2017

Themes and Questions

This was The Mama Project's first program and launched on Women's Day 2017 in Khayelitsha in Cape Town. We brought together women from four different township communities in South Africa, a team of female artists from Boston, students from Cape Town, missionaries from Holland and Poland, and others.

In this project we explored who we are as women and mothers, connected around experiences, feelings, and struggles that make us the same, and discovered how we could share and celebrate our differences through culture, creativity and friendship. We created art together and held an art exhibit and community meal to share our work at the end of the project.

Process

Women's Day Kick Off Celebration: Sharing food, song and stories
'I Celebrate Women' Flower Garden/Mural
Beautiful Self-portraits: What did your mother give to you? What is your beautiful self?
Samosa Making & Food Stories: What do you make?
Photography Treasure Hunt: What do you see?
Struggle Circle & Snail Dance: What are your struggles?
Gestures/Dancing: Creating gesture poems of power & love
Lantern Making: What is your light?
Theater Outing to the Fugard Theater
Final Exhibit: The Mama Project, a creative project for women

MEET THE MAMAS

My name is Maggie.

I live in 7de Laan,

Strandfontein. l'm a

single Mother of 5. I'm working as a Domestic worker and a Community leader, and I go to school to become a better Mother and a leader.

The Mama Project really brings light in my heart and it teaches us to love. No matter what colour skin, we are the same.

MAGGIE

bOBBIE

My name is Bobbie.

I live in Auburndale

Massachusetts, with my

husband Bob and our dog Jack.

Our children and grandchildren

thankfully live nearby. I am a partner, a mother, and Nana, a friend, and actor, a poet, and artist, and a lover of making connections to people from cultures and places I am not a part of.

I am part of The Mama Project because after Sara Stackhouse invited me to a potluck and shared her stories of living and working in Cape Town Townships, I wanted to meet, create art with, break bread with, tell stories with, sing with and dance with the women who live and work in Khayelitsha and 7de Laan Townships.

My favorite thing about The Mama Project is the projects—art, music, dance, theatre that come out of sharing stories and deep feelings about our lives as women, and being inspired by the Cape Town Mamas’ resilience, spirit and love of life in the face of extremely difficult life experiences.

In the future I dream we can raise enough money to bring the Cape Town Mamas to Boston! And that our very BIG small project influences more cultural sharing and building of strong relationships among women who would never otherwise come together.

Exhibit