Ukumbisana / Meitheal (1)

ANDREW ST LEGER DESCRIBES THE ART-INTERVENTION COMMUNITY PROJECTS HE HAS BEEN INVOLVED WITH OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS, THAT HAVE BEEN BASED ON ECOLOGICAL CONCERNS, FUSING SCULPTURE WITH GARDENING, HORTICULTURE AND FORESTRY.

I first travelled to South Africa in December 2004 – initially for a holiday. But I was also interested in using my art practice to try make a positive contribution in light of the huge amount of problems faced by the majority of indigenous South Africans, including Aids, poverty and lack of access to education. Prior to this visit I had contacted the South African embassy to seek out contacts for art projects – but to no avail. However, by a stroke of luck 2 weeks into my visit, I read a notice about an arts project in a local free newspaper, that was set to commence the following week. This was ‘Tangencya’, taking its name from a hybridization of the Portugese and English words tangencia and tangent. The broad underlying concerns of ‘Tangencya’ were to make connections between past and the present, in order to bring about renewal and development. I attended the first meeting, where around 10 different site-specific projects were being discussed. These ranged from an Aids awareness project based in a shopping mall to the construction of a large outdoor children’s musical instrument. I volunteered to work on the latter project – as well as this, a collaborative project was set up for me to work with six Zulu woodcarvers. This all happened just two days before the official launch! The brief for this eleventh hour project was that of a conversation between Ireland and Africa. While there was no budget, Durban Art College of art provided materials and a work space. The project marked the beginning of what was hoped would become a long-term initiative that would offer the carvers the opportunity to both improve their technical skills and broaden their repertoire of design skills – as well as forging links to benefit the whole community and raising awareness and appreciation of the social, economic and ecological benefits relating to the creation of sustainably managed diverse native local woodlands .

We decided to create an Irish / African totemic wood sculpture, using a piece of African mahogany from a tree struck by lightning. The wood was selected from the art colleges stores as it was ‘people scaled’ and it stood without support. Also, it was learnt at the completion of the project that the tree had been grown on the land of a family of well-known anti-apartheid activists – this added another layer of significance to the work. During the making of the piece we discussed Gaelic Tree lore and the significance of trees in most Earth based cultures , including the Zulu culture . The philosophy of the recent Nobel Peace Prize winner, Kenyan ecologist, Wangari Maathi was also discussed. Her ‘green belt’ movement has so far planted 70 million trees to offset the damage caused by unsustainable logging. Maathi has said “there can be no development without sustainable management of the environment in a democratic and peaceful space, this shift is an idea whose time has come”.

The symbolism on the sculpture included our seven handprints, climbing in a spiral to the top of the tree where an eagle takes flight. When the project started, the seven of us placed our hands onto the tree to symbolically and physically transfer energies for the project. The work also incorporates seven stars representing guiding lights – one for each sculptor, seven being considered to be the number of perfection in many earth based cultures. We also decided to carve a map of Africa with the baboon and water buffalo along with a large African Thorn leaf, intermingled with a small Irish Sessile Oak leaf, representing the two tree cultures. An Irish harp and African drum were also included in the conversation . To tie the project ‘back to the earth’, I sourced seven indigenous trees – one for each carver, for planting in a circle at the garden of the Documentation Centre, a government property in the heart of Durban .

This year in May I made my second trip to South Africa to work on an art project at a township called Umlazi near the Silverglen 300 hectare nature reserve. My brief was to establish an indigenous tree nursery in a township. After much communication via email, the plan evolved to include a medicinal plant nursery alongside the trees, with a view to exploring assisting the HIV problem via natural medicines as well as the possibility of creating an income for the community. My visit coincided with attending a wonderful three-day course at Silverglen nursery, focusing on creating medicinal plant nurseries for Sangoma traditional healers. The teacher, Petrus Mongameli, was a little bit surprised to see a white Irishman interested in learning with the Sangoma’s. I settled in very quickly and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to gain an unique insight into this very special part of Zulu culture – the tradition of healing through muti plants, coupled to invoking the spirits of the ancestor’s.

At Silverglen plants and trees are grown from seed collected within the reserve. It is a very valuable seed bank in terms of biodiversity and tree-restoration projects. At Silverglen the importance of native trees and plants are emphasized – in particular the inter-relationships between plants, animals, fungi (2), insects etc within ecosystems. This tied in nicely with my own interest in supporting native woodlands roles in perpetuating biodiversity – the importance of which has been globally recognised through agreements such as the 1993 Convention on Biodiversity’ and the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the latter being where Agenda 21 was agreed by 172 nations, including South Africa. Agenda 21 [what we must do in the 21 century ] is a blueprint for sustainable development in conjunction with local communitys .

