The Stories That Ran Away at The Zeitz MOCAA – se7en

One of my favourite family outings ever, was a visit to the Zeitz MOCAA Art Gallery. I loved everything about it: the space, the art, the wandering from gallery to gallery, the heady displays, the incredible rooftop views, the shop… everything. So, when I was recently invited, to a book launch at the Zeitz MOCAA, I couldn’t R.S.V.P. fast enough.

A couple of years ago African stories for African children were gathered together as part of a Zietz MOCAA exhibition, to create a welcoming and interactive art exhibition for children, in an otherwise “quite adult” gallery. As a showcase for art from all over Africa, bringing children into the gallery was critical, and what better ways than with stories and folktales from Africa, introducing the world of art and creativity to local children.

Together this team has put together the most incredible collection of stories and books and they are ready to share them with the world. What started as a community project a couple of years ago, has turned into an expanding art collection, growing from strength to strength.

On a bitterly cold, wintry Saturday… the Zeitz MOCAA was warm and inviting. And this team of vibrant artists and illustrators were there to show us their latest project.

The Book Collection

There is nothing like seeing your own childhood stories in a book to believe you can do anything and be anything… and what a joy to have African folktales presented in a way that children, from Africa, can interact with and see themselves within them. These books are fabulous, they are literally works of art and not just for local children to enjoy, but for global families, that want their children to have a front row seat to different cultures. I firmly believe children of all cultures need to read stories from other cultures and still get to see themselves in their own stories, stories derived from their own communities, customs and languages.

All the folk tales were re-written as stories for children by the author Meridian Berndt, and then four different artists, each with their own completely unique style, created the artwork for each of the stories. These books make a delightful contribution to the African Tradition, making art and stories from all over Africa available to children around the world.

In the Tale of the Mouse and the Stories that Ran Away

Jill Joubert created the most incredible sculptures and artwork to go with the exhibition and these sculptures took her on a personal journey of artistic discovery, as the sculptures became the illustrations for the first book in the series. The story about the mouse comes from the West Coast of Africa, it is an Ekoi legend.

The illustrations take the young reader into a magical world, inspired by the worm tunnels that Jill discovered on her wooden sculptures.

It is the story of a delightful little mouse who gathers lots of treasures and secrets in all her travels. She weaves all the treasures into stories, which grow and expand until they literally don’t fit into her mouse house anymore. Eventually the front door cracks open and all the stories escape. They are free to run away, free to twist and grow as they like. As they travel the world far and wide they tell their own stories.

Khvum and the Crocodile Woman

The illustrations for this book were created by the author, Meridian Berndt and they are stunning and watery and wild. The story originates in the Congo Basin.

Wonderful dipped artworks that make amazing marbled waterscapes… that slowly but surely fill up with animals. I love the crocodile woman, a very distinct print that winds her way onto almost double spread of the book.

A beautiful story of creation, where long, long ago, the creator, Khvum, and the ancient crocodile woman were lonely. Incredibly lonely. So Khvum created a boat and gathered loads and loads of different seeds, that he stored in his boat. The old Crocodile Woman dragged the boat out into the river… and on their adventurous journey down the river, started to toss their seeds onto the river banks. And all the seeds grew into different animals and birds, reptiles and amphibians, and for the longest time everyone lived in perfect harmony.

First Light

First Light is a San story, and was illustrated by Jax Lamb, and again, an artist with a completely different and dramatic style. His illustrations are filled with the most minute details, event the widest expanse has to be looked at a little closer, to spot the “hidden” details.

I love his attention to detail, I love the map he created and the incredible journey that the children take through his book, from darkness to light.

This is the story of a time before the sun… when people lived in dark spaces. There is a lovely adventure, where the village children travel through maps and mountains, through pages and paragraphs, to find their grandfather who is sleeping under his tattered blanket. When the children take his blanket away they discover he is the sun and the whole world bursts with happiness and life.

Nya Nya Bulembu

This story is from eSwatini, and the final book, in this first collection in the series, was illustrated by graphic artist, Mandy Wamono.

She created her illustrations on a computer and uses her graphic skills to create a magical landscape and the friendliest looking slithery, slimy creature…

A delightful story about a beautiful princess, whose father, the king, was jealous of the love his people gave to her… so he banishes her into the body of the slimiest creature. Nobody loves her anymore and she slithers away into the deep dark forest, where she discovers a whole new world of creatures and it is within this deep forest world that Mosa becomes strong and resourceful. The animal kingdom thrived with her loving kindness, but the world of people was miserable and longed for her return. Eventually they animals figure out how to break the spell on her and after a long a difficult journey she returns home to rule her people with kindness and justice.

The Interview

After the presentation I was lucky enough to have an interview with the author, Meridian Berndt and Liesl Hartman, Head of the Centre for Art Education,at the Zeitz Mocaa.

In conversation with Meridian, I asked her, “How the stories came about? What was the creative process?” The real work happened around a kitchen table, literally brainstorming ideas together and creating a story community. I loved this concept, because I firmly believe that the best ideas happen around a feast! But moving away from the table, the work changes and one has to complete the project that has become harder, and then the work changes again as one has to share the completed story with the world around you.

My question for Liesl was: What does the Zeitz MOCAA do for the local community and art education in general? And they do so much, art workshops with schools, monthly events and several interactions with the public, follow their socials for more. Which led to my next question: How does one, as a member of the public, learn more about events and happenings at the Zeitz Mocaa? To be honest, I always hear about things after they have happened… and her response was get on their socials and watch for events… look out for their happenings and sign up for their newsletter here.

I went one better and bought myself a membership… I have wanted an annual membership for ages, so this was a great time for me to sign up while I was there. There are several tiers of membership. I got the Silo tier, which allows unlimited access, invitations to events, a discount in their shop… very proud to have my membership card.

And The Gallery Shop

For me, the words Gallery and Shop, go together like nothing else on earth… truly this shop is my happy place. Not only can you buy these gorgeous story books, individually or in a box set, in the Gallery shop but you can buy loads of lovely merchandise associated with the stories there too.

There are characters from the stories, book bags, artworks, and of course all the other lovely merchandise available in the store: art materials, art works, glorious local artists work available… it is a fabulous spot if you are looking for gifts for friends and family, and especially treats for yourself.

Massive thank you to the Zietz MOCAA team for the invitation to the fantastic event, I loved every second of it… and look forward to visiting several times over the next year. I am so looking forwards to more books in this series and to many more visits to the Zeitz MOCAA.

Photo Gallery from the Event