University of Johannesburg (UJ) BTech students from the Department of Visual Art participated in the National Research Foundation Community Engagement Programme (NRF CEP) in a rural area in Limpopo province. The students used arts-based methods to elicit positive responses to HIV/AIDS issues within the community.
The NRF CEP awarded UJ Department of Visual Art Associate Professor, Kim Berman a three-year subsidy to introduce the community-based research programme, as part of Work Integrated Service Learning for the BTech Fine Art programme.
For the project, the 12 BTech students, a lecturer, translator, postgraduate sociology student and an HIV/AIDS community trainer set off to Tshulu Camp, a rural village in HaMakuya (situtated in the former Venda area). The initiative included two nights in a village homestead, giving the visitors the opportunity to fully understand the realities of rural living and daily chores and customs.
After the homestay in the village, seven workshops were hosted with the community. These included HIV awareness workshops for the local clinic’s support groups, social workers, nurses and peer counsellors. This was followed by a creative component which involved making ‘Paper Prayers’ - paper prints made from found objects for use as gifts for healing and communication.
Professor Kim Berman describes the creative projects: “We initiated Photovoice workshops, giving families a camera to take photos of meaningful things in their lives. This proved to be a valuable tool for improving communication and connections in families.”
Paper Prayers are placed under a tree.
UJ BTech students and school children pose with their completed Paper Prayers.
Other HIV awareness workshops were run for teachers and counsellors in schools; Paper Prayers and murals completed at three schools were the first formal introduction to art for these schools.
UJ BTech Fine Art students paint a mural during a community project in rural Limpopo.
Berman adds: “It was always intended that this trip would serve as a mutual exchange of learning and research between the UJ students and the community. We also left behind 30 cameras and sets of paints for the schools and centres for them to continue with some of the creative activities we initiated.”
BTech student Phumulani Ntuli said: “The research programme was an eye-opener. The experience closed a gap that exists between Arts and the community.” He continues: “I got to learn aspects of social research using art-based methods whereby research was not limited to the researcher but had a participatory approach with the community.”
Kim Berman adds: “The research was more of an observation of how Art can add real value to issues of development.”