Right opposite this building is a broken building where nothing works, no water, no electricity, few windows with glass in them and yet still a place where people live. The building was hijacked a number of years ago and it is a slum in what is now a light industrial area. It is not safe to walk past this building and often the sounds of muggings, beatings and other such things rings out into the streets.
Although it’s not far from hubs of business and activity, many suburban folk are afraid of venturing into this area – but the rewards of doing so are wonderfully inspiring. A few weeks ago saw an open day of some of the studios in August House, as well as an exhibition and I was fortunate to be there. This space is buzzing with creativity and a great variety of work was on display in some of the larger spaces. In addition, it is always a privilege to be invited into a creative person’s space and to have conversations about what one sees when in this space, as was the case on this day. It is not often that we are able to interact with the artist in the space where they bare their soul and this brings a whole new dimension to their work.
A real thrill was connecting with emerging talent Lazyhound Coka again – I had last seen him at an exhibition of Artist Proof Studio students who were on bursaries from Pinpoint One Personnel. He reminded me of a conversation we had had when I questioned why he was wearing sunglasses – his response: “I wear these because the future is too bright!”. My response at the time was that he should “take them off and walk into the light”; and it was gratifying to see he has certainly done this!
While there is a great deal of challenging and negative stuff happening in our country, there is also a great deal of really positive and inspiring stuff happening. There is an emerging swell of young creatives who are working towards creating a positive, fruitful and abundant reality for themselves and others and it is inspiring to be able to experience this. The artists at August House are part of this swell and while much of what they see and experience is difficult, and they are expressing this, there is an undertone of positivity and hopefulness which keeps them moving forward and renews my belief in a positive future for us.
(For a bit more background, read here: http://mg.co.za/article/2013-08-16-the-august-house-that-fosters-art)
