Public Art

always interested to see the ways people use public space to express themselves.

billy and i like capturing interesting graffiti...

some anti-american sentiments in a middle income, mixed neighborhood:

the same day, on the same bike adventure, we came across this creepy but fascinating house in a neighborhood called athlone, with tons of threatening "do not set a single foot on this property" type signs, as well as lots of commentary over the 'murder' of a man name isaac volkwyn. i've kind of let it slip to the back of my mind, but looked up who he was just now as i was posting, and he was a very elderly man who suffered a stroke and then his doctors recommended his nourishment thru a feeding tube and hydration be ceased. his children agreed but then later questioned the decision and eventually felt he'd been murdered by the medical system.



this always cracks me up when i'm on the short walk or bike ride over to a posh "square" (it's actually a mall) near our house where i go to use free wireless. the arrow points to the window, instructing normal crack customers to approach, but the SAP (South African Police) to kindly use the front door.


this statue of Jan Smuts, in the Company Gardens, was hit on Heritage Day, among others like statues of Cecil Rhodes, by some artist. "Reject this Heritage" - it says. I do think South Africa, and the world as a whole, will benefit by condemning the colonizer mentality.

Here's also an interesting letter to the editor I saw online about the graffiti:

Most public holidays, my sons and I have a tradition of going to the Company Gardens to feed the squirrels and watch the chattering parrotlings. This Heritage Day would have been like any other, except that as we approached the aviary in the Garden, we noticed bright red graffiti covering the Cecil J. Rhodes statue nearby. "REJECT THIS HERITAGE." My sons, ages 7 & 10, both turned to me. "Look, Mommy! Bad people painted the cool statue." Each looked at me intently, waiting to hear my condemnation.

Perhaps another parent would have simply responded that it was wrong and moved on to the birds. But something about those words struck me deeply, made me think about our British heritage. "Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life," Rhodes said. When I was my sons' age, I was taught that this man was a hero. And how are my sons to think any differently when statues honoring him all over our city? "Do you know how this man is part of our heritage?" I asked them. Neither really knew who Rhodes was, nor what "hinterland" could possibly mean.

The birds took a backseat. We've spent the afternoon at home together, researching Rhodes and colonial ideology on the internet. I want them to understand how severely this element of our heritage devastated the African continent and our own country. And although we discussed the legal wrong in defacing public space, it's no longer so clear to the boys that the people who graffiti-ed the Rhodes Statue are the lone "bad guys." For us white South Africans, we must celebrate our heritage not by continuing to laud our imperialist ancestors, but by learning from its mistakes and creating a new heritage our children and grandchildren will be proud of.