Trash to treasure: Johannesburg's river waste transformed into art
Waste cleared from a Johannesburg river is being transformed into art as part of a new river rejuvenation project. About 150 kilometres of the South African city's rivers are being rehabilitated, and along one three kilometre stretch, waste is being up-cycled in unique ways.
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00:00Water cleared from a Johannesburg river is now being transformed into art as part of a new river rejuvenation project.
00:08About 150 kilometers of the South African city's rivers are now being rehabilitated and a long 1-3 kilometer stretch west is now being upcycled in a unique way.
00:19The sculptures known as Alexandra River Creature Series were inaugurated this year as part of a Canadian government funded project, Sankasa,
00:26that is helping to revitalize three sites including the Jaskay River.
00:30As you can see, when you pass through Alex, many people are recycling or renovating their houses instead of going wide, they're going up.
00:41So they take the trash, whether it's bricks or cement, and they throw it in the river or by the river banks.
00:47So I liked the concept of working with the river. It's like it was a collaboration.
00:52Taking the brick that's eroded by the river and then making a sculpture with it, as you can see.
00:58The co-founder of the Alexandra Water Warriors, Paul Mnuleke, explains how the river cleaning project has also been a source of materials for the Alexandra River Creature Series sculptures.
01:09So this first rainy season, we didn't experience much challenges.
01:15The biggest challenge now is those three logs, which is like we also have made a plan to make sure that we use them for repurposing or for art installation.
01:26Fromzila Sisa Kele is a multidisciplinary artist and member of the Alexandra River Collective.
01:35She has been working on tree trunks all out of the Jaskay River.
01:39By blocking the river floor, these large pieces of wood have contributed to destructive flooding.
01:44As I was carving, I actually realized that it's like, it's sort of like therapy for me.
01:51Because imagine I'm coming from home, I'm having a stress day and whatever, and I'm here about wood and I'm allowed to hit as hard as I want and chop it and damage it and then create something nice out of it.
02:08Over 5,000 trees have been planted along the river, and the riverside area has been rehabilitated thanks to the Patos Sankasa project.
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