Africa, Day 4

Cape Town

The Rhodes Memorial

Cecil Rhodes, a British developer of Cape Town who had a thing for lions built, among other things, a monument to himself. It was designed by Herbert Baker.

Upon visiting the site, I wrote these notes in my sketchbook:

-Woah. Megalomania.

-Did Rhodes see himself as a lion [i.e. at the top of the natural food chain]? Or a conqueror of lions [i.e. even beyond the top]?

-When it was built, one could stand at the monument and look out over “wild” Africa; now, the same vantage point gives one a view of Capetonian Suburbs. What would Rhodes think of that?

Greatmore Studios

In the afternoon we went to Woodstock to meet with Kate from Greatmore Studios and talk to her about our project. Greatmore is an organization that makes subsidized studio space available to local artists, runs workshops and outreach programs, and sponsors residencies for visiting artists.

As is my typical reaction to being in these types of spaces, I had a hard time following the conversation because I was busy daydreaming about what it would be like to have a place to work, surrounded by other artists, with the understanding that I could spend all day every day making art.

After Greatmore, we spent some time on downtown and took a walk on Muizenberg Beach, before heading back to Kalk Bay.