UKZN students, staff and professional artists showcase the Religion mural they designed and painted as part of Mandela Day celebrations. UKZN Religion Discipline Gives 67 Minutes for Mandela
The School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics recently participated in the 67 Minutes for Mandela initiative in partnership with NPO Creative Junkies Foundation (CJF).
Armed with the idea of creating a vibey and interesting learning space, Social Sciences student, Ms Busi Chibambo, her team of professional artists including well-known Durban graffiti artists Mook Lion, Kev7 and JazTeq as well as UKZN students revamped the corridor of the Religion discipline by painting a mural that represents religion and the critical, reflective and exciting issues covered in the Discipline’s modules.
‘Mandela was a supporter of education for the youth and society,’ said UKZN lecturer, Mrs Cherry Muslim, who spearheaded the project. ‘Campus can be a very intimidating, stuffy and cold environment to imbibe intellectual knowledge. The youth of today are enormously visual and I am hoping that by encouraging the students to participate in creating a learning environment that is colourful, exciting, visual and yet captures the reflective, critical and important elements of what we impart at Religion, it will not only encourage more students to enrol for the programme but also to discover that religion is an interesting and integral way of critically engaging on what happens in society,’ she said.
Creative Junkies Director, Chibambo added, ‘This was a really great opportunity for students and Durban artists to get together for a worthy cause. It allowed students from all disciplines at the University to showcase their artistic talents and enjoy the experience of self-expression. This project was one of Ubuntu. We hope, as Creative Junkies Foundation, to partner with UKZN in the future.’
The School will also be hosting the 40th Annual Association for Religion in South Africa (ARSA) conference at UKZN. ‘We motivated to have this upgrading done before the conference on 15-16 August 2018 so that we could showcase the Religion Department and the overall School,’ said Muslim.
To contact the Creative Junkies Foundation, please check their social media handles or get in touch with the Founder, Jarred Leroy Camp, on 065 255 4301.
Words and photographs: Melissa Mungroo