We have lost one another

Price, Ayesha

We have lost one another

Thesis / Dissertation

2025

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Michaelis School of Fine Art

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

This study is located in the ontologies of things that are widely identified, contested or self- determined as belonging to contemporary District Six in Cape Town, South Africa; a site of ongoing loss through settler colonialism, forced removals and now restitution. In this pivotal time of return bodies and land once displaced reunite, this study focusses on the fissure between subjects, objects and relations (things) as District Six enters the phase of reparation, redevelopment, commodification and private ownership. This project aims to explore the possibilities of using visual art methodology as a mediator between its people and its land through the praxis of Socially-engaged Art and in dialogue with the philosophies of New Materialism and Object-oriented Ontology. As a current resident of District Six, I collaborate with human and non-human components of the ruptured District Six ecosystem to facilitate a site-specific installation that recognises people and land as equal actants in the struggle for social cohesion and social justice.