Call to artists for Mandela Day mural project
Local artists are invited to a creative meeting this Saturday ahead of a Mandela Day mural project at the King Dinuzulu Hospital in Sydenham.
A CALL has been made to artists from all backgrounds to come together to participate in a mural painting project to beautify a children’s playroom at King Dinizulu Hospital (formerly King George) in Sydenham. Interested artists are invited to attend a creative meeting at the hospital on Saturday, 18 June at 10am to help conceptualise a way forward for the project.
According to Clive Pillay, programmes co-ordinator of the Nelson Mandela Chatsworth Youth Centre who is organising the project, the children who are undergoing treatment for extreme drug-resistant TB, stay at the hospital for long periods with the ward becoming their home, classroom and play area.
“Artists are needed to conceptualise a design for the large indoor play area and then paint the mural over a few days as a Mandela Day project.
The briefing meeting will be a coming together of artists and hospital management, to look at creative design ideas and time frames to finish the project,” he explained.
Pillay said the mural hoped to help educate the children about TB, and the precautions and medications to be taken to be cured. Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the world’s deadliest communicable diseases. South Africa has the world’s third-largest TB burden, after India and China with a rising number of drug-sensitive and drug-resistant TB cases.
The hospital is hoping to unveil the project on Mandela Day, with the volunteer artists taking credit for their contribution to making the place colourful and visually stimulating. “The hospital will provide all the material needed. Those with artistic talents and painting experience are encouraged to lend their skills to the project by attending the meeting this Saturday at the hospital’s TB ward boardroom,” Pillay added.
The organisers are also hoping to use one section of the wall to paint a large portrait of Nelson Mandela. Contact Clive Pillay on 061 429 2574 or Sister Gloria at the hospital on 031242 6000 (ext. 6149) for more information on the project.
