Artist takes to streets with NGO in fund-raising drive
DURBAN streets have always provided fascinating material for artist John Roome, who has partnered with the Denis Hurley Centre to help raise funds.
The organisation, one of a number of NGOs that partnered with the city to provide shelter to the homeless during the lockdown, will continue with initiatives put in place during that time.
eThekwini Municipality confirmed earlier this week that the 12 emergency shelters were to be phased out.
This week, Roome said that his eight linocut prints featuring Cathedral Road and Paddy Kearney Way in the Warwick Triangle area had gone on sale. Five have been sold.
Formerly the head of visual arts at the Durban University of Technology (DUT), Roome may have retired from teaching but he is still busy as an artist, working in his studio in Umgeni Road.
While he enjoys drawing and painting, linocut and woodcut prints are his favourite medium.
“I like the process. I can do eight or nine colours when doing a print and each colour changes the whole thing, so I never know how a print will turn out.
“I also like working with paper and cutting into the surface. I enjoy getting lost in the process,” he said.
Roome admitted to having a particular fondness for trees in the city’s urban space.
“The trees growing along the streets in Durban are special. I walk from my home in Morningside to my studio in Umgeni Road, and I’m always interested to see the trees surviving.
“They are weathered and have a visual appeal, but they also have a resilience and hardiness which for me stands for that survival aspect of nature in the built environment. It is also a metaphor of how we survive in a hostile environment,” said Roome.
He said he also enjoyed doing prints of Durban street scenes.
Roome attributed his talent to his grandmother. She died before he was born, but he has her paintings.
“I didn’t do art at school because it wasn’t offered, but I enjoyed art from as far back as I can remember,” he said.
Roome studied art at Rhodes University in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, and as a young man started teaching at Natal Technikon (now DUT).
“I enjoyed teaching drawing the most, that is the ultimate test,” he said.
His work is showcased through StateoftheART Gallery in Cape Town and Tamasa Gallery in Durban. Since the lockdown, Roome has partnered with a number of charities where his work has been sold or auctioned to raise funds.
“It is a good way for artists to market their work while at the same time contributing to society, especially when so many people are struggling.
“I do it because I love it and I can support a good cause, so it’s a win-win situation,” he said. Many art lovers are collecting works during the lockdown and Roome’s special edition prints cost R2 500 each. The ususal price is between R4 000 to R8 000.
For more information, go to Denis Hurley Facebook page, or Roome’s Facebook or Instagram accounts.
Meanwhile, the Denis Hurley Centre said this week that it had planned a long-term strategy for each homeless person staying in shelters during the lockdown. This includes reuniting them with families, accessing pensions and state grants, and rehabilitation for substance abuse.
“We are grateful for the help we have had from key people in the KZN departments of Social Development and Health and also eThekwini Safer Cities,” said the centre.