The Sarah Bartmann Architectural Competition for the design of the Sarah Bartmann Centre of Remembrance is now open to all SACAP Registered Persons, the competition will be judged in two rounds by a jury of 7 people. The jury consists of the following South African Institute of Architects (SAIA members) Prof. Lucien le Grange, Prof. Bannie Britz and Laura Robinson will form part of this team.
Please note that the registration date has been extended and the competition closes on the 17th of April at 5pm.
Further information can be found at www.sarahbartmanncompetition.co.za
BACKGROUND TO THE COMPETITION – THE SARAH BARTMANN PROJECT
In 2001, the Sarah Bartmann Project was initiated by the Department of Arts and Culture as part of the KhoiSan Legacy Project to ensure the return of Sarah Bartmann’s remains to the land of her birth.
The decision to bury her remains on a koppie just outside Hankey in the Gamtoos River Valley of the Eastern Cape Province, was informed by a number of consultative processes. Extensive research and investigation confirmed the suitability of the site in terms of her culture and also the area’s historical significance to the life of Sarah Bartmann, a woman of KhoiSan ancestry and her lineage.
It is envisaged that another heritage site in honour of her memory will be created in the form of a Human Rights Memorial in or near Cape Town, as it is from here that she was shipped off to Europe for a life of pain and torment.
The process of repatriation took place under the guidance of the Reference Group, a broadly representative advisory body consisting of informed and relevant people appointed by the Minister of Arts and Culture in 2002. The Reference Group includes representatives from the KhoiSan community, academics, scientists, human rights practitioners and advancers of gender issues including women’s rights, and was tasked with the responsibility of assisting the Government with the internment of Sarah Bartmann’s remains with dignity, compassion and sensitivity.
The repatriation in early May 2002, and the internment of Sarah Bartmann, on 9 August 2002 (Women’s Day in South Africa) marked a significant day in the democratic history of South Africa and its commitment to the reaffirmation of marginalized histories, especially that of the KhoiSan peoples.
In March 2008 the burial site was declared a National Heritage Site, but it soon became clear that additional land, over and above the existing gravesite would be needed to fulfill the Government’s vision of honouring the KhoiSan culture as a whole through the establishment of a national Khoisan Cultural Centre in memory of Sarah Bartmann. The Kouga Municipality then donated an additional area of 80ha adjacent to the burial site, on the farm Gamtoosrivier Wagendrift, one of the original farms in the area.
The Reference Group, under the auspices of the Department of Arts and Culture, continues to meet regularly to ensure the appropriate development of the extended site, which includes the establishment of the Sarah Bartmann Centre of Remembrance, in close proximity to the gravesite.
This development will form part of the broader Kouga Municipality Integrated Development Plan (IDP) which has as one of its aims the transformation of Hankey into a tourist destination. In this way the Cultural Centre will ensure economic and social benefits to the local community, as well as form an introduction to the Baviaans Mega Reserve, which is a proclaimed World Heritage Site.
The Department of Architecture at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University has been appointed by the Department of Arts and Culture to oversee the running of an architectural competition for the design of the Sarah Bartmann Centre of Remembrance, a KhoiSan Cultural Centre of national significance on the site adjacent to Sarah Bartmann’s grave.
