Durban - A new sketch of the elegant-looking children’s hospital on the beachfront, which has risen from ruin in recent years – and was still rising – would fit perfectly on the wall of the new psychology centre that opened in April, said Taryn Millar, the CEO of the KZN Children’s Hospital Trust.
And it was fitting that it was the work of an artist who started life as a street child, said trustee Camilla Singh.
“We have our adolescent centre open now and that would be exactly the place for people like this artist,” she said.
Artist Luthando Lucas, 35, who is based in East London and a published author, sketched it from a photograph, the same way he has created portraits of deceased people in the Eastern Cape city’s townships.
“I realised many people have their memories on their walls, so I started drawing pictures of grandmothers. We forget things that matter and a simple picture can remind us of the importance of what once was there.”
Of the hospital, Lucas said: “It represents hope. Once you take away hope in a society, everything is left in ruins if it’s not looked after.”
He was commissioned by Durban photographer and author Hugh Bland, who met Lucas at a book fair.
Bland produced the book Addington’s Children’s Hospital and Nursing Home, as the hospital used to be called, after wandering into the building in 2010 when it was in its worst state. He used his camera to capture the art among the fraying elegance of the interior, which had turned to ruin.
“The doors were open and I saw it was open. I shouldn’t have gone in but I did – and it was like going into a time warp.
“I spent, literally, about two hours just wandering around, taking images of this dilapidated place, the peeling paint, the murals, the artwork.
“I had a wonderful time, so these images were sitting on my computer and I just thought, I’ve got to do something with them. That really encouraged me to do the book, do a bit of research on how this hospital was established and how it’s been renovated.”
The Addington’s Children’s Hospital and Nursing Home closed in 1984.
Singh, who is treasurer of the trust, said about 30% of the refurbishment of the hospital was complete.
“But we are still looking at raising about R500 million and we need to finish this building first.”
Historically, institutions and individuals in Durban sponsored rooms and cots in the old hospital. Plaques denoting the contributions are on the hospital’s walls, in the renovated sections and where renovations are yet to happen.
One, in the latter part of the hospital, is the Durban Girls’ College Room.
On Thursday, the school’s Alumni Association will hand over the R80 000 it raised towards its renovation.
The Independent on Saturday