BEADING THE FUTURE
Monkeybiz is a South African not-for-profit organisation
that enables more than 350 women living in poverty in townships around
Cape Town to earn a sustainable income from the traditional African craft
of beading.
Originally starting with dolls, the women now make bags, bead pictures, cushion
covers and sculptures that are sold and exhibited around the world.
Aside from earning money to feed and educate themselves and their children,
Monkeybiz gives pride and self-confidence back to the women.
Given the immense impact of Aids on their communities, some of the artists
were commissioned to make special works to illustrate the visually stunning
Positively HIV, a booklet
featuring lessons about HIV and exposing some of the myths that surround it.
“We feel the book creates an artistic and cultural bridge,” said
creative
director D
ion Viljoen.
“Each design tells part of a story; it’s not just more abstract
words saying ‘don’t do this’ or ‘do that’”.
• www.monkeybiz.co.za
Confused? You should be
The
new play from HIV positive playwright Mark Ravenhill is a bittersweet
comedy about a teenage boy in search for his sexuality, and asks whether it
is a matter of choice or pre-determination. Citizenship is a more considered,
slightly less shocking, post-Shopping and F****** Ravenhill tackling identity
in today’s society.
In this all-too-familiar world of declining belief systems where teachers
are overworked and too stressed to offer guidance, Tom is left to seek out
his own truths from the mixed messages and advice from friends.
His journey of sexual discovery is triggered by a recurring dream where he
kisses a figure whose sexual identity he can’t make out. His first sexual
experience is of the heterosexual kind in which he produces a daughter, who
returns to the play as a teenager to recount the years between. Tom starts
to regularly see a man he meets through an internet chatroom but only achieves
f***buddy status because his lover already has a boyfriend.
The play shows us how much harder it is to search for identity in modern life
while the typical Ravenhill themes of money and consumerism bubble away under
the surface. Performed by
the award-winning Theatre Ensemble 28 at the Jermyn Street Theatre as part
of the Pride Festival fortnight, this was a perfect educational piece for
teenagers and adults alike. Lead actors Matt Baker and Roxy Dunn established
an immediate on-stage relationship. Dunn in particular showed depth in her
role as Tom’s friend and girlfriend. Maurice Ord
VISIONS OF LOVE
These are the UK winners in Bristol-Myers Squibb’s One Vision
European Photographic Competition. Matt Writtle won in the professional category
with his shot of a child orphaned by HIV in Siberia. Paul Marks’ image
of kids in Ghana won in the non-professional category. These inspiring images
will feature in One Vision’s 2006 calendar, sold to raise funds for
European community HIV/Aids groups, including UKC.
