Johannesburg street artist r1 has made a public art piece from recycled bottles collected from the ‘Zama-Zama’ (informal waste collectors. The piece was installed in a public park in Troyville, downtown Johannesburg. This pilot art project will be followed up with a large community art project also in the same neighborhood, where r1 has teamed up with a group of artists to raise the ‘iThemba Tower’.
The pilot art project will be followed up with a large community art project also in the same neighborhood, where r1 has teamed up with a group of artists to support raise the ‘iThemba Tower’. This is a 30 meter-high permanent art installation made with over 5,000 recycled plastic bottles, on a redundant communication tower. The project will collect & register an equal amount of messages from the community and the contributors to this campaign, and each of them will become a “message in a bottle”.
iThemba means trust, hope. By contributing to this project you will support Troyeville community to raise the “iThemba Tower”, a public art monument, a symbolic communication tower around which a diversity of people can share their collective hopes. This project will strengthen the community of downtown Johannesburg, support the livelihood of informal ‘Zama-Zamas’ and raise general awareness about recycling. This 30 meter-high monument will become a landmark in Johannesburg and symbol of inspiration.
Read more about this project and how you can help here.
Text and images courtesy of the artist.
