CPUT Exhibition celebrates the creativity of San youth
POSITIVE: The dreams, vision and stories of the youth are evidenced in the original prints on displayA three-year partnership with a San youth empowerment project has yielded another positive outcome – an art exhibition of prints produced by the students. The exhibition, entitled Recollection: voices of the San youth, was opened by Dean of Informatics and Design Faculty, Prof Johannes Cronje earlier this month.
Members of the Faculty of Informatics and Design (FID) at CPUT, have been part of the San youth-focused project, titled Participatory Design with the Youth, in collaboration with a number of local stakeholders and European Union partners as well as a National Research Foundation project focused on Youth at Risk.
The Participatory Design with the Youth project is funded through the European Union, by the Marie Curie Horizon 20/20 project. FID staff have offered training sessions and skills development workshops for San youth, both in Kimberley and at !Khwa ttu. The training programme aims to empower the local youth from San communities, some from as far away as Botswana and Namibia, with skills like print-making and digital storytelling. In turn, they can transfer these skills to others at home and uplift their own communities through tourism-driven initiatives.
Prof Cronje focused on the creative strengths of the youth, as well as the making of beautiful artefacts in his opening address. Members from the Italian Design Collective Paco (Milan) and staff from the University of Lapland and the University of Leeds were among the guests. The dreams, vision and stories of the youth are evidenced in the original prints on display, as well as fabrics, lights and other artefacts from CPUT Design students.
Visitors were also asked to contribute to the heart display – by adding their wishes for the youth to “dream”, “go” and “do” tags.
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