Women turn 580 audio tapes into art

Keanan Harmse|Published 10 months ago

Some of the Re.Bag.Re.Use women who worked on the sea kelp sculpture. At the back are Joanna Mnisi, left, and Sakile Ndlovu with Patience Liyema and Betty Masamba in front. Pictures: Regine le Roux.

Anyone who grew up in the 80s will know that there’s little beauty to be found in mangled audio cassette tape, but six women have shown that you can crochet it into a work of art.

Joanna Mnisi, Sakile Ndlovu, Dameris Makovere, Tapiwa Likona, Betty Masamba and Patience Liyema turned 580 tapes donated by the public into a kelp sculpture to promote the importance of recycling.

The women work for Re.Bag.Re.Us, a Hout Bay community initiative that finds new and creative uses for discarded plastic bags.

“It started as an initiative that started off as a hobby during the Covid-19 lockdown, where empty bread bags were being repurposed and crocheted into beautiful shopping bags,” said the organisation’s founder, Regine le Roux.

“We also created an opportunity for women to make extra pocket money and be able to put bread on the table by making beautiful functional products.”

Re.Bag.Re.Us was asked to use recycled materials to create seven fronds for the sculpture, which was part of Ananta Design Studio’s vision for Upcycle, an exhibition where artists turned office furniture into functional art.

The four- to seven-metre fronds took four weeks to complete.

“Each frond was filled with clean plastic materials that the Re.Bag.Re.Use team couldn't crochet with, such as six-pack wrappers, and torn plastic bags. Each frond has been decorated with beautifully designed up-cycling, bead and felt work, and represents different elements,” Ms le Roux said.

“The combined weight of the seven fronds totals a remarkable 47kg. To put this into perspective, this is roughly equivalent to a bag of cement. A significant amount of plastic saved from ending up in landfills.“

The sculpture was displayed to the public at Makers Landing at the V&A Waterfront on Thursday April 18.

Ms Masamba, of Imizamo Yetho, said the project had been fun and exciting.

“I thought that we were only going to be making bags, then the next thing I saw we were making these four-metre-long fronds. I was blown away by the creativity and how beautiful it looked with all the decorations.”

Ms Makovere, of Brooklyn, said: “This project was unique and something totally different. It was a wonderful opportunity that challenged us. I am looking forward to being part of more creative projects. It was so wonderful to see the end product when all the components were put together.”

Dameris Makovere crocheting one of the seven fronds using audio cassette tape.

The final kelp sculpture which was made with 580 audio cassette tapes and other recyclable materials was displayed at Makers Landing at the V&A Waterfront on Thursday April 18.