JONATHAN JANSEN: Mothers, dignity and a humble household item made by hand
'To understand the doily in places like the Cape Flats, you have to understand forced removals'
THE lace doily is the centrepiece of many South African homes. More than the hanging photographs or the vase of flowers, the doily represents culture, beauty, order and taste. Mothers and grandmothers would work for hours crocheting the exquisite ornamental patterns that make up the lace doily. The completed product would be displayed around the house to show friends “popping in” for a cup of tea. It was a talking point that heaped praise on designing women. The doily, says poet Janice Harrington, is a work of women’s artistry in which you would find art, architecture and geometry all in one. But the doily meant much more; it stood in for something else. “Patterns, repetitions, skeletons of lace used for display, to protect, proclaim…to prove”To understand the doily in places like the Cape Flats, you have to understand forced removals. The destruction not of houses but of homes. The attempt to flatten memory and buckle dignity. To tear apart families and sow disorder. Uprooting comm...
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