20 June 2008

We Are Africa: a workshop empowering people to face and overcome violence today.

The We Are Africa workshop and exhibition in June 2008 in Johannesburg brought healing to a group of participants whose lives were reeling under the impact of violence: from the xenophobic attacks of the last month, to the ongoing wounds of gender violence. The three week workshop concluded with a one-day exhibition of art-works held in the chapel of the Central Methodist Mission in Johannesburg on World Refugee Day (20 June 2008).

This workshop is part of the Curriculum Development Project Trust's Education and Training programme ‘BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH THE ARTS’, to which the SAHA poster curator Judy Seidman contributes. It brought together 23 people to make images that speak to and of their lives, pains, and hopes. Participants included people who have found refuge living in the Church Methodist Church, and South Africans committed to redressing the violence that threatens our lives.

The workshop provided a transforming and empowering experience to participants, and produced works that communicate to us all this awareness.

This workshop was made possible by funding from HIVOS/MAGI.

 

CDP Facilitator Charlotte Schaer and a speaker on the rights of refugees address the workshop before panels carrying historic posters, provided by SAHA, addressing issues of violence within our society

Participant Tsitsi describes life as portrayed in her own fabric painting at the We are Africa exhibition on World Refugee Day.