According to Dictionary.com “litter” means objects strewn or scattered about; scattered rubbish. This is what makes art, at least according to Maureen Ganess. Ganess whose company uses the motto: Recycle, Reduce and Reuse has been collecting soft drink bottles, buckets and other plastic containers and creating art from them. “My art creates itself, I sit down and talk to the objects and ask them how do you want to be made and that’s how all the creation starts,” Ganess said. So how does your art fit into the COP17 conference, I ask….she replies: “The kind of art I make can save the planet in terms of water usage, by this I mean if you look at some of the creations I have done such as curtains and sponge seats for stools – they don’t need to be washed using water and other chemicals since they are waterproof. You just need to wipe them and life goes on whilst a few litres of water are saved. It could create job opportunities that wouldn’t need people to travel in cars while polluting the air since they could do the work while seated in the backyards of their houses. She says every item they use is covered by fabrics and treated with a special fabric hardener then dry brush painted. The treatment could take up to a day to develop depending on the weather. Since the items don’t perish they aren’t harmful to the environment.
Ganess says she went this route after she saw the “suffering of many people in communities because of the scarcity of jobs”. She then started collecting junk and trained young people to create art from them. She says she’d like to see herself one day with an established business employing people from poor backgrounds and exporting her art all over the word. Ganess says she wouldn’t like to be poached by people oversees and to create art there while her community suffers. Some of her work has been exhibited at the Durban Art Gallery, the BAT Centre gallery and the 415 gallery. To see some of her you can visit her website www.goldenempire.co.za
– By Clive Mboyi, Durban
