Cape Town - An exhibition currently on show at the Education Museum in Wynberg aims to bring to the fore an often forgotten and neglected part of our identity by exploring Identities and narratives of slave descendants with surnames of calendar months.
My Naam is Februarie: Identities Rooted in Slavery is produced by Iziko Museums of South Africa in partnership with Geometry Global and Gavin Wood and is currently on exhibition at the Education Museum located at the Centre for Conservation Education, Aliwal Road, Wynberg.
The exhibition showcases the striking images and personal stories of John January, Felix February, Leonard Maart, Shafick April, Alfred May, Arthur Junies, Margaret Julie, Cecelia Augustus, Mark September, Paul October, Ruben November, and Regina December.
Enslaved people were brought to the Cape by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and their labour forcibly used for the expanding settlement of the Cape.
Between 1658 and the early 1800s, more than 63 000 men, women, and children were taken from their homes in places such as Madagascar, Mozambique, Zanzibar, India and the islands of the East Indies such as Sumatra, Java, the Celebes, Ternate and Timor and brought to the Cape as slaves.
The exhibition aims not just to educate but pay tribute to those violently uprooted from their homes in various parts of Africa and Asia and who were brought to the Cape and had contributed to the building of South Africa's cities.
These individuals were stripped of everything, including their identities and were renamed by their slave masters, for many, this would be the calendar month in which they arrived.
Centre for Conservation Education principal Anton Fortuin said the self-guided exhibition is available in three languages, Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa.
“This exhibition is here to highlight where people come from and it opens up a lot of discussions of where we are rooted. If you walk around, you will see that a number of them will say, ‘I never knew that my forefathers were actually slaves.'
“So it opens up a discussion about where we come from and having a sense of where we come from, we have a better understanding of where we are today and where we are heading,” Fortuin said.
“Slavery is part and parcel of the Cape and also the rest of the country.
We can never ignore the role that the slaves played in any way like in the heritage or the culture that they brought from the east, with their skills and things like that.”
The exhibition has been highlighted particularly ahead of International Museum Week from May 13-17 and International Museum Day celebrated on May 18.
January, from Lanquedoc in the Cape Winelands District said: “My grandmother and grandfather used to tell me how they suffered. Until now, I didn't know that they were descendants of slaves.”
May, from Retreat was quoted saying: “Our heritage was not something to be embarrassed about, as it was the slaves who built this country”.
Junies, from Kuils River, said he doesn't think that enough has been done.
“When I was young, I didn't know that we had some kind of history in slavery. And I started at the age of 13 to work, so slavery was a part of my life.”
December from De Doorns referred to her slave roots as something of an honour.
Entrance to the museum is free and accessible during weekdays (Monday-Friday) from 9am to 3pm.
Individuals intending to visit have been requested to call 021 7621622 ahead of time to book a visit.