As part of the efforts to make arts accessible and to empower emerging visual artists, eThekwini Municipality has embarked on a city-wide mural project known as ‘Intellectual Empowerment’ that promotes literacy through arts.
The Durban Arts Gallery is working on 10 public libraries, making murals which speak to the notion of reading as an intellectual empowerment.
With this theme, eThekwini is living up to its status of being a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) City of Literature which was bestowed in 2017.
Through this project, the Municipality intends making art services accessible throughout the city by marrying it with the exercise of reading.
The artists were selected through an open call and those shortlisted were required to interpret the concept of reading as an exercise that leads to intellectual empowerment.
Their work is currently at an advanced stage on selected libraries, that is the Lamontville, Dassehoek, Malvern, KwaXimba, Isipingo civic centre, Bayview, Hambanathi, Umkomaas and Tongaat central libraries.
The Director of Durban Arts Gallery, Mduduzi Xakaza described the project as the Municipality’s intervention to mobilize available resources so that disadvantaged artists may access economic empowerment opportunities while contributing to the development of the City.
“The idea is that each and every public library of eThekwini should have a mural so that the public can be made aware of the presence and cultural significance of visual art within this city. The bigger plan is to ensure that artists from disadvantaged backgrounds also have a slice of the pie” said Xakaza.
