The Love Letter Exhibition will open in the Humanities Foyer on 23 April for students to engage with. This exhibition is to commemorate the 11-year anniversary of Prof. Siona O’Connell’s documentary Movie Snaps. This film looks at the forced removals in Cape Town documented by street photography. Prof. O’Connell is the newly appointed Head of the History, Heritage, and Cultural Tourism Department. Her work has created a platform for discussions around belonging, memory, and what “home” means through documenting the stories of those affected by forced removals. Two of her documentaries, Movie Snaps and An Impossible Return, were recently screened on campus, introducing the above-mentioned exhibition.
An Impossible Return looks not only at the physical trauma of the forced removals, but at the psychological effects they had. The film gives life to the community who were removed from District Six. The individuals in the film reflect on their everyday experiences of sharing sugar with neighbours and cleaning stoeps for pocket money. They had a family, a community, before they were forced to leave everything behind and start over.
The film poses questions around what happens next, decades later. There may be possibilities to return home physically, but the community that was uprooted can and will never be the same. It touches on the fact that a new community – the white Capetonians who benefited from the removals – have now built their own lives on top of the loss left behind. A current resident living in a home that was disposed of claimed that she always expected a “knock on her door” from the family who was removed, and she would welcome them into her home to speak about the past. The reality is that this is probably as far as it would go. The likelihood that those who benefited from the removals would give up this space and allow the original residents to come home is incredibly slim. They claim that this is their hard-earned home that they worked for. However, does that not apply to the families that were forcefully removed as well?
The screening of the film was followed by a discussion that questioned where those who were forcefully removed would go back to. Yes, an entire community built their lives in this space, but then they were removed and another community moved in. In some instances, they quite literally tore down what was there. Prof. O’Connell mentioned that through her work interviewing those who were removed, none of them wanted any retribution. All they wanted was to have a conversation about what happened. They may not be able to get the physical space of “home” back, but a conversation acknowledges the fact that this home did in fact exist. These stories of this community highlight what they built and the importance of keeping it alive, even if it is just through the spirit of the people.
Prof. O’Connell mentioned the University of Pretoria’s own role in the dispossession of the land. Parts of campus were acquired through forced removals, and this is a conversation the university should consider starting – acknowledging their own role. She also commented on land dispossession in the Middle East and possible discussions that could be had about the loss Palestinians have experienced with regards to home. The discussions at the screening should not only be restricted to UP students or the history of District Six. Rather, it should be opened to discussions on land dispossession in South Africa which began in 1652 and then moving outward, looking at land dispossession in Palestine.
The films and discussion kept circling back to the question of what “home” is and what it means to have that taken away. This is an ongoing conversation that can continue to happen at the exhibition. As was said in An Impossible Return by one of the people interviewed, all that is really wanted is for people to be willing to come to the table and have this conversation. Doors are too easily shut and a whole people’s history has been paved over. “Home” has not died; it remains in the spirit of the people. However there needs to be this acknowledgment of who they are and where they come from.
