Exploring Ephemeral Memorial Landscapes in Sharpeville

This study investigates Sharpeville’s commemorative rituals performed in remembrance of the Sharpeville massacre. It exposes the political agendas behind the current memorials and seek for rituals performed by the community to inform a new memorial landscape that is more inclusive.

The project drew guidelines and inspiration from the memorial rituals performed by the people of Sharpeville in opposition to the built memorials and commemorations run by politics. My project learned from those rituals to create a new memorial landscape, making the people be part of the memorial and letting them define and give it meaning. By investigating the rituals performed by the people of Sharpeville within the context of the existing memorials, careful attention to how the space changes during the performance of these rituals influenced the design and changes of the existing memorials. Mbaola storytelling is an important ritual started by people of Sharpeville to take ownership of their own history which is the provocateur to the new memorial landscape supported by other cultural and traditional rituals performed. Walls of the current memorial are broken down, creating a new interaction space, allowing the mbaola ritual to take place. Next to is it the remembrance garden, which is turned into a sacred space, allowing them to perform their traditional rituals in a space the spirits of those who died left their bodies, as opposed to the current plinths seen as alien to them. The political stage at the cemetery is broken down into a new memorial space, a continuation of the graves of the victims with a memorial wall written by the people of Sharpeville. A new wetland installation marks the third significant site to the people of Sharpeville, creating a contemplation space which connects all the three sites together. The interventions mark the three significant sites, allows the people to define their history and memorial landscape which evolves with time and make the victims of the massacre to be known.