Page 143 - Tributaries Catalogue
P. 143
In her photographs depicted on the next
two pages, Christi captures something of
the pilgrimage experience: The first shows
the despair felt upon reaching the source.
Where we expected running water, we
found dry rocks. The second, she writes
“is a snapshot of a haunted landscape left
in colonialism’s wake: a derelict basketball
court overlooking the polluted Zwartkops
estuary reminds of a past of human
recreation and fun. These were once
‘wonderful waters,’ as described in a
newspaper advertisement in 1940. But
the wonderful waters were only for white
people. While the waters are finally for all,
a bitter twist of postcolonial factors has
made them toxic and dangerous. In the
background loom the smokestacks of a
decommissioned power station.”
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