stories; moving through areas full of new growth after recent fires; exploring the richness of our oceans; and stepping into contested borderlands territories, spaces that are friction points between our communities - Border Walks open up new ways of experiencing and understanding. Guests from diverse fields with diverse life experiences lead the way.
Transport is provided, with pick-up points in Masiphumelele, Red Hill and Ocean View.
Are you interested in booking this unique and eye-opening experience for a group of people?
We've created custom Border Walks for the Sustainability Institute and University of Alberta. They are a profound and inclusive model that inspires and puts people in touch with their own creativity, relation to nature and to humanity - no one is left unmoved by a Border Walk.
“This is emotional. Unsettling in a way I didn’t expect” – Lebogang, University of Alberta
“Absolutely gorgeous and rich experience” – SI participant
“The story of the families moved off the land has stayed with me, and inspired me to get stuck into my own project of change”- SI participant
"That was amazing. Thank you for organizing such a fluidly still and reflective day together...it was a very special place to share!" - Alliz
"Thank you for the chance to be still together, having a chance to recharge and become more real." – Caroline
Border Walks is supported by the City of Cape Town - Arts and Culture Department.
It has received past support from Afrika Burn Outreach and the Institute for Creative Arts ,UCT.
BORDER WALKS 2019
Border Walk #4
with the Borderlands Team and you
Klein Slangkop, the corner of Kommetjie beach, from the sands in front of a residential area to the expanse around the Kakapo wreck. Just a stretch of beach, or is it more?
Our Border Walk started with sharing in pairs what we each have experienced of this place: Shark scares? Childhood memories of exclusion? Rest and relaxation? The discomfort of constant surveillance by residents? Whose beach is this? You've heard the sound of the beach from Masi but never been here before - there's no transport to reach this place? It's just a little bit of the Cape coast, but the difference of our experiences makes visible the invisible - accessibility, ownership, exclusion, entitlement, the politics of 'shared' public space. Introducing our partner and their experiences made us listen closely and take care of their story - offering it to the rest of the group with humility.
We set off, the whole group taking turns to lead the way with different senses. This Border Walk focused on immersing in the moment - full body presence: feet in the sand, the smell of seaweed, sharp eyes looking around, feeling the cold water and the sound of natural materials scraping, crunching and squelching in our hands and under our feet. In silence we explored with our bodies the rich sensations of the shore.
Near the vlei, where flamingos were feeding, we build temporary sculptures from sand and scavenged materials, taking a moment to play without a goal. Mermaids, villages, abstract art and walkable spirals appeared all around. And at the Kakapo wreck we put our bodies to work, creating group images of boats, sharks, nets, plastic islands and jellyfish that lasted only as long as we could hold our balance.
This far corner of the beach, isolated and quiet, has been a danger zone for many years. Like many other borderland zones, its a place in-between - not inhabited, but not uninhabited; not easily accessible, but reached after a long walk along paths through the bush or the dunes. It does not 'belong' to Noordhoek or Kommetjie or Imhoff or Ocean View or Masiphumelele. It belongs to everybody but... in a city of such inequality, it is not a neutral zone. The idyll exists only for the few. Exclusion does not just make big pockets of space inaccessible to those without the means to access them, it creates imbalanced spaces in which violence arises.
Being here with a big group of people of all ages, all communities and with a common, creative and peaceful spirit, is a temporary reclamation of equality - here, for this morning, we can just be. We have the numbers. We set new rules of how to move and inhabit space together.
Leaving behind the wreck we also left behind a little bit of personal worry, the weight of something that each of us wanted to be released from. Our worries were written and tied to the rusting skeletons and we folded up more hopeful thoughts for the future into paper kites and flew them towards the ocean.
Can a few hours of curated time together change the way we feel about a place, about our communities and about ourselves? At the end of the Border Walk, rested and sandy, the group shared last thoughts:
- Thank you for playing with us old grannies, young people!
- I loved being together with this diverse group, also the elderly... I mean, older people.
- How relaxing it was to just make art in the sand. We never get to spend time creatively like that.
