Report
During June and July of 2007, Candy was in Johannesburg, South Africa for Global Studio, a program where international interdisciplinary students, academics, and professionals come together to collaborate on community-based projects spearheaded by the UN Millenium Development Goals. Last year Candy participated as a student in Vancouver and created a public street parking intervention and a pamphlet for female drug addicts. This year she was selected as one of five Project Associates to facilitate the program and guide students.
One of the project proposals she championed the most was the reappropriation of apartheid-era flood lights. These towering lights, looming over black-dominant townships like Alexandra and Diepsloot, were once used as surveillance tools and built extremely tall so residents could not break the bulbs with stones. Candy and a group of 6 students proposed turning this existing infrastructure with negative connotations into a positive, community-centric tool.
Working closely with the residents and ward counselors of Diepsloot, the group found a need for improved communication tools between residents and government, as well as residents and each other. Flyers and other informal signs were scattered throughout the township. By adding bulletin boards to the flood lights, they could serve as formal community information hubs. Highly visible throughout the community, these lights would now become useful markers for township information and transparency between residents and government. They would also provide a medium for residents to collectively share local resources, self-organize, and empower each other.
Group:
Eduardo Cachucho
Juliet Dramadri
Jennifer Graeff
Andrea Hart
Belinda Kanpetch
Andrew Amara
Candy Chang
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