What do you call the thing you picked and where does it go?
Dining room table and chairs
Why did you pick this furniture piece?
This represents our first formal family seating area to enjoy our meals
Explain what this furniture piece means to you or your family/friends?
This means that we could sit down as a family together and enjoy our meal. Previously we use to have meals around the coffee table.
Tell me a story around this furniture piece? A memory, a thought or something that happened recently.
Over the years the wooden backing of the chairs would come loose from the seat. My father was a painter and because I was the eldest I would help him fix and glue the chairs as well as revarnish the wood work.
How does this piece of furniture make you feel?
It makes me feel good because of the positive memories not just from my childhood but my kids as well. The dining set served as a focal point of family gathering for meals, Labarang and birthday celebration as well.
Do you think this piece of furniture represents us as Coloureds? Why?
Yes it does. This style of wooden dining room furniture is fairly common in our communities in various shapes, either round, oval, or rectangular.
How would you describe your interpretation of Colouredness?
The colour of our skin, our types of food and the areas we live in
What other things strongly represent Colouredness?
Our unique Capetonian Afrikaans language.
What does it mean to be Coloured in South Africa now?
I think it is challenging at times. Although South Africa is seen as the rainbow nation, I sometimes feel like things still revolve around black and white. So call “coloured” not always in a clear category.
What is your relationship with your Colouredness?
Although my skin colour clearly shows which ethnic community I am from. I have always seen myself as Cape muslim first before Coloured.