- We were supposed to do something else today but last night I said - I really need a Border Walk!
- Yes, I feel different about this place now - I feel good.
- But it is bitter sweet - because the Border Walk ends and then things reassert themselves.
- There is so much work to be done to keep this feeling alive every day... for everybody.
*
Thank you to all of the participants and to the Borderlands team.
Border Walk #3
with Simonstown Museum, Project Phoenix & Cape Velvet
Photography above: Brendon Bosworth
Starting our Border Walk at the Simons Town Museum, Tazneem Wentzel gave a personal introduction to select artefacts from the collection. Our group of Border Walkers searched the Museum for clues from the past as Tazneem invited us to consider the important and often unacknowledged role of people of colour in the archive of Simons Town: a harbour community that has been deeply shaped by the changing powers of Dutch conquest, British naval forces and the brutal Apartheid regime.
Settled in the quiet of the Museum, members of Project Phoenix arrived one by one, adding their voices to the conversation and sharing memories of life growing up in Simons Town and the shock of Forced Removals, that tore the heart out of the area in the late 1960s. Our group fell silent, hearing the collective pain in these personal stories. Families forced to leave behind all but whatever they could fit on one truck; the barren and disorientating arrival in Slangkop, as Ocean View was formerly known; the effect on the older generation - mothers who withered away, retreating into trauma, after their central, important role as matriarchs of their community was stolen from them. Tazneem and Marius spoke about working with young children now - those whose parents and grandparents had been affected directly - and the importance of learning about the past, not just to keep memories alive, but as a way of understanding how the difficulties faced now by communities grew out of the violence of dislocation - in this understanding there could be hope for change.
In the neighbouring Anglican church the stained glass window of Peter Clarke, a shining creative light in the darkness of this period, glowed with life. Shards of colour overlap in this evocation of a splintered community - a reminder of the effects of the Group Areas Act.
In pairs we shared memories of our own journeys - some small, comical, personal, others surprisingly epic. A young participant described her crossing of the Limpopo River, only accompanied by her younger sister. She made the journey into South Africa at the age of 10. We walked up the steep streets of Simons Town at a slow, talking pace.
On Cardiff Road, Richard Clarke, the brother of the late artist, pointed out the house that they had been born in. And on all sides of this road stories of outstanding creative artists unfolded, their presence coming alive. Here lived Christopher Kindo, before he became a ballet star - here lived the writer couple, Gladys & Albert Thomas - here the sound of saxophones and singing filled the night air on the weekends - here the avos and mulberries grew ripe. Past residents appeared in fleeting images of this vibrant, abundant and creative time.
The conversation, flowing naturally between different small groupings of walkers, turned to Land Claims and the successes and challenges faced by families who have returned or would still like to return to the area. Only two families in that area have so far returned. For others who were successful in getting their land back, the expense of building and the difficulty of sharing a piece of land between an expanded family made subdivision and sale the only option. And it is not over - many families are still fighting for compensation and land, in Simons Town, Red Hill and many other places.
Higher up, the tar road ended and we followed the trail into the mountain, stepping out of the human-made environment. Walking in single file and in silence, following in the footsteps of the elders who led the way, the fragments of memories and stories sounded in our heads - at odds with the imposing, wealthy silence of what is now a predominantly white neighbourhood. Do new residents of Simons Town know about what happened here, what was erased to make way for their new houses and picturesque existence? 'No,' said Mary, 'they don't want to know. When people come from Ocean View to stand on the threshold of what was once their home, in what was once their community, they call the police.'
A short, steep climb and as we rounded the corner, deep baritone voices could be heard, clearer than a record. Masixole and Chris, singers from the Masiphumelele group Cape Velvet, crooned songs from the past, standing on the natural stage of the waterfall. Their voices blended in nostalgic harmonies and reverberated between the cliffs of the kloof.
*
Thank you to Project Phoenix for sharing your memories, stories and your time with our Borderlands group. Thank you to Tazneem Wentzel and the Simons Town Museum for your warm hosting and facilitation. And thanks to Cape Velvet for bringing musical wonder to an unusual place.
