Information on the Proposed Fundraising
project for the Phansi UbuntuArt Museum and Africademy contains the following:
“We
cannot find ourselves in the present unless we are able to locate ourselves in
a recognisable past. The umbilical chord that binds the past to the present
future is our imagination.
The
instruments that weave these things together are our artists, however humble.
Ubuntu
art honours and celebrates the present and the future by promising to protect
identity and inheritance by safeguarding the art and imagination, for the
children of tomorrow.
(Andries Botha – Artist)
This is particularly true in our country
where the youth has all but forgotten the pain of the past and discovered how
art became the tool of liberation, of identity and sanity. Today’s South Africa
seems to be only mining its past for the guilty and not for the brave. In the
process it deprives millions of their glorious roots and philosophy and art
that underpinned it.
Ubuntu is a unique African word that defines
relationship and responsibilities between people. It is the philosophical basis
for our assumption that humans are unique in the animal kingdom.
The Phansi UbuntuArt museum and its
Seedbank of Identity celebrate those ever-absorbing, evolving, spreading,
adapting and changing roots that celebrate the community over the individual.
Its roots lie in the three commandments of the ancestors:
Assure
continuity, Show respect and Keep order.
Nelson Mandela’s interpretation of Ubuntu
was I AM BECAUSE YOU ARE
The PHANSI, the UbuntuArt museum and
Africademy developed outreach programmes in order to share, conserve and grow
this ART in the belief that it will help to build respect and skills in
communities and show what can be achieved under the most dire circumstances.
Art often only viewed with condescending marvel.
Phansi Museum began as a private collection
that was shared with friends and acquaintances. Over the years, it grew into a
major collection that has been visited by many international and local visitors
and thousand scholars from near and far.
To a small extent, it has been financed by
the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Lotto has also assisted with funds that allowed
us to catalogue much of the collection. The major assistance has come from the
Bartel Arts Trust that has always stepped in to cover the deficit. This fund
has now closed and we are finding it very difficult to fund our operations and
staff who have been such wonderful and motivated specialists in our adventure.
As we all continue to stay home and try to
make sense of it all, we at Phansi recognise this moment in the change of our
culture. Now we share information online, we watch YouTube videos for
entertainment, we stand a few ways away from people in the shops. We do miss
our community, but we look forward to when we get to meet again.
If you would like to donate, please find a
Zapper QR code or direct EFT details at the end of this email. As we rely on
tours and funding to keep our heads above water.
DONATE
Phansi Resource Centre
Bank: Nedbank
Account Number: 1160617732
Branch Code: 198765
Swift Code: NEDSZAJJ
http://phansi.com/donate/
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