GC Gr 8 History& Visual Arts Suitcase Project

On Tuesday, 8 November, the Visual Arts and History Departments hosted the Suitcase Project exhibition in the Athena Centre.

For the project’s history component, students were asked to provide proof of their own or their family’s migration to Johannesburg through a collection of artefacts, documents, and photographs. They additionally had to make family trees and a timeline documenting their family’s migrations – be it between different cities to different countries.

For the project’s art requirements, they included a collection of art about Johannesburg, which they made throughout the term, alongside symbolic and sentimental objects from and about their family and heritage.

These multi-layered heritage collections were presented as unique and fascinating “suitcase” artworks.

If there ever was a project that required one’s parents to do the homework with them, this was the one, as parents, siblings and grandparents were roped in.

The exhibition was an enormous success as entire families turned out to see their daughters’ documentation of their unique and diverse heritages. In the words of one parent, “both grandmothers insisted on attending the exhibition because of how invested they were in the project.”

Congratulations to our Visual Arts and History staff and all the Grade 8s for producing such fine work!

Photographs: Kevin Walker