Settled in the quiet of the Museum, members of Project Phoenix arrived one by one, adding their voices to the conversation and sharing memories of life growing up in Simons Town and the shock of Forced Removals, that tore the heart out of the area in the late 1960s. Our group fell silent, hearing the collective pain in these personal stories. Families forced to leave behind all but whatever they could fit on one truck; the barren and disorientating arrival in Slangkop, as Ocean View was formerly known; the effect on the older generation - mothers who withered away, retreating into trauma, after their central, important role as matriarchs of their community was stolen from them. Tazneem and Marius spoke about working with young children now - those whose parents and grandparents had been affected directly - and the importance of learning about the past, not just to keep memories alive, but as a way of understanding how the difficulties faced now by communities grew out of the violence of dislocation - in this understanding there could be hope for change.
In the neighbouring Anglican church the stained glass window of Peter Clarke, a shining creative light in the darkness of this period, glowed with life. Shards of colour overlap in this evocation of a splintered community - a reminder of the effects of the Group Areas Act.
In pairs we shared memories of our own journeys - some small, comical, personal, others surprisingly epic. A young participant described her crossing of the Limpopo River, only accompanied by her younger sister. She made the journey into South Africa at the age of 10. We walked up the steep streets of Simons Town at a slow, talking pace.
On Cardiff Road, Richard Clarke, the brother of the late artist, pointed out the house that they had been born in. And on all sides of this road stories of outstanding creative artists unfolded, their presence coming alive. Here lived Christopher Kindo, before he became a ballet star - here lived the writer couple, Gladys & Albert Thomas - here the sound of saxophones and singing filled the night air on the weekends - here the avos and mulberries grew ripe. Past residents appeared in fleeting images of this vibrant, abundant and creative time.
The conversation, flowing naturally between different small groupings of walkers, turned to Land Claims and the successes and challenges faced by families who have returned or would still like to return to the area. Only two families in that area have so far returned. For others who were successful in getting their land back, the expense of building and the difficulty of sharing a piece of land between an expanded family made subdivision and sale the only option. And it is not over - many families are still fighting for compensation and land, in Simons Town, Red Hill and many other places.
Higher up, the tar road ended and we followed the trail into the mountain, stepping out of the human-made environment. Walking in single file and in silence, following in the footsteps of the elders who led the way, the fragments of memories and stories sounded in our heads - at odds with the imposing, wealthy silence of what is now a predominantly white neighbourhood. Do new residents of Simons Town know about what happened here, what was erased to make way for their new houses and picturesque existence? 'No,' said Mary, 'they don't want to know. When people come from Ocean View to stand on the threshold of what was once their home, in what was once their community, they call the police.'
A short, steep climb and as we rounded the corner, deep baritone voices could be heard, clearer than a record. Masixole and Chris, singers from the Masiphumelele group Cape Velvet, crooned songs from the past, standing on the natural stage of the waterfall. Their voices blended in nostalgic harmonies and reverberated between the cliffs of the kloof.
*
Thank you to Project Phoenix for sharing your memories, stories and your time with our Borderlands group. Thank you to Tazneem Wentzel and the Simons Town Museum for your warm hosting and facilitation. And thanks to Cape Velvet for bringing musical wonder to an unusual place.
Border Walk #2
with Aaniyah Omardien & Hedley Twidle
Gathered under a grey sky, surrounded by surfers, sea and lots of people enjoying the beach, our group of Border Walkers got introduced to the fabulous work of The Beach Co-op by Aaniyah Omardien. They are working to clean up, study and lobby for a plastic-free coast.
Plastic, plastic everywhere...even ingested by anemones... So we grabbed our @sealandgear recycled bags and collected what we could.
Walking along the coastal path to St James we came upon the stunning public art of @careonelove created in collaboration with @thebeachco_op Tidal pool creatures splashing their vivid colours over the walls. A reminder of what wildlife shares space with us humans. And congrats on your efforts to change the way our tidal pools are cleaned - using more animal friendly methods than chemical cleaning.
