Sue Williamson

District Six: Museum Case # 1, Constitution St, 1993

District Six in Cape Town, once home to a vibrant and diverse community of around 55,000 people, was declared a “slum” by the apartheid government in 1966, leading to its eventual demolition. This displacement, which began in the early 1970s, disrupted not only the physical landscape but the deep social and cultural connections that had bound generations together.

For the 'Museum Case' series Sue Williamson visited the site formerly known as District Six. Williamson gathered fragments of various objects that had remained in the area following demolition and cast these fragments in small resin blocks.

‘The pieces both celebrate the liveliness of the community that once was, and are also an indictment of a society which allowed a community to be destroyed until there was nothing left but inert fragments. We are used to seeing fragments of pre-Columbian clay figures or Roman glass displayed in museums – but in my role as fake ‘museum director’ I have preserved these fragments of a community which was very much alive only fifteen years before the piece was made.’ - Sue Williamson