Sarah Baartman Centre of Remembrance

Hankey, Eastern Cape

A competition entry for the design of a place to commemorate the life story of Sarah Baartman and to celebrate and educate visitors on the Khoi and San cultures – The first peoples of South Africa. The project was to be set in a rugged landscape on the outskirts of a small town in the Eastern Cape, adjacent to Baartman’s grave site.

Conceptually the proposed architecture set out to explore the relationship of the Khoi/San cultures to the surrounding landscape and at the same time interpret the narrative of Baartman’s unfortunate capture as a slave in the early 1800’s, mistreatment as a living exhibit in Europe, death and display as a museum piece and eventual return and burial in Hankey.

The design was selected as one of five finalists out of almost one hundred local and international entries.

CLIENT

Department of Arts and Culture

COMPLETED

2009