Green Camp Gallery an urban oasis

TANGLED trees rest on a fragile structure of weary walls overtaken by graffiti. This is the site of the Green Camp Gallery Project, a community hub of art, creativity and urban farming housed in a derelict building in Durban’s Umbilo Road.

“While many may rise from the rubble, we chose to work with it,” said Xolani Hlongwa, creator of the Green Camp.

A glossy brochure describes the project as being “created out of the leftover material from a derelict house and a few donated odds and ends”. An official “mantra” that says: “We focus on neither art nor the artist but rather the artistry behind the process.”

The brochure claims the project is “about restoring community, recycling ideas, heartaches and challenges, and making them useful to life”.

It is not a traditional art gallery. It is giving a group of creative misfits an outlet.

Not surprisingly, the camp has hosted a diversity of artists from all over the country… and beyond our borders.

“I’ve worked with the gallery on three occasions,” said Musa Hlatshwayo, a choreographer, performing artist and community worker. “I am the artistic director of Mhayise Productions, a contemporary dance theatre company featuring young dynamic artists, community workers and facilitators who break new ground through the performing arts.”

Hlatshwayo has an interest in activating spaces through what he calls site-specific contemporary dance.

“My work fosters dialogue by showcasing socio-political work that engages different communities and breaks down barriers between the performer and the audience.