An art installation was recently opened in Jamestown, with the intention of creating awareness around the issue of gentrification.
The installation, Artwashing Juxtaposition, was opened on the side of the R44 highway in Jamestown on 5 October, according to Ronnie Donaldson, the project manager, and also a professor of geography at Stellenbosch University (SU). Donaldson worked with Strijdom van der Merwe, a land artist, to establish the installation.
The project initially consisted of 20 white house-like structures, and two larger red house-like structures, said Donaldson in email correspondence with MatieMedia.
“The additions of the bigger red houses of course portrays gentrification taking place,” he explained.
The smaller white houses symbolise the existing houses and inhabitants of Jamestown, who have lived there most of their lives, according to Van der Merwe. The larger red houses represent the new landowners in Jamestown, who “build houses far beyond average houses that surrounded them – they are the reason for gentrification”, he said.
Artwashing Juxtaposition, an art installation that is intended to create awareness around the issue of gentrification, is located on the side of the R44 highway in Jamestown. It currently consists of nearly 30 house-like structures, in both red and white. PHOTO: Erin Walls
“Jamestown is a perfect example of gentrification in the Stellenbosch area. With so many people travelling that road, it was also a wonderful opportunity for the awareness project,” said Van der Merwe.
By 10 October, nine more red structures had been added to the installation, according to Donaldson. The structures will continue being added until the end of October, he said.
Conversations about gentrification
“Art can be used as a strategy to aestheticise urban areas that are associated with, among other things, urban decay, relatively low property values, or low-income residents,” said Donaldson.
He added that property developers use artists as a form of regenerative “cleaning”, in the process of aiding gentrification in urban areas.
“The arts and artists are thus seen as the core and driving force behind this socio-spatial process called ‘artwashing’, a concept created in 2014. In essence, the concept involves the intersection between art and urban regeneration,” said Donaldson.
The aim of the art installation on the side of the R44 highway in Jamestown, called Artwashing Juxtaposition, is to encourage conversations about gentrification, according to Prof Ronnie Donaldson, the project manager. He claimed that Jamestown is a perfect example of gentrification. PHOTO: Erin Walls
The title of the installation, Artwashing Juxtaposition, is meant to indicate that the project is a juxtaposition between art and artists as the sole driving force behind the regeneration of an area, and how “art through awareness-creation can hopefully convey a positive message”, said Donaldson.
“I think it’s about time to have artworks like this in public. Artworks that are not just pretty pictures, but that are also […] socially or politically relevant,” said Cobus Smit, a Jamestown local and garden designer.
Many people do not know what the art installation is about, despite the signs that are located on the road, according to Smit. “A lot of people have actually asked me what [the installation] is about. When I explain it to them, we get the conversation going – big time,” he said.
The smaller white houses in the Artwashing Juxtaposition installation, which is intended to create awareness around the issue of gentrification, represent the Jamestown residents who have lived in the area for most of their lives, according to Strijdom van der Merwe, a land artist involved in the project. The larger red houses represent new landowners and larger buildings, said Van der Merwe. PHOTO: Erin Walls