After Marikana

The Marikana to eKhenana Pop-Up Exhibition, Art-making Workshop and Outreach Programme (GPS project 2023) was held at eKhenana Commune, a land occupation in Durban's Cato Manor area. The community is a member of Abahlali baseMjondolo, a shackdweller movement and one of the largest social movements in the country. Since 2018 three of the community's leaders were assassinated and one activist was killed by police during a protest.

The Marikana to eKhenana crew included: Judy Seidman (workshop co-ordinator from Khulumani Galela), Florence Mati and Makopano Thelejane, the widows of mineworkers killed in the Marikana massacre; Marikana Next Generation's Ndhiko Jokanisi whose father, Semi Jokanisi was killed by police at Marikana in 2012; photographer Paul Botes; project producer and journalist Niren Tolsi (both from the After Marikana slow journalism project) and Simon Gush (artist, academic and videographer). The team had further logistical and creative assistance from, respectively, Grant Tobin and photographer Rafs Mayet.

The art-making workshops were held over three days. The artworks to emerge addressed issues the community faces, including the political violence which even their infant children have been exposed to, agency over land, self-sustainability, socialist futures, mobilisation, organisation and solidarity. The workshops were deeply acknowledging of the reparative effects of art in the face of structural and political violence and its transformative potential through creation and personal storytelling.

The project activation also included screenings of the documentary movies ‘What the Soil Remembers’ and ‘In Stitches’. The screenings and discussions afterwards were facilitated by Sunshine Cinema's Nondumiso Madlala. The discussions explored ways and forms of storytelling and how these, especially filmmaking, could be used to extend political organization, and awareness of the issues eKhenana faces, to the broader public. The community members hold political agency and representation very close to their hearts. With this in mind, community members performed a theatre production exploring their own struggles during the programme.

At the end of the three days, the community members spoke to their work, discussing both the personal and the political intertwined in their artwork. This later led to facilitated conversations around shared experiences of struggles and challenges which connected Marikana to eKhenana.

Niren Tolsi, one of the project facilitators, recounts his experience:

“The project was, unarguably, a profound experience for all participants, especially the community of eKhenana. We have set in place the foundational structures to return to eKhenana to complete our research and the documentary process, which will lead to a second body of work to accompany the artworks. We are also planning to return to the community with a political workshop […]. We are figuring out ways to include art and storytelling or citizen journalism into the return trip. The idea is that the project's legacy is much more than the art supplies, Marikana photography and artwork. We want to leave something behind, that lives and breathes through people and their politics, not just the material.[…] The importance of agency in storytelling and representation for the activists at eKhenana hit home recently during a follow-up research visit we conducted with SWOP. Three of the activists who participated in the workshop in April were arrested in late June on what community members allege are trumped up charges in an attempt to continue political suppression and intimidation at the Commune. This is a community still under attack," says Tolsi

Insta handles: @simongush, @nirentolsi, @sunshine cinema, @seri, @societyworkandpolitics, @Nondumiso_Madlala
Twitter hashtags: #AlwaysRememberMarikana, #eKhenanaCommune
Photo credits: Paul Botes - @paulgbotes