Cape Town – Ahead of the next global climate meeting, COP28, in Dubai next month, an intricate piece of artwork has been unveiled in Cape Town to highlight the existential threat that climate change poses to human life – particularly for rural people.
The enormous embroidered artwork is the handiwork of 43 artists, mainly women, who live in the vicinity of the tiny coastal town of Hamburg close to the mouth of the Keiskamma River in the Eastern Cape.
It has been named Umlibo in reference to the sprawling pumpkin vine – a symbol of the need to unite and spread the word about the climate crisis.
With funding from the government of Flanders, WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) South Africa commissioned the artwork as part of a community-based project in the Hamburg area focusing on alternative livelihoods and marine ecosystems.
Among the themes Umlibo addresses are the impacts of unpredictable weather patterns and extreme weather events, a decline in marine life, anxiety about the future, pollution and the negative impacts on physical and mental well-being.
These, along with rural livelihoods like fishing, raising livestock and growing basic crops, are brought to life in vivid colour in the work that portrays hardship and hope in equal measure.
WWF South Africa’s senior manager: marine programme, Craig Smith. said: “Umlibo is a masterpiece that brings together science and art in vividly expressing the hardships suffered by vulnerable communities in the context of climate change and their vision and call to action for a more resilient future for the benefit of people and nature.”
This is not the first time that the Keiskamma Art Project and its artists have tackled a topic of global significance.
Previous works have included the Keiskamma Altarpiece (2005) and the Keiskamma Guernica (2010), both of which were exhibited internationally and depicted the intergenerational devastation of HIV on communities.
The manager of the Keiskamma Art Project, Michaela Howse, said: “Partnerships move us forward, bringing knowledge, skills and the networks we need as a rural community to grow and to stay abreast of change.
“The Keiskamma Art Project is marginal in its existence, challenged through its location, and faces daily difficulties of access and communication. We breach these challenges only through what we make and how our art speaks to society. This connection is vital. It is both an investment and a lifeline.”
Umlibo will follow a similar advocacy path as it travels to Dubai for COP28 where it will be exhibited in the South African Pavilion with the support of the National Business Initiative at the invitation of South Africa’s Minister of the Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Barbara Creecy.
Upon its return to South Africa, the intention is to auction it off to raise money for further project work.
This year’s COP28 climate meeting in Dubai will see some 70 000 delegates, including heads of state and world leaders, come together to assess progress being made to slow climate change.
More information about the artwork and the stories behind the artists who made it can be found here.