Writer Hedley Twidle led us through his diverse research into unique oddities, stories & unusual perspectives of False Bay. And then united us in a spontaneous choral performance of Gabeba Baderoon's poem Hangklip. We serenaded the bay, letting our voices sing out across the blue waters.
'I pull myself to Hangklip on a cord of names
I hear them sing in the throat of the sea,
the long, blue throat of the sea.'
Plastic, plastic everywhere...even ingested by anemones... So we grabbed our @sealandgear recycled bags and collected what we could.
Walking along the coastal path to St James we came upon the stunning public art of @careonelove created in collaboration with @thebeachco_op Tidal pool creatures splashing their vivid colours over the walls. A reminder of what wildlife shares space with us humans. And congrats on your efforts to change the way our tidal pools are cleaned - using more animal friendly methods than chemical cleaning.
Writer Hedley Twidle led us through his diverse research into unique oddities, stories & unusual perspectives of False Bay. And then united us in a spontaneous choral performance of Gabeba Baderoon's poem Hangklip. We serenaded the bay, letting our voices sing out across the blue waters.
'I pull myself to Hangklip on a cord of names
I hear them sing in the throat of the sea,
the long, blue throat of the sea.'
Border Walk #1
with Judith Westerveld & Elton Tinashe Matangira
The first Border Walk of 2019 took us over the dunes of Sunnydale and up to the caves. Thank you everyone who came together to walk, climb, connect, listen and share the mountain. Particularly to Judith Westerveld, sharing her moving and time-expanding performance, Mukalap - a conversation with a !ora speaker, recorded 80 years ago. This dialogue across time and space, between multiple languages, was brought to ground in the sacred burial site of Peers Cave.
And thank you Elton Tinashe Matangira for speaking on behalf of your church members and countrymen - and speaking up for the right to freely use and share the mountains, caves and all public space. We stand in solidarity with your rights. We also thank all those who voiced their thoughts, fears and offered practical steps to find solutions to problems of intimidation and racial profiling in our nature areas.
And thank you Elton Tinashe Matangira for speaking on behalf of your church members and countrymen - and speaking up for the right to freely use and share the mountains, caves and all public space. We stand in solidarity with your rights. We also thank all those who voiced their thoughts, fears and offered practical steps to find solutions to problems of intimidation and racial profiling in our nature areas.
BORDER WALKS 2018
Border Walk #5
with Koleka Putuma & Roushanna Gray
This last Border Walk of the season brought together two trailblazing womxn - wild forager Roushanna Gray & writer Koleka Putuma. Our largest Border Walks group yet gathered at Miller’s Point on a windy Saturday morning to step into new territory together.
A big pot was already cooking on an open fire as everyone arrived: rich, unfamiliar aromas of rice and seaweed greeted us. We quickly stepped down into the coastal dune vegetation, picking wild vygies and sharing stories. The equinox low tide let us into secret rock pools full of activity. Roushanna shared how she sees the intertidal zone: gesturing to the edible bounty of seaweed that is hardly noticed. Before we stepped back onto the sand, someone spotted a large octopus creeping out of a rock pool and we gathered around to marvel at the spectacular animal, so different from us.
Around the point, protected from the South Easterly wind we sipped wild-fennel tea sweetened with perlargonium and sat captivated, as Koleka stood and spoke. She shared a poem that delved deep into the ocean, bringing up questions about bones, memory, loss and reclamation. We were invited to share our own memories related to water and sitting in a wide circle on the rocks, slowly they started to come: childhood, thunderstorms, drowned ancestors, dreams. Memories stirred the waters, acknowledging what needs remembering...
Circling fragments of printed text, extracts from Koleka’s ground-breaking poem ‘Water’, we had time to read silently, letting the words sink in.
After writing, with the enigmatic ocean in front of us, Koleka asked us to join up with someone of a different age group and go on an adventure together. The group spread over the boulders and into the sea, getting to know each other. How often do we get this chance – to connect with a stranger in an unpressured space?
This was the last Border Walk of the season. An experiment in coming together, sharing time in our beautiful, troubled and healing borderland spaces of the Cape Deep South. The seaweed rice with vygie chutney and kelp tomato relish that Roushanna dished to us all at the end left the perfect lingering taste.
