Themes and Questions
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What does color mean to us?
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How do we reflect our culture, history, race and ethnicity through color?
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Can our fabrics, clothes and garments help to tell our stories?
- How do we wrap, cover, style and decorate our head and hair to express our personality, work and beliefs?
- What makes us feel beautiful inside and out? What makes us feel proud to hold our heads high?
- What do we cover, and what do we uncover when we look at each other and at ourselves?
- What binds, connects and ties us together?
- Why is it important to express the strength, value and beauty of women in today's South Africa and broader world?
- Can we make a statement against gender-based violence through our art and stories?
Artists-in-Residence
Queen
Queen Allotey-Pappoe is the founder,
designer & creative director at
Queen Adeline, a sustainable
fashion design brand that
combines an African heritage
of vibrant colors, bold prints, and
patterns with a modern global
aesthetic to create clothing to
bring the wearer alive. She grew up in
Accra, Ghana, and her mission is to inspire confidence in people and to empower them to express their ultimate selves, whilst respecting and caring for the environment. She will be the Artist-in-Residence for The Mama Project in Cape Town 2020, helping the team to create wearable art and create a fashion show that celebrates culture and beauty, and makes a statement against gender-based violence.
Live Artfully! Go ahead, make a statement!
2021
Colorful Women:
Hold Your Head High
Pandemic Standby
Process
Alutha
Now and again Cape Town
proves itself to have not only
beautiful mountains, beaches
and scenery but also fresh talent.
Alutha Taho was raised by her mother,
a single parent, and has four siblings. She
grew up in Cape Town and was caught by the love of music at a very young age in church and has never looked back.Growing up was never easy as she was faced with the responsibility of looking after her siblings while other girls her age were out playing. While sitting at home she would listen to the music of artists like India Arie, Lauryn Hill, Lira and Zonke, which is where she got the inspiration to work towards becoming a celebrated female musician one day. Alutha wrote and performed "Together We Can" with The Mama Project, a song and music video released for South African Women's Day in 2019, and the same year attended the Berklee College Summer ASPIRE program as a singer/songwriter in Boston, USA. Alutha is very concerned about the violence against, and disappearance of, women in South Africa, and is keen to use music to express the value and power of women. She has been commissioned to write and perform a song for the "Colorful Women" project in 2020 in collaboration with Rebeka Rain.
Rivers & streams may run dry but the power of a woman will forever stand tall!
Women of Color: Hold Your Head High Activities
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Wearable Art with Artist-In-Residence Queen Allotey-Pappoe
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Head Wrap & Scarf decoration & beading
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Tye Dye creations
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Storytelling & fabric poems
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Original music by Artists-in-Residence Alutha Taho & Rebeka Rain
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Dancing & movement
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Mama's Kitchen cooking projects
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Final Performance: Women of Color Runway & Performance
rebeka
Rebeka Rain is an Australian
author and singer/songwriter
who runs the MelPro recording
studio in Glencairn, South Africa,
with her partner Mick Evans, and
their long time friend and
international musician, Duncan Mackay.
Since coming to Cape Town Rebeka has written songs with Mick and Duncan and several other people to record several albums for themselves and other artists. She has also recently completed her third novel. She performs live throughout South Africa doing shows and functions including the Abba Show, The Beatles show and a vinyl DJ and vocal show together with Mick. In 2019 the ‘team’ was approached by The Mama Project to record and co-produce the song ‘Together We Can’ for Alutha Taho & The Mama Project. Rebeka now aims at a number of targets in her life. Firstly, to lead by example that life is there for the taking and it is never too late to pursue your dreams or to switch directions and try new things. She also uses her experiences to help those who may be experiencing emotional hardship or grief to find courage and purpose. Rebeka is collaborating with Alutha to develop a song for the "Colorful Women" project in 2020.