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The EVERYWOMAN Project - Part 2

4/12/2021

SO HOW IS IT COMING ALONG....?

Since PART 1, our NEXT STEP was to organise the many-hands workshops necessary to stitch the nearly 4000 yoyo's together. No small task! But we put out the call and volunteers come flooding in. To our delight very quickly all eight of our two-hour workshops were full - with a waiting list. So with the Zeitz MOCAA education department on board, we were all set to go!

Just as soon as the Zeitz opened its doors one sunny Friday in February, Beryl was there to usher in the early birds. And there at the entrance, was Emily Ilunga, who made all the bright orange yoyo button badges given to each and every volunteer.

The Zeitz Education greeting team was Liesl Hartman....

...and off...

There were also...

Then we got stuck into the serious business...

....Mandisa Ngqulana...

...they...

Each volunteer got up to tell her story - who she is, what she does...and she is coping with lockdown!

They worked alone, or in pairs...with sisters or with friends...

There were tips and troubles with needle threading...

...some proud...

...of putting it all together...

...and Richard Kilpert.

Project designer Mara Fleischcer gave us the how-to....the yoyo's were ready and waiitng....as was the tea, thanks to Pick n Pay.

...went!

They were young and old, pensive and chatty - we even had a few guys join the team...

...and some pressing moments from Mara.

...as well as mad moments.

...and some volunteers brought along their own work by way of inspiration.

There was also the tricky question of what we were going to call these funny little roundels...

...and what we were going to call the finished thing. The Blessing Blanket came up as a suggestion because there are the volunteers secret wishes and blessings tucked into some of them.

The Singing Skirt came up as another because of the sound the tin lids at the end of each row when they swing together in the wind...but for now, until it finds its way up on to the walls of Artscape to celebrate the theatre centre's 50th birthday - we just call it EVERYWOMAN!

So from us all at WOMAN ZONE we'd like to say a huge great big Nkosi Kakuuuulu to everyone who has helped us so far...

Finally, we were very proud when Tanya Nefdt from enca came to make us famous of national televisison...

...the Zeitz MOCAA Educational Team for energy, input and space, Pick n Pay for refreshments, Da Gama Textiles for the fabulous fabric...

...but will be prouder still when we get to make the ceremonial walk from the Zeitz to Artscape on May 16th to hand over the precious piece to its final destination...

...and most especially the WONDERFUL volunteers - not all of whom are shown here, but all of whom made such a valuable contribution.

...in celebration of its 50th anniversary: 1971 - 2021 from Nico to Artscape. #Onwards #Voerentoe #Siyaphambili

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The EVERYWOMAN Project - Part 1

4/1/2021

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The story behind the epic artwork created by the women of Cape Town. A joint initiative between WOMAN ZONE and ARTSCAPE

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN: In 2016 WOMAN ZONE and ARTSCAPE marked the 60th anniversary of the Women's March of 1956 with their annual Women's Humanity Walk in Cape Town on August 9th, now known as Women's Day.
While several thousand women walked symbolically in unity from the Iziko Slave Lodge at the top of Adderly Street down to the Artscape plaza, CEO Marlene le Roux and a few others travelled on a truck decorated with metres and metres of shweshwe fabric donated expressly for the purpose by manufacturers Da Gama Textiles.

And the project....

...took to the streets.

Da Gama kindly donated 100's of metres of fabric, in a rainbow of colours and designs. But to decorate our truck and make a giant rosette, we only used a few...so what were we to do with the fabric leftover?

Well Sis' Thoko Ntshinga had a good idea, 'Make a patchwork quilt!' she said.

So we took our cloth....

...and went to see the specialists at the Craft Design Institute, where we met the magic Mara Fleischer...

....and at her suggestion, the yo-yo was born. 'Little gathered roundels of fabric. Use a CD as a template - easy!' she said.

So the next step...

...was to get all hands on deck...

...we had workshop...

...after workshop...

...all over! In our Women's Library at Artscape, at a school, an old age home, at the Craft Design Institute, in Langa, Muizenberg, Bo-Kaap...even in the kitchen...

We got transported by MLT, talked, laughed, sewed, drank a lot of tea and had a lot of fun...

And made...

...of...

...a lot...

...friends.

And the yo-yo's started...to multiply!

We strung them together, covered walls, turn some into badges, bagged others...

Of course there were some royal performers...

...and even Wire Woman...

...and kept the scraps.

...like Khayelitsha yo-yo queens Jennipher and Angelique...

...got dressed for the part!

SO WHAT'S THE NEXT STEP: Well four years later and during lockdown, we did some adding up to find we had nearly 4000 yo-yo's. Time to complete this project! And with Artscape's 50th birthday on the horizon, here was our excuse... but we had to act fast...

pWe invited the Magic Mara to come back on board as designer-project manager. She linked us up with the education team at the at Zeitz MOCAA....and well - look out for Part 2 of The EVERYWOMAN PROJECT to see what happened next. To find out more meantime, check facebook pages: The EVERYWOMAN PROJECT CAPE TOWN or WOMAN ZONE Cape Town, or contact us on info@womanzonect.co.za. xx

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The EVERYWOMAN Project - Part 2

The EVERYWOMAN Project - Part 1

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