Women Artists and Poets Advocate Children’s Rights
A collaboration between Dina Cormick and Marí Peté
http://www.afh.org.za/
womenartistspoets.php
'How often do we bend down to help the children?' by Dina Cormick
Emoyeni - by Mari Pete
She rose at dawn to catch a train,
stampedes along smoking buses
screeching brakes and bullet holes.
In a sewerage ditch she hears a cry.
Amadumbe ankles stop, aching back
bends low, banana fingers brush aside
fermenting fruit syringes and coke cans –
She scoops him with the willow branches
of her arms.
Toes sink into clay belly.
He climbs her contours for birds eggs
in hollows of her nest, soft places
to sleep between her breasts.
He smells the sour breeze
of milk upon her breath.
*Emoyeni = isiZulu for breath / spirit
About Dina Cormick
"It is easy to be outraged when we hear stories of abuse and violence on children. But how often do we bend down to help the children? The child in each of us knows that every child needs someone who cares enough to help. This can be as simple as an affectionate hug. It is unacceptable to do nothing. It is important to insist that, as well as all the basic needs of life, children have a right to be lovingly respected and affirmed. In this image it is in the humbling and compassionate act of bending right down that the woman connects and can enter the child's world. She has the power to lift the child up out of harm's way.
My particular concern and interest lie in the didactic importance of art. I feel very strongly that art has an important formative role to play in our lives especially toward challenging the ethics of our society. I am particularly committed to a reclaiming and enkindling of the spiritual resources of women through a visual theology."
COLLECTIONS: Constitutional Court, Pretoria, Gauteng; Harare National Gallery, Zimbabwe; Tape Aids for the Blind, Durban, KZN; National Heart Foundation, Johannesburg, Gauteng; Durban Botanical Gardens, KZN. Cormick's religious artworks can be found in over 300 churches throughout southern Africa, to name a few: Sizanani Village outside Bronkhurstspruit RSA; Ongwediva Roman Catholic Church, Namibia; KwaSigujana Church, Pietermaritzburg; Diakonia Ecumenical Centre, Durban RSA.
About Marí Peté
“Rooted in physical nurturing, women weave a spiritual fabric that keeps children whole and safe. It is the connection between nurturing, spirituality, the natural world and wholeness that I sensed strongly in Dina’s artwork, and to which I responded with Emoyeni (Breath / Spirit).”
Biography Marí Peté’s poems have been published in literary journals such as Fidelities, Botsotso, Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, on the LitNet website and in the anthology Collaborations: a Book of South African Art and Poetry. Her bilingual poetry collection begin was published by umSinsi Press in 2002. Marí’s poem “voorstedelike oggendritueel” (suburban morning ritual) was awarded first prize in the 2004 Woordgilde poetry competition. The poem is dedicated to working mothers.
Marí did an Honours degree in Afrikaans and Dutch literature at the University of Natal. Years on she read for a Master’s degree in educational technology at the University of Pretoria. She has done research, development and support work in the field of e-learning at the Durban Institute of Technology for many moons. She originally married her interests in literature, teaching and technology while working in the faculty office of Modern and Medieval Languages in Cambridge, England.
Marí enjoys furthering the cause of poetry by judging youth poetry competitions such as the Douglas Livingstone Poetry Competition. She is resident poet of the Umcebo Trust. Marí has been part of several solo and group performances, e.g. Live Poets, Musings, Midlands Poets, Young Basadzi’s and Botsotso. Together with her husband she hosts the Poets’ Soup Kitchen at their home from time to time.
http://www.afh.org.za/
womenartistspoets.php'How often do we bend down to help the children?' by Dina Cormick
Emoyeni - by Mari Pete
She rose at dawn to catch a train,
stampedes along smoking buses
screeching brakes and bullet holes.
In a sewerage ditch she hears a cry.
Amadumbe ankles stop, aching back
bends low, banana fingers brush aside
fermenting fruit syringes and coke cans –
She scoops him with the willow branches
of her arms.
Toes sink into clay belly.
He climbs her contours for birds eggs
in hollows of her nest, soft places
to sleep between her breasts.
He smells the sour breeze
of milk upon her breath.
*Emoyeni = isiZulu for breath / spirit
About Dina Cormick
"It is easy to be outraged when we hear stories of abuse and violence on children. But how often do we bend down to help the children? The child in each of us knows that every child needs someone who cares enough to help. This can be as simple as an affectionate hug. It is unacceptable to do nothing. It is important to insist that, as well as all the basic needs of life, children have a right to be lovingly respected and affirmed. In this image it is in the humbling and compassionate act of bending right down that the woman connects and can enter the child's world. She has the power to lift the child up out of harm's way.
My particular concern and interest lie in the didactic importance of art. I feel very strongly that art has an important formative role to play in our lives especially toward challenging the ethics of our society. I am particularly committed to a reclaiming and enkindling of the spiritual resources of women through a visual theology."
COLLECTIONS: Constitutional Court, Pretoria, Gauteng; Harare National Gallery, Zimbabwe; Tape Aids for the Blind, Durban, KZN; National Heart Foundation, Johannesburg, Gauteng; Durban Botanical Gardens, KZN. Cormick's religious artworks can be found in over 300 churches throughout southern Africa, to name a few: Sizanani Village outside Bronkhurstspruit RSA; Ongwediva Roman Catholic Church, Namibia; KwaSigujana Church, Pietermaritzburg; Diakonia Ecumenical Centre, Durban RSA.
About Marí Peté
“Rooted in physical nurturing, women weave a spiritual fabric that keeps children whole and safe. It is the connection between nurturing, spirituality, the natural world and wholeness that I sensed strongly in Dina’s artwork, and to which I responded with Emoyeni (Breath / Spirit).”
Biography Marí Peté’s poems have been published in literary journals such as Fidelities, Botsotso, Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, on the LitNet website and in the anthology Collaborations: a Book of South African Art and Poetry. Her bilingual poetry collection begin was published by umSinsi Press in 2002. Marí’s poem “voorstedelike oggendritueel” (suburban morning ritual) was awarded first prize in the 2004 Woordgilde poetry competition. The poem is dedicated to working mothers.
Marí did an Honours degree in Afrikaans and Dutch literature at the University of Natal. Years on she read for a Master’s degree in educational technology at the University of Pretoria. She has done research, development and support work in the field of e-learning at the Durban Institute of Technology for many moons. She originally married her interests in literature, teaching and technology while working in the faculty office of Modern and Medieval Languages in Cambridge, England.
Marí enjoys furthering the cause of poetry by judging youth poetry competitions such as the Douglas Livingstone Poetry Competition. She is resident poet of the Umcebo Trust. Marí has been part of several solo and group performances, e.g. Live Poets, Musings, Midlands Poets, Young Basadzi’s and Botsotso. Together with her husband she hosts the Poets’ Soup Kitchen at their home from time to time.
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