Durban diaries

Liza Lou. Durban diaries. MM Art book printing & repro, 2012

• A women artist moved from Los Angeles to South Africa to expand her bead work practice. She hired 15 Zulu women to help her and started gluing the beads rather than the traditional sewing.

• The team grew as she took on new people to help but also decreased when a couple of them slacked off/stole, were sick, or died. It is a beautiful story of her life in South Africa as well as those who were living there.

• It is all very real to what I experienced there:

• “South Africa, which is surrounded, characterized even, by its prolific use of razor wire fencing.” 12

• “Friends have advised not to walk anywhere; best to drive a hatchback – if you have a truck, you may end up in it; drive with your windows ajar, which makes them harder to shatter; come to a rolling stop in order to make a quick getaway.” 13

• She mentions the raping, stealing, women abuse, murder, muti, muggings…

• “The taxis, which comfortably seat fifteen, are often crowed with over twenty-five people.” 14

• “I feel flattened by what the colour of my skin represents.” 15

• “I felt humbled by this theft, at the sadness in it, the desperation.” 19

• “Working with beads is a connection to an ancient struggle, a struggle I did not know.” 19

• “When he beat me, my dad was like a lion. He was so cruel. My mom just sat and watched this thing happen.” 22

• “we are miserable. The people, they are dying” 24

• “You are white so you will be paying more – Does everything have to come down to colour in this country? – Yes it does” 26

• “My white skin, my privilege like a neon sign.” 33

• “South Africa has the highest concentration of HIV and TB in the world.” 37

• “I remember when I first met you, you would flinch if our skin would touch – yes, we were taught that contact with a white person would bring bad luck” 47