Lalela x A4: Tell It to the Mountains
Workshop 17 November–4 December 2021
Event photograph from the ‘Lalela x A4' exchange during the ‘Tell It to the Mountains’ exhibition in A4’s Gallery. At the front, students from Lalela’s after-school programme stand in two rows with artworks they created in response to the exhibition. At the back, Lindokuhle Sobekwa’s paper and photograph collage ‘Mthimkhulu II’ pasted on the gallery wall.
Event: Lalela x A4 | Tell It to the Mountains. Lalela students interact with Tell It to the Mountains, November 17, 2021–December 4, 2021. Image courtesy of A4 Arts Foundation.
Title Lalela x A4: Tell It to the Mountains Dates 17 November–4 December 2021 Location Gallery Tagline Youth from Lalela’s after-school programme interact with Tell It to the Mountains. Credits

Coordinator: 
Firdous Hendricks

Facilitators:
Rowan Roman
Terri Dennis
Chuma Nozewu
Nwabisa Ndogeni
Firdous Hendricks

I was listening to the artist talk about his tree, and while I was listening, I looked out the window, and I saw a tree there in the street, and that was special.

Tell It to the Mountains, the exhibition by Lindokuhle Sobekwa and Mikhael Subotzky, is energised in collaboration with youth who participate in Lalela’s Philippi, Masiphumelela, Imizama Yethu and Hangberg programmes, as well as Lalela’s alumni group. Working in the gallery among the works and with photocopy printouts of Lindokuhle’s photographs to use as optional collage elements, they create individual artworks in conversation with Tell It to the Mountains. Following Lindokuhle’s ‘Umqhameko’, they came together to build a horizon line from their collected artworks, to be bound into a workbook for the students.

This photograph is us, I feel it is our culture. It’s home.

He is saying that families must talk so that they can heal.

Being here, I know that my culture is important and I can celebrate it.

Many of the participants in Lalela’s programme hail from the Eastern Cape, or have older relatives still living there, and make the pilgrimage ‘home’ at the end of each year to be with their families. This part of the country is the centre of Lindokuhle’s Ezilalini (the country) (2018–ongoing series) as well as the location of the city of Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) in Mikhael’s Moses and Griffiths (2012). Throughout the workshops, the students expressed their familiarity with the landscapes as well as the sense of recognising the individuals and communities in the photographs. This led to conversations about art environments and accessibility. How can we continue to build and better a place for interacting with art that feels habitable and welcoming?

Event photograph from the ‘Lalela x A4' exchange during the ‘Tell It to the Mountains’ exhibition in A4’s Gallery. Lalela students are seated around white laminate tables with cutting and pasting tools in A4’s Reading Room.
Event: Lalela x A4 | Tell It to the Mountains. Lalela students interact with Tell It to the Mountains, November 17, 2021–December 4, 2021. Image courtesy of A4 Arts Foundation.
Lalela x A4: Tell It to the Mountains Publication
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A top-down photograph of the publication for the Lalela programme's interaction with the Tell It to the Mountains exhibition in A4's Gallery.
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