Last Friday evening, during the opening service of Spiritfest, a tapestry created by the Keiskamma Arts Project and given to the Cathedral in memory of the late Canon Dr Bob Clarke (1936-2011) was dedicated as the altar piece at the Lady Chapel in the Cathedral.
Last Friday evening, during the opening service of Spiritfest, a tapestry created by the Keiskamma Arts Project and given to the Cathedral in memory of the late Canon Dr Bob Clarke (1936-2011) was dedicated as the altar piece at the Lady Chapel in the Cathedral.
Bob's wife and Spiritfest convenor, Maggy, his daughters and grandchildren were all at the service.
Maggy says that " It was very special to have both of my offspring and all their offspring present".
The tapestry was given to the Cathedral in 2014 in his memory.
Bob Clarke was ordained as a priest in 1967, and lived in Grahamstown from 1984 until his death.
Most of his South African ministry was spent in ecumenical work.
He started the Pietermaritzburg Urban Ministry Project (PUMP) in the 1970s, and was Ecumenical Officer of the Albany Council of Churches in the struggle years.
He was a dedicated anti-apartheid campaigner.
He had a special ministry to people who were detained under security legislation.
He was also prominent in these years through his role in the Grahamstown Peace Committee, a conflict resolution committee which tried to mediate in the 1992 conflicts of the early '90s. resulting from the so-called Bisho massacre.
After 1994 he founded and directed Ecumedia, an NGO training people in the Eastern Cape as church journalists.
Clarke was recognised as a man who cared and did things to ease the challenges of ordinary people during the struggle.
He also committed a decade of his life to conducting research on resistance to apartheid by the church.
The work culminated in a 1 200-page PhD thesis and a successful book, "Anglicans against Apartheid 1936 to 1996" published in 2008.
His last appointment (post-retirement) was as Rural Dean of the Archdeaconries of Albany and Grahamstown, so he became well known in all the surrounding parishes, especially when he filled in during inter-regnums.
The Cathedral was his spiritual home from 1988, and Bob celebrated the weekday Eucharist at the Lady Chapel altar on Fridays for many years, right up to within a week or two of his death.
The altarpiece takes the form of an appliqué wall hanging. It was created by the Keiskamma Arts Project which was started in the impoverished area around Hamburg by Carol Hofmeyr, who went there as a medical doctor to try to make a difference – especially in the field of HIV and AIDS. Two tapestry altar pieces created by the project have previously been dedicated during services at the Cathedral – the "Keiskamma Altarpiece" dedicated in 2005, and the "Creation Altarpiece" dedicated in 2007. The first of these went on tour to Canada and the USA. An earlier major work by the Keiskamma Project, inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry and depicting significant events in the history of South Africa, is on display in the Parliament building in Cape Town.
This work was designed by Nombuyiselo Malumbezo, and the embroiderers were Lydia Malumbezo, Melba Makubalo and Nonceba Ngxobongwana and Nombulelelo Maxaulana.
The Clarke family wanted the altarpiece to depict the Madonna and Child as Africans in a familiar, local African landscape.
The local landmark (and holy place) Makana’s Kop is seen in the background, and the artist has included St Philip’s Church in Fingo Village – a happy choice as that was one of the churches where Bob Clarke ministered when they were without a resident priest.
The model for the figure of the Blessed Virgin is an actual young unmarried mother from Hamburg, Nonelela Mangcangaza, who has been assisted by the Keiskamma Project to turn her life around and follow her dreams.
She says she is “glad to have Jesus in her life”.
The Keiskamma Arts Project has brought Indalo – an exhibition of artworks and tapestries and an accompanying production – to this year's Festival.
There are also creative workshops for children from tomorrow (Wednesday 8 July).
This exhibition is at Christchurch Hall in Speke St.
The music production also starts tomorrow in Memory Hall.
Both the exhibition and the production follow the same theme and aim to show the richness of Xhosa culture and give the opportunity for the people of Hamburg and surrounds to honour their lives and traditions.