Thank you all our friends, guests, family and community for bringing all of yourself to every Border Walk!
A big pot was already cooking on an open fire as everyone arrived: rich, unfamiliar aromas of rice and seaweed greeted us. We quickly stepped down into the coastal dune vegetation, picking wild vygies and sharing stories. The equinox low tide let us into secret rock pools full of activity. Roushanna shared how she sees the intertidal zone: gesturing to the edible bounty of seaweed that is hardly noticed. Before we stepped back onto the sand, someone spotted a large octopus creeping out of a rock pool and we gathered around to marvel at the spectacular animal, so different from us.
Around the point, protected from the South Easterly wind we sipped wild-fennel tea sweetened with perlargonium and sat captivated, as Koleka stood and spoke. She shared a poem that delved deep into the ocean, bringing up questions about bones, memory, loss and reclamation. We were invited to share our own memories related to water and sitting in a wide circle on the rocks, slowly they started to come: childhood, thunderstorms, drowned ancestors, dreams. Memories stirred the waters, acknowledging what needs remembering...
Circling fragments of printed text, extracts from Koleka’s ground-breaking poem ‘Water’, we had time to read silently, letting the words sink in.
After writing, with the enigmatic ocean in front of us, Koleka asked us to join up with someone of a different age group and go on an adventure together. The group spread over the boulders and into the sea, getting to know each other. How often do we get this chance – to connect with a stranger in an unpressured space?
This was the last Border Walk of the season. An experiment in coming together, sharing time in our beautiful, troubled and healing borderland spaces of the Cape Deep South. The seaweed rice with vygie chutney and kelp tomato relish that Roushanna dished to us all at the end left the perfect lingering taste.
Thank you all our friends, guests, family and community for bringing all of yourself to every Border Walk!
Border Walk #4
with Glenn Ashton & Thembela Ntongana
On Saturday 17 Feb, a big group of young and old, from Masiphumelele, Noordhoek, Ocean View, Glencairn and Scarborough set off on a borderland exploration together. No one was daunted by the sandy and hot trail, that took us through the Noordhoek valley wetlands and along the entire perimeter fence of The Lakes security estate, with Masiphumelele just across the reed beds.
Our guests, Glenn Ashton and Thembela Ntongana, brought their knowledge and experience to this borderland zone where the relationship between people and the environment is under pressure. And where there is a clearly felt lack of connection between neighbours. A missing solidarity in resolving practical issues, particularly those experienced by the people who live in informal housing in the wetlands. The situation is complex. And it is all inter-related. Just as Glenn pointed out the flows of water in the valley passing through the natural filtration system of the wetlands, replenishing the aquifer, so it became clear that social issues are also deeply interconnected.
Thembela intiated a discussion about the need for gap-housing in Masi - a densely populated area. She described the knock-on effect of inadequate housing, no affordable local alternatives for wage-earners and the collapsing waste management system. As we walked, we passed the waste canals dug by the city, seeping into the wetlands and creating dire health conditions for those living on their banks. Thembela noted that there are people who have lived in the neglected Masi wetlands since Site 5 was allocated, decades later they are still waiting for alternative accommodation...
Conversation became concrete after we had rested in the shade of a lone stand of milkwood trees. And shell remains were found, evidence that this was a Khoi-San midden, used by others long before us. Under the heat of the sun, we discussed how to increase connection and cross the walls between our neighbourhoods. Walking along the electrified fence that surrounds The Lakes, on the outside and looking in, hardly needed explanation. The borders that separate our communities and our ways of thinking are as real as they are pyschological. Without finding honest meeting points, without creating connections to help solve problems, we are all prisoners behind high walls.
Thanks to our guests and to all those who participated, especially all the youth who came with Asiphe from Rainbow Dreams Trust!
Our guests, Glenn Ashton and Thembela Ntongana, brought their knowledge and experience to this borderland zone where the relationship between people and the environment is under pressure. And where there is a clearly felt lack of connection between neighbours. A missing solidarity in resolving practical issues, particularly those experienced by the people who live in informal housing in the wetlands. The situation is complex. And it is all inter-related. Just as Glenn pointed out the flows of water in the valley passing through the natural filtration system of the wetlands, replenishing the aquifer, so it became clear that social issues are also deeply interconnected.
