During April 2023 we played in the sand, we planted a tree, and we spoke about art… “The Stones Speak, The Moss Whispers” was an exhibition held at Ninette Steyl’s gallery in Palm Gardens Square in Wilderness, and an outdoor event with poetry, music and a tree planting ceremony.
On Earth Day, 22 April 2023, Corné Brink of Kaëlvoet Consulting planted an Outeniqua Yellowwood tree, and this planting forms part of an ongoing rescue and rehabilitation project between George Municipality, Ruwacon, Cape EA Prac and Kaëlvoet Consulting to rescue indigenous tree species from the Medi-Clinic development site and replant them for conservation and tourism.
Using art, poetry and symbolic action the exhibition and event was aimed at being an experience that reconnects visitors to nature, grounds them into the present moment, and presents a different perspective about the world. My work for this project was inspired by the messages we can all receive from the natural world. We are part of nature, we are nature. There are memories, knowledge and wisdom in the stones, trees, sand, moss and on the wind. When we learn to tap into this – through the stories of elders, or intuitively with our own body – we discover a new tool, a new way of being, a new perspective. Which can lead to a tangible and visceral understanding of our place within the world.
The production of the art and the printing of the catalogue was funded by the African Culture Fund (Fonds Africain pour la Culture). The African Culture Fund is an initiative that defends a continent’s desire to write new narratives and take its rightful place on the world stage through the voice of its unique culture. The Fund aims to contribute to the writing and the establishment of new narratives of positive social change in Africa through innovative projects that it finances.