The convention on biological diversity stresses the interdependence of all physical existences. Nature doesn’t separate animal and vegetable worlds, in life, as in their decay and death, beasts and plants are absolutely interlocked. Nature does not recognise monoculture, natural sowings and harvestings are mixed and intermingled to the nth degree, in prairie, forest, moor, marsh, river, lake and ocean. The garden project at Umlazi drew on these understandings, using an idea called ‘forest gardening’, which includes using ‘companion planting’ instead of pesticides, whereby particular plants, such as wild garlic were used to ward of pests. We also established two mounded soil circles in which we planted many medicinal plants in a spiral fashion, which maximises the access to light, and nutrients with a small space, thus allowing for greater yields.

I met up with Leishle Mbokazi who runs an NGO called Vuka, that is working on environmental community projects. Leishle agreed to help and partner my project. I also contacted Wally Menne, whom I already knew from my forestry work in Ireland – I campaign to change forest policy away from monoculture, exotic plantations, back to continuous cover, multi-use, sustainable native forestry. Wally is active in the same area in South Africa, which shares with Ireland the same measly one percent of indigenous forest cover. Wally was also very helpful as he runs an indigenous plant nursery in Durban. He and Leishle agreed to support the Umlazi garden when I’m gone, along with my assistant, Xolani Qwabe, an art student who was my interpreter at the Silverglen course. Xolani has a passionate interest in the medicinal plants and trees, he attended the Silverglen course and his thesis will link the traditional medicine of his ancestors to his art work. Xolani will also establish his own nursery in a place where his late father grew these plants before. This is really good news – he is repairing the links in the chain of traditional knowledge in a very positive way. I could not have asked for a better assistant.

We started the project proper with a meeting with Mercy a local community leader and some of her friends who are already involved in growing vegetables in the village of Umlazi sector V (3). We had a look at the existing garden, which had some vegetables growing and some banana trees on the perimeter. There was a bonfire site in the garden where all the wastes were burnt, including aluminium and plastics – both hugely toxic to the air and soil. I emphasized the importance of not burning these cancer-causing wastes and encourage recycling and the separation of wastes – ie using old milk cartons to provide plant pots for future plant transfers. The rest of the site was in a degraded state also. I also spoke to the women about the origins of the soil, history of trees and plants on this planet, the traditions of recognising the spirits in trees, plants and water, as well as the vital functions performed in balancing earth’s natural systems: soil, climate control – trees and plants are the skin of the earth, regulating the stability of air, soil and water. I explained how we have to turn away from a destructive economy to a creative one, an economy that we could literally ‘grow’ from an ethical approach.

We agreed to start the project the next day via a clean-up of the site and the establishment of fencing to protect and demarcate the site – marking it as a sacred space, which, in fact, it now is. I had prepared fencing at the sculpture centre by recycling abandoned bamboo poles from a discontinued ‘Tangencya’ project. I burned the ends of the poles so they would not rot in the ground so easily, an ancient non-chemical method of wood preservation. We set to work and transformed the site quickly with the help of many hands, all of which spontaneously volunteered, showing the power of the garden/nature to encourage cooperation. Many neighbours and friends commented on this quick transformation over the course of three or four days.

I’ve set up a support network to guide this ‘seed’ project. I’m optimistic this project will develop and provide leadership and inspiration to many other communities. The fact that the garden grows provides much inspiration. The ancient peoples believed the earth was a sentient being and felt the behaviour of mankind on it. As we have no proof to the contrary, it might be as well to accept this point of view and act accordingly. Planting a tree is a looking forward kind of action – yet not too distantly.

Andrew St Ledger www.acanthus.ie

Andrew St. Ledger uses his art to help restore Irish people's relationship with their woodland through lectures, talks, walks etc via the Woodland League www.woodlaIndleague.org

(1) … meaning “coming together” in zulu and gaelic.

(2) The Silverglen course emphasised the significance of good compost rich with humus (living material, earthworms, insects, fungi). In soils rich in humus the roots of the crop and the particles of the soil come into contact in two ways, firstly by means of the soil solution which contains, small quantities of nitrates, phosphates and potash salts. Secondly, by means of the mycorrhizal (fungi/mushrooms) association – this is a partnership between the active cells of the roots with the threads of fungal matter, this forms a living bridge between the plant and the humus in the soil. The relationship is one of symbiosis, the precise details are yet to be fully understood. Fungus living on the humus (living material) in the soil, invades the cells of the active part of the roots and lives there, finally being itself digested by the plant. The fungus boosts the plant’s immune system as they contain natural antibiotics, and in turn feeds on sugars produced by the plant.

(3) This contact was made through Leonard Zulu and I would like to thank him personally for his wise choice of community.