Thembela intiated a discussion about the need for gap-housing in Masi - a densely populated area. She described the knock-on effect of inadequate housing, no affordable local alternatives for wage-earners and the collapsing waste management system. As we walked, we passed the waste canals dug by the city, seeping into the wetlands and creating dire health conditions for those living on their banks. Thembela noted that there are people who have lived in the neglected Masi wetlands since Site 5 was allocated, decades later they are still waiting for alternative accommodation...
Conversation became concrete after we had rested in the shade of a lone stand of milkwood trees. And shell remains were found, evidence that this was a Khoi-San midden, used by others long before us. Under the heat of the sun, we discussed how to increase connection and cross the walls between our neighbourhoods. Walking along the electrified fence that surrounds The Lakes, on the outside and looking in, hardly needed explanation. The borders that separate our communities and our ways of thinking are as real as they are pyschological. Without finding honest meeting points, without creating connections to help solve problems, we are all prisoners behind high walls.
Thanks to our guests and to all those who participated, especially all the youth who came with Asiphe from Rainbow Dreams Trust!
Border Walk #3
with Simbarashe Mapundawana & Rob Anderson
National borders, natural borders, man-made borders, internal borders...
The first descent of this Border Walk was led by Simbarashe Mapundawana, who took us down the fire-break path between Scarborough and the Cape Point Nature Reserve. Arriving at Schusterskraal, under the shelter of the milkwood trees, Simba eloquently shared stories of his own experiences with borders: through the Limpopo River to cross into South Africa, his introduction to the racial segregation of Cape Town communities and recently his experience of the mountains as a place of danger. Simba, whose faith leads him to spend quiet time high in the mountains, highlighted the double vulnerability of being a man of colour in those spaces: seen as a suspect by white walkers and equally vulnerable to attacks from those few people who make our beaches and mountains unsafe.
Following the perimeter fence to the point, we rested, reflecting on the spaces within us that are unbounded.
Rob Anderson, marine biologist, took over at the meeting point between sea and land, telling us of the ecological richness in such border zones. His story took us into our communal past and how our ancestors survived 70 000 years ago by foraging from the nutritional bounty of the Southern African coast. Before we made the vast evolutionary leap - in which language played such a vital role - we cooperated successfully through other communication forms. Finding a partner in the group, Rob invited us to go and explore the terrain together, in silence. An act of trust, quiet companionship and subtle listening, we navigated the awkwardness and went on little journeys, noticing how acclimatized we are to fill all silence with speech and to ease social space with chatter.
The wildness of Scarborough was a beautiful place to explore this edge between worlds, sucking on foraged sour figs and crossing a few small borders along the way. Thank you to all those who came along and shared their thoughts, emotions, time and knowledge.
The first descent of this Border Walk was led by Simbarashe Mapundawana, who took us down the fire-break path between Scarborough and the Cape Point Nature Reserve. Arriving at Schusterskraal, under the shelter of the milkwood trees, Simba eloquently shared stories of his own experiences with borders: through the Limpopo River to cross into South Africa, his introduction to the racial segregation of Cape Town communities and recently his experience of the mountains as a place of danger. Simba, whose faith leads him to spend quiet time high in the mountains, highlighted the double vulnerability of being a man of colour in those spaces: seen as a suspect by white walkers and equally vulnerable to attacks from those few people who make our beaches and mountains unsafe.
Following the perimeter fence to the point, we rested, reflecting on the spaces within us that are unbounded.
Rob Anderson, marine biologist, took over at the meeting point between sea and land, telling us of the ecological richness in such border zones. His story took us into our communal past and how our ancestors survived 70 000 years ago by foraging from the nutritional bounty of the Southern African coast. Before we made the vast evolutionary leap - in which language played such a vital role - we cooperated successfully through other communication forms. Finding a partner in the group, Rob invited us to go and explore the terrain together, in silence. An act of trust, quiet companionship and subtle listening, we navigated the awkwardness and went on little journeys, noticing how acclimatized we are to fill all silence with speech and to ease social space with chatter.
