(Some of the learners
from Manor Gardens Primary and their art work, with facilitators Robin Opperman
and Ujala Sewpersad)
Durban creatives, Umcebo Design, have been running arts workshops with representatives from four schools in the greater Durban area to show learners and teachers how to repurpose waste plastic into art as part of the Deep Blue Sea Creative Waste Management Project, facilitated and funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, linked to the ‘WISA’ conference (Water Institute of Southern Africa) which was held in Durban from June 12 – 14.
The initiative links to World Oceans Day 2024; commemorated on Saturday June 8; the theme of which is Waves of Change: Collective Actions for the Ocean.
Workshops were held with the Enviro Club at Manor Gardens Primary; with learners and teachers from Golden Hours Special Education School in Durban North; Bright Future in Newlands East and Ningizimu School for the Severely Mentally Handicapped in Montclair.
Three separate day-long creative arts workshops were run by artists and former teachers, Robin Opperman and Ujala Sewpersad from Umcebo Design working with plastic waste to create art, and learning about recycling, and the importance of keeping our rivers, waterways and ultimately oceans clean.
Eventually three tuna-fish wire gabions will be decorated with individually decorated scales made from recycled plastic.
Robin Opperman explains: “Each of the scales made to clad the sculptures, will have a message written on it by a learner, highlighting the fact that plastic needs to be intercepted and removed from our rivers before it reaches our seas or goes into landfills. This will prevent microplastics contaminating our seas and marine life and also ensure that the plastic does not go into landfills, where it contributes to high levels of methane and other greenhouse gas emissions, which will heat up our planet, causes rising sea levels and adversely affect food production.
“The delegates to the conference will also make cladding for the fish from recycled plastic and adorn these with environmental messages. We hope that these artworks will then go on permanent display and will raise awareness of these issues and the potential for creative waste management to assist in combatting plastic pollution and its impact on our planets water, climate and ultimately, all of our futures on planet earth,” he adds.
Umcebo Design makes handmade-to-order décor items inspired by flora and fauna themes using galvanised wire, glass beads, acrylic crystals, recycled / reclaimed materials and more to create bespoke items. They also run workshops with schools and communities where they emphasise the importance of repurposing discarded materials and recycling, and they also specialise in public art projects.
This year’s project continues the conversations from the fabulously original and quite extraordinary audio / sensory art installation last year, entitled Heavy Waters (dubbed “The Mussel Organ”) the brainchild of multi-media and audio artist, Stef Veldhuis, from Utrecht in The Netherlands and staged in the Bond Shed on Point last year as a companion initiative to the #cocreateMyCity conference on urban water challenges, hosted by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in South Africa.
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