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Artist to donate proceeds of sale of unique artwork valued at R1million to support youth education

 

SaySay.Love, BREAK THROUGH, 2017. LIGHTBOX, ARCHIVAL INKJET PRINT ON PERSPEX, 196cm x 300cm. ©SaySay.LoveSaySay.Love, BREAK THROUGH, 2017. Lightbox, Archival Inkjet Print on Perspex, 196 x 300cm. ©SaySay.Love

 

This unique artwork – a lightbox measuring 3 metres in width and 1.96 metres in height – displays an image of water, at once illuminating this precious liquid and enlightening the viewer to its invaluable and limited volume.

This body of work entitled THE GIFT OF WATER, captured primarily in Cape Town, is inspired by the life-force that is water. SaySay.Love’s art reshapes our understanding of this gift, and his colourful expressions reflect his understanding of preserving this life-binding agent that fills our rivers and seas. Its ebb and flow – meticulously timed with the phases and movements of the tides – bring not only new life to our shores, but refreshes our emotions and souls. Water is a gift provided by nature for the sustainability and rebirth of life. SaySay hopes his work will inspire this too.

SaySay’s exhibition, ‘THE GIFT OF WATER’, opened at Gallery One11, 111 Loop Street in Cape Town, South Africa, on the 24th November and will run until the 4th December. After which it will move to the AVA Gallery from the 28th of December.

All funds raised from the exhibition go towards the Lalela Class Campaign. Lalela provides educational arts for at-risk youth to spark creative thinking and awaken the entrepreneurial spirit.

 

“We’re very appreciative of the opportunity of partnering with SaySay.Love as it helps create awareness for the work of Lalela and highlights the importance of art education”

– Cat Rieper, COO Lalela

DELIGHT, 2017, ARCHIVAL INKJET PRINT ON HAHNEMÜHLE BARYTA PAPER, 61cm x 108cm. ©SaySay.LoveSaySay.Love, DELIGHT, 2017, Archival inkjet print on hahnemuhle baryta paper, 61cm x 108cm. ©SaySay.Love

 

Day Zero

What happens when taps in Cape Town run dry?

Cape Town is gripped in the worst drought in decades and the prediction is that DAY ZERO could be as close as mid-May, 2018. There has never been a more crucial period in Cape Town’s history than now for citizens to actively preserve water wherever they can, and call upon their neighbours and communities to do the same.

Water desalination projects are now operational at Monwabisi Beach, Strandfontein, V&A Waterfront and the Cape Town Harbor, and the Atlantis and Cape Flats aquifers will also deliver an additional water supply.

Water-wise education and calls by government have already decreased consumption from 1,1 billion litres per day in January 2016 to 582 million litres per day today. However, as impressive a feat as this, Cape Town is still not yet in the clear.

 

SaySay.Love, AFLOAT, 2017, ARCHIVAL INKJET PRINT ON HAHNEMÜHLE BARYTA PAPER, 61cm x 108cm. ©SaySay.LoveSaySay.Love, AFLOAT, 2017, Archival inkjet print on hahnemuhle baryta paper, 61cm x 108cm. ©SaySay.Love

With dam levels barely over 30% full and critical lows of the previous year reaching the 20% mark, we should all be acutely aware of the dangers we face if our water runs out. When that level reaches just over 13%, the city will have no option but to switch off the taps. The current quota per person per day is 87 litres.

Active citizenry, and not relying on the government and third parties, is the only solution and every one of us should be making an effort to preserve this precious commodity. In this regard education around the problem is the most obvious and effective solution. If we all work together we can make a real difference.

Artist SaySay.Love is contributing by donating proceeds from his art work exhibitions to worthy causes that help educate the youth and support communities.

Furthermore SaySay has offered to donate another unique water-themed piece of art to *Dr. Gisela Kaiser, the City of Cape Town’s Executive Director for Utilities, and has invited her to his upcoming exhibition in the hope that the Department of Utilities will enter into meaningful talks with active citizens who are willing to assist and work with the City in order to find effective solutions to the crisis.

FRANTIC, 2017, ARCHIVAL INKJET PRINT ON HAHNEMÜHLE BARYTA PAPER, 61cm x 108cm. ©SaySay.LoveSaySay.Love, FRANTIC, 2017, Archival inkjet print on hahnemuhle baryta paper, 61cm x 108cm. ©SaySay.Love

SaySay hopes that by seeing this unique artwork on a daily basis, city officials will be reminded of the beauty that is Water and how valuable the work is that has been undertaken by the city to secure the water source for the future.

The first organization that SaySay has chosen to support is Lalela, founded in 2006, and delivering life-changing out of curricula education which equips students with valuable life skills. Studies show that these students perform better academically and many assume community leadership roles.

The proceeds of the R1 million donation will go to these education programmes where caring for our precious water resources will be a focus.

Besides inclusion in the Lalela curricula, additional programmes will also include workshops with the artist, community engagement initiatives and take-home materials that will help to educate outside the classroom and engender a spirit of family cohesion and community pride. The outcomes of the programme will include public exhibitions, community gardens and places of reflection, publishing of books (educational, inspirational, and comics).

 

THE BLUES, 2017, ARCHIVAL INKJET PRINT ON HAHNEMÜHLE BARYTA PAPER, 61cm x 108cm. ©SaySay.Love

SaySay.Love, THE BLUES, 2017, Archival inkjet print on hahnemuhle baryta paper, 61cm x 108cm. ©SaySay.Love

 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

SaySay.Love’s platform was created to share with the world his passion for capturing moments in life and nature that will speak to your heart and soul.

SaySay’s passion for life and love is evident and infectious. He is a vibrant and enigmatic gentleman with eclectic tastes that make him stand apart from the crowd. In his presence, you experience his energy, love, and passion for life,– which transcends into his photographs.

SaySay was a successful entrepreneur, which has afforded him the luxury of retiring at the tender age of 50 to dedicate the rest of his life to photography and art. However, what really sets SaySay apart is his optical handicap – a condition that he was born with where he is unable to see in 3D and is mostly blind in his right eye – making it difficult for him to determine depth, distance and speed.
Despite this handicap SaySay.Love is unafraid and does not fear the deep unknown, a challenge, or what life throws at him!

 

ABOUT LALELA (lalela.org)

Lalela provides educational arts for at-risk youth to spark creative thinking and awaken the entrepreneurial spirit.

Through Lalela’s arts curriculum and critical messaging component, they ignite imagination and teach children how to map and manifest their dreams and goals, launching the possibility of a different future for themselves and their communities.

Everyday after-school, in the hours when children are most vulnerable to abuse of every kind, they work to break the barriers of challenge. Lalela’s education initiatives start early (age 6) in developing the art of imagination and continue through grade 12 to connect the arts to everything important in a child’s life, from core academics to critical life skills.

Their role in arts education is to help blaze the trail in whole brain thinking with a proven path to innovation and new job creation. Their programs create permanent change with positive outlooks, community role models and the mindset for their students to design a more certain future for themselves and their communities.

Lalela predominantly partner with no-fee public schools in communities, where art is not included in the core curriculum; and grow their programme through strategic partnerships with other youth development organizations that do not expose their youth to the arts.

Ideas, art and music are the signature components of every Lalela curriculum. They engage and empower youth in creative thinking and solutions. Arts education methodology is not a handout, it’s a paradigm shift.

 

FEATURED IMAGE: SaySay.Love, PEARLS, 2017. Archival inkjet print on hahnemuhle baryta paper, 61cm x 108cm. ©SaySay.Love

 

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