The wildness of Scarborough was a beautiful place to explore this edge between worlds, sucking on foraged sour figs and crossing a few small borders along the way. Thank you to all those who came along and shared their thoughts, emotions, time and knowledge.
Border Walk #2
with Chase Rhys & Jess Tyrrell
Remarkable, moving, playful and deeply restful morning at the Kleinplaas ruins and dam. Our guests Chase Rhys, writer and performance maker, and Jess Tyrrell, environmental psychologist and wilderness guide, gently led us in opening up our inner spaces and connecting to the space we were in.
Arriving at the ruined houses of Kleinplaas Chase Rhys' live installation 'Going Home | a Paradise NOW' evoked the presence of displaced generations. Not a haunting, but a re-inhabiting of ruined homes - a place where a community of coloured people had been forcibly removed during the brutal implementation of the Group Areas Act in 1967. Chase's artwork subtly layered sounds from Ocean View, fragments of banjo music and dogs barking, with the sounds of wind, grass crackling and the excited whispers of our Deep South audience. Installed in the house, we each received a Sparkles sweet and sucked on its memory-evoking sweetness while experiencing this moving place.
On the way up the hill we paired up with a stranger and shared our full identity - then we left it on the tar road and walked in quiet, open silence. Later, up at the Red Hill Dam, Jess gave us space to follow our curiosity, play, observe, draw, write and just be in that spectacularly beautiful place. As we left, a troop of 30 totally chilled baboons arrived and we watched as they munched on pincushion proteas, nursed their babies and watched us walk away.
Coming together with people of all ages, from all our communities to share the remarkable borderland spaces that we have is what we're about. The morning couldn't have been more spacious, fun, powerful and peaceful. (And thanks to the weather gods for calming the South Easter for us.)
Arriving at the ruined houses of Kleinplaas Chase Rhys' live installation 'Going Home | a Paradise NOW' evoked the presence of displaced generations. Not a haunting, but a re-inhabiting of ruined homes - a place where a community of coloured people had been forcibly removed during the brutal implementation of the Group Areas Act in 1967. Chase's artwork subtly layered sounds from Ocean View, fragments of banjo music and dogs barking, with the sounds of wind, grass crackling and the excited whispers of our Deep South audience. Installed in the house, we each received a Sparkles sweet and sucked on its memory-evoking sweetness while experiencing this moving place.
On the way up the hill we paired up with a stranger and shared our full identity - then we left it on the tar road and walked in quiet, open silence. Later, up at the Red Hill Dam, Jess gave us space to follow our curiosity, play, observe, draw, write and just be in that spectacularly beautiful place. As we left, a troop of 30 totally chilled baboons arrived and we watched as they munched on pincushion proteas, nursed their babies and watched us walk away.
Coming together with people of all ages, from all our communities to share the remarkable borderland spaces that we have is what we're about. The morning couldn't have been more spacious, fun, powerful and peaceful. (And thanks to the weather gods for calming the South Easter for us.)
Border Walk #1
with Yandiswa Mazwana & Pedro Espi-Sanchis
Trailing over the rocks from the Crayfish Factory to the old dump at Witsands beach, our group of creative scavengers filled their bags with waste, beautiful shells, intriguing rubbish and kept a sharp look out for shapely kelp. Under the guidance of Pedro and Yandiswa, we made fantastic kelp instruments, in the style of our coastal-dwelling ancestors, and adorned ourselves with fabulous waste and beach jewelry. It didn't take much urging to get a rhythm going and a 'beautiful' harmony of kelp flutes, vuvuzelas and shakers hooting out across the dunes.
Thanks to the creative facilitation of Pedro aka Pedro the Music Man and Yandiswa, of Masi Creative Hub for booting us into the New Year!
Thanks to the creative facilitation of Pedro aka Pedro the Music Man and Yandiswa, of Masi Creative Hub for booting us into the New Year!