What do you call the thing you picked and where does it go?
I call it a dining room table. It is a room I refer to as a family living area.
Why did you pick this furniture piece?
I picked this piece of furniture because it reminds me of a ‘real story that my mother told many times about a dining room table that belonged to her grandfather.
Explain what this furniture piece means to you or your family/friends?
The photo I uploaded is not my mom’s grandfather’s dining room table. The size of this dining room table however reminds me of the story my mom told countless times about her grandfather’s dining room table. My mom’s grandfather, and my great-grandfather had been a carpenter. He made this dining room table to fit in the dining room of his home in Beaconsfield in Kimberly. My mom was born in 1953 and she remembered her grandparents table in their home. The table must thus have been built by 1956 or 1957 when she had a recollection of her surroundings. The story of the dining table ends when her grandparents were forcibly removed from their home in Beaconsfield because the area had been designated for the white population. The table, my mom said, was too big to fit into any of the homes they or their families had been forced to relocate to. The table I uploaded is not my great-grandfather’s table but it calls images to mind of the size of the table. I imagine it with a lot more character than the table in the picture has. But alas it is only completely ‘real’ in my imagination.
Tell me a story around this furniture piece? A memory, a thought or something that happened recently.
As I indicated, the table ties me to memories of this and many other stories my mother used to tell about where they used to live. My mother’s memories of the forced removals were vivid because her grandmother passed away just before they had to move. My mom used to tell how her grandmother vowed to carried out over her dead body, and she died before she had to move. My mom’s dad also passed away not long after that. I think she blamed the national party government for both their deaths. She therefore told many stories about her life before the removals. The story of this dining room table was always among them. For me the table represents loss of material possessions but not the loss of self and family and being together. Loss of material possessions but not the loss of resilience.
How does this piece of furniture make you feel?
The piece in the photograph, when I remember the story of my great-grandfather’s table as I look at it, makes me feel melancholic. I would have loved a piece of furniture my great-grandfather had crafted with his own hands in my home. I would have loved to know that generations of family meals had been served at it. I am grateful that I have the table where my family can eat. However it has no history, it has no sentimental value to it.
Do you think this piece of furniture represents us as Coloureds? Why?
I do not think this piece represents coloureds, no. I do however think that what it means to me, has resonance for many coloured people with regards to other pieces of furniture they have; it reminds them of what was, what could have been but what never can be. Yet they survive and they always will despite the fact that their material possessions have no history or character – they are the history; they are the character.
How would you describe your interpretation of Colouredness?
Bohemian – I am a different coloured every day, I am not coloured like others are coloured and yet I am coloured as they are coloured. I recently watched a play titled coloured/colourful, where the point is that we can choose every day how we want to be coloured. This can either destroy us with its responsibility or allow the fullest version of ourselves to emerge. It is a constant struggle, its is constantly in the making, yet is is powerful in its continued emergence – but also exhausting and complex and challenging.
What other things strongly represent Colouredness?
Family, friends and neighbourhood. I recently remarked to someone that my kids will never be coloured because they cannot go next-door. They dont know who lives next-door. Coloured was about being with others with an intimacy that has been lost. Maybe in the loss of possessions it was more important to just be with others. I dont know how long we will still be able to be coloured.
What does it mean to be Coloured in South Africa now?
It means any number of things. Yet as I said, I dont know is colouredness is becoming a thing of the past. Colouredness was tied to community and communities have broken down. It is hard to be coloured alone.
What is your relationship with your Colouredness?
My relationship with clouredness it bittersweet. All the people I love most dearly are coloured. And yet, I know it was an identity given to me by a colonial power. It is something I struggle against even as I embrace who I am with dignity and honour for those who I identify with. Colouredness is colourful.
