community reflections

Let me begin in this way. I come from the village of Bodiam, which is about seven kilometres from Hamburg. Carol Hofmeyr started Keiskamma Art Project in Hamburg after she moved there from Joburg in 2000 and there were about seven ladies from my village working in Hamburg, in the art studio here. They were very tired of walking every day from Bodiam to Hamburg and then from Hamburg to Bodiam so one of the ladies from my village (she was a member of the church, Nokwanda Makhubalo) asked Carol to open a studio and work with the ladies in Bodiam. This was, I think, in 2001.

I still remember that day I met Carol Hofmeyr. I had always been very curious, because I would see this car coming in and out, you know. And so, one day I went to the studio. And luckily, that day Carol was there and she asked me if I wanted to see what they were doing inside. I saw the beautiful embroideries that the ladies were doing. Then Carol asked me, ‘Would you like to work here as an artist? Do you want to try?’

I told her I would love to, mainly because it was a rare opportunity for me as a man. Where I come from and the way I was raised, it's different from some other people. At my primary school in Bodiam, boys were forced to do woodwork and the girls were forced to do sewing. So, when I was growing up, I was taught that sewing or art is only for ladies and hard work using machines is only for men. This was instilled in me when I was young.  So, when I got this opportunity from Carol Baker, I said to myself, I'm going to break those barriers. Now as a man I've got this opportunity, let me break those barriers. So that's how it started, you know. It was just something from inside me that made me want to try it, even though, growing up, I was always told this kind of work was just for ladies.

So, this is how I joined the Art Project. In the beginning, it was not easy, because I was not used to being in an environment where there were so many women. I was used to working with men most of the time and I had never had a chance before to work with just ladies. Sometimes the ladies would pay me to help them draw designs for their sewing projects. And the ladies were the ones who taught me how to do embroidery. I was not taught by someone else. But I remember, when I asked for help with embroidering, I would notice that the same ladies who had hired me to help them with drawing would not want to help me with sewing. Once you had drawn for them, they would want to compete in embroidery with the same person that helped them. So, when I asked the ladies to help me do some embroidery, some would help me, some wouldn’t.

The response from the other men in my community was also not easy. Sometimes it takes years, many years, for people to recognise what you are doing. Many people, especially the men, didn't understand the work that I was doing and why I was doing it. To them it seemed like I'm lazy, that I didn’t want to do proper men’s work. People believed that as a man you should work in the construction industry, or you should work hard doing some other manual labour that required you to be strong. And then also moneywise. They would ask, how can you make money out of what you are doing, sewing like the embroiders?

I suppose it's been a process of educating, and changing a mindset around what men can and can't do. And that education, it takes time. People want to see results, you know. So, you have to talk and walk. When I joined the Project, most of the men in my age group had already left the Peddie area to work in the city. They were asking me, why are you staying here? What are you going to do? What do you think this can achieve? Is this sustainable? I had to say many things to convince them. The thing is, they would leave here and then they would go to Cape Town or East London or PE, and they would stay in shacks there. They were not even happy where they were, but there was always this feeling that they had to leave the rural area to look for greener pastures, when those green pastures were not even there in the city. They were here. I would talk to them about happiness. I would say, you need to be happy. You need to do something that makes you happy. I'm happy doing this work. Sometimes, yes, you need money to be sustainable. You need money to fit in socially; you need to be able to have a house; you need to send your kids to school. But the truth is, it's better for me to be where I am, doing what I love, because you know, I've managed to get a house, and I've got I have a wife and I've got a kid, and I've got my lovely garden in front of me. It's not just a house, it's a household. I've got chickens, goats and all that stuff.

People want to see how you live, before they fully recognise and accept what you're doing. So, you need to set an example in the community, to convince them. Now I am Production Manager and this offers a good role model. We are starting to see the results. There are three men who have joined the Project because they are interested in doing this work, because they've seen that there is a space for men here. I've also heard from my wife, that one boy came to my house, and then he said, I would love to join, to follow Cebo once he has finished his job. And there is another guy who is also interested. So, together with the two that are interested, we will have five guys doing the sewing. People are starting to see, yes, it's a place to be, Keiskamma Art Project.

One of them working with us, he left, but he came back. As I’ve said, one of the things that happens is, people leave the village, thinking that they will get the green pastures. They end up lost in the city. And then, when there's nowhere else to go, Keiskamma is still there for them. And then they come home. Lots of people who have left, some looking for work in Cape Town, now they're back in Hamburg. One guy who came back from the city, he joined us. If you can't beat us, you must join us.

The way that we work, the men come to the Project as artists but, at the end of the day, they end up also doing the embroidery. So, I say to them that it's very important, if you are doing the drawing for the ladies, they must also do the embroidery for you. We need to respect each other. This is very important. Once we respect each other, we’ll be fine. So, I say to the men that join the Project, these are the ladies. But the important part is, we all need to blend. Otherwise, if we don't blend, we can’t progress. We need to respect each other and respect the workspace.

And in this way, Keiskamma Art Project is going to go from strength to strength. The river of creativity is flowing, you know, it's flowing in a very powerful way, for the men and the women. It will never stop flowing.