Erased Heritage Landscapes

The project aims to connect the erased memory of the old location with the other collective memories contributing to the Independence of Namibia.

I am proposing the design of a fragmented memorial, a metaphor for the remaining scattered heritage from the old location. The Location of Emma Hoogenhout becomes the Memory landscape of the massacre as it used to be the former tangible locus of memory. I named the memorial St Barnabas Memorial, an Anglican Mission school formerly located in the Old Location suburb of Windhoek. The choice to restore the former trauma site is for the victims, their relatives and the current and future generations. The location of the site at the school creates a platform for Nambian scholars to grow up in the history of their forefathers. The past is unearthed through platforms that take up the form of the footprints of the demolished buildings, including the Sybil Bowker Hall where the massacre occurred. The spaces allow for time to reflect on the past and contemplate the type of society one would want to be a part of.Those who walk towards the memorial encounter a historical narrative that speaks of the former old location square that was unearthed. During school, the learners can use the space during their breaks and for outdoor teaching moments. There is a sense of poetry in the place where such a horrific event happened being covered by the feet of children running and laughing and playing. Places are therefore subjected to continuous operations of semiotic rewriting, and this becomes particularly relevant to this site which radically transforms its function and meaning; what once used to be the site where a tragic event happened loses its original meaning to acquire a new one.