If you are the type of visitor who wants to experience the soul and character of a wide variety of South African craft sites, then the Due South Craft Route adventure has been chartered just for you.
Here you can meet local communities and gain an insight into their cultures, challenges, dreams and aspirations. And witness South Africa’s diverse regions ignite with creative energy.
Sparking Creativity
The Due South Craft Route is sponsored by South African electricity giant, Eskom. This project’s major objectives include enabling crafters to generate income; assisting in the development of skills in the art and craft industry; encouraging South African cultural heritage; and creating an environment that will help poor, creative people improve their quality of life.
This project has led to the establishment of over 500 craft sites across South Africa’s 9 provinces. All these are covered in a user-friendly Due South Travel Guide to South African Craft Sites. As well as containing comprehensive information on each site with detailed maps, this handbook features places to stay and see on route.
Bushman Paintings
One of the best places to start is with the crafters of the Northern Cape. Visit the Agora Crafts Centre in the quaint Karoo town of Hanover and meet woodcarver Joel Moagi, who incorporates Tswana myths and fears about nature’s unpredictability in his work.
Here, too, you can enter the world of the Bushman. The traditional !Xun and Khwe-inspired paintings and prints, with expressive designs and bold colours, are available at the !Xun and Khwe Art Centre at the Platfontein farm on the R31 between Kimberley and Barkly West.
Weaving Around
The Western Cape boasts the largest concentration of sites. Moving along the coast, the Eastern Cape is home to a variety of tribal initiatives which showcase the area’s unique heritage.
KwaZulu-Natal’s crafts represent a deep cultural influence, with the region’s artists taking enormous pride in their work. Turning inland, the central Free State is dotted with creative pockets focusing mainly on Basotho weaving. And in North West Province there are numerous cultural villages and contemporary painters.
The creative spirit of Gauteng is found in the art centres of townships, as well as in vibrant markets and country rambles. Drawing inspiration from traditional and contemporary styles, Mpumalanga Province’s geometric and colourful crafts stem from the artistic Ndebele culture.
The Joy of Life
Ruling supreme in the country’s art and craft world is Limpopo Province, which is home to a number of internationally recognised artists. Coming mainly from the Venda people, they are called to fulfil their destinies by unusual dreams and visions in which ancestors, strangers or animals from the spirit world appear with messages, prophecies or warnings.
Most prominent of these is the now semi-retired Jackson Hlungwani who lives near Elim. In the 1970s he had an ecstatic religious experience which filled him with an enormous energy that he frenetically expended on wood sculptures. Heaven and earth met in works that included powerful images of the supernatural, traditional medicine gourds, birds, animals and the joy of life.
The Spiritual Eye
In the Giyani area of the province is sculptor Noria Mabasa, who was a finalist in the 2001 Shoprite Checkers Woman of the Year Award. In her beautiful home on the banks of the Levubu River, she creates powerful objects from clay and wood. These range from delicate pieces to massive works sculpted from trees washed down during occasional flooding.
Among the up-and-coming talents is Albert Munyai, who was selected as 1 of 10 South African finalists for the 2001 DaimlerChrysler Art Award. Still living a humble life in the Pile Mountains, he believes that when God created the universe he was making art. On that broad canvas he gave each plant a rustle, insects a sound, animals a call, every bird a song and people different colours shapes and languages.
‘His garden would have been so boring had it just been yellow and contained one note,’ says Munyai, spreading his arms to heaven.
Pulp Art
While in Limpopo, visit Tsonga Textiles which is renowned for their beautiful tablecloths. Or be more chic with a stylish paper product from Khomanani Paper Art, which uses pulped school exam questionnaires and banana stem in their creations.
So, if you enjoy the colourful world of art and craft, head Due South for some of the world’s most inspired and gifted artists.
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