Cape Town Floriography 2018
This year, Storytelling in the Language of Flowers is back!
"Storytelling in the language of flowers is a multi-genre project which brings together an interdisciplinary group of people to develop new forms of storytelling in response to the multiple political and ecological crises of our time. Focusing on plants and their people in Cape Town, it brings forth stories about place, history and belonging; stories which root us in the past and prepare the soil from which more just futures can grow." Read more on Nowseum here.
A New Poster Design
The latest poster in the series speaks about the history of flower research and plant collection in Cape Town and was required to feature 3 herbarium sheets from Kew Gardens.
To be able to accommodate all the information as well as feature the herbarium sheets, I needed to come up with a tight layout plan that would be easily legible, would showcase the detail in the herbarium sheets and have an interesting composition when viewed from a distance.
Deep etching the elements of the herbarium sheets and converting them to greyscale I found created the best use of space and suited the style of the posters. To maximise space I shaped the text to fit between the herbarium sheet etchings instead of having standard, rectangular paragraphs.
The Storytelling in the Language of Flowers took part in the ICA Live art Festival this year and the installation included a flower show, a storytelling floristry workshop, a sound installation and the distribution of the Cape Town Floriography Papers in Adderley Street.
More on Cape Town Floriography to come! Subscribe to hear it first.
Heritage Day
Heritage Day in Cape Town, South Africa (24 September) is always buzzing with cultural events. Most of the museums and galleries offer free entry on this day or even for a full week in anticipation of Heritage day.
This year the District Six Museum hosted a memory walk from Trafalgar Park to the Homecoming centre inspired by the 'Kewpie: A Daughter of District Six' exhibition currently on display which takes an a look at the life of a celebrated District six trans women and pays homage to the queer history of District Six. The walk was filled with bright colours and wonderful costumes where many dressed in drag.
The Iziko Museums of South Africa hosted a wide range of events like guided tours, drumming sessions, cartoon workshops, marine biology and micro fossil displays, an artistic recreation of Nelson Mandela's jail cell, the In_herit Festival (24-30 September), music and dance performances, jewellery making, mock fossil digs and fossil casting.
If you've been to any interesting Heritage day events this year share it in the comments below!
