Art by children from a Goodwood children’s home has been on display at the Centre for Art Education at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA).
The work by the young artists from Rainbow of Hope was part of the Manifesting the New art campaign, an annual campaign started by the Butterfly Art Project to use art as a form of therapy.
“The project empowers adults and teaches them how to implement healing art classes in their own communities. We provide facilitation, materials, and the community art facilitator or participant with the skills to provide children with stabilisation through the medium of art,” said the Butterfly Art Project programme manager Zaid Philander.
The Butterfly Art Project is a non-profit organisation that promotes creativity and healing through art.
Included in the exhibition, which ended its run on Monday, is art by eight children aged 11 to 17 from Rainbow of Hope.
“Rainbow of Hope has a special place in my heart,” said art teacher Kaylie Beers. “I started my internship as a counsellor with Rainbow of Hope three years ago and continued to volunteer working with the children. As a community art facilitator, I have done my practical training hours with the children of Rainbow of Hope. When I heard about the Manifesting the New campaign, I got involved and thought about the amazing creative journey for the children and myself.”
The campaign saw the children take previously loved and unfinished artworks and recreate them over an eight-week period.
Rainbow of Hope is a place of safety for abused and abandoned children in Cape Town. The home, which is a registered public-benefit organisation, was established in October 2007 and can provide care for up to 12 children, who are looked after primarily by the house mother, Alison Alexander.
The children have access to occupational therapy, medical care, psychological support, exercise, musical stimulation, and art therapy.
“Art therapy is key to a child’s self development,” said Ms Beers. “It allows a space to express thoughts and feelings, and to explore experiences.
“The campaign allowed the children to explore themselves through the process of painting, which teaches children how they can be present, experiencing how to be the creator of their futures and take action to create something new.”
Ms Alexander said: “Through Kaylee and other art teachers, the children have come to see how they can tell their story through their art. The new manifests itself in the use of colour and their very detailed drawings.
“The children were given an unfinished drawing, which was dull, and made no sense to you when you looked at it. They completed it and each one was a masterpiece in its own right… beautiful, colourful! I was shocked to see what they had produced.”
For more information on the campaign email info@butterflyartproject.org or WhatsApp 060 805 6482.