The District Six Museum will have a Heritage Day walk on Saturday September 23, at 10am, starting at the Lydia Centre for Memory in Chapel Street.
The inspiration for the walk is former District Six resident and ex-Robben Island political prisoner and artist, Lionel Davis. Born in District Six on 21 June, 1936, Lionel is also known as an activist, storyteller and cultural worker.
In his body of work, there are a number of pencil drawings and watercolours through which he recorded popular landmarks, buildings and streets, capturing the last moments of District Six before it was demolished.
The walk will be shaped around six sites depicted in these works, which will form the route of the Museum’s Heritage Day walk of remembrance.
The walk will start at the Lydia Williams Centre at 128 Chapel Street, and will cross the Searle Street bridge to continue all the way up Keizersgracht with some stops along the way. The route includes the old St Philip Church (now the Lydia Centre for Memory) where Community Arts Project (CAP) was based for a number of years, St Mark’s Church and the Muir Street Mosque. These are some of the sites which survived the bulldozers.
Site markers which will reference his drawings will be produced as posters and larger wheat pasted replicas along the route.
Music along the way will be provided by Anwah Gambeno’s Traditional Cape Singers, The Sunshine Singers and the St Cecelia’s Christmas Band.
These three bands represent some of the main musical strands of District Six music: Malay Choirs, minstrels and Christmas.
Members of the public are invited to join the walk, and if they are not able to come to the start, can look out for the procession and listen out for the music and join along the way. For more information, contact info@districtsix.co.za