In South Africa, the township—a racialized residential area designed for the forced occupation of impoverished black people—has become a geography of appropriation. Archiving township architectures, interiors, and landscapes is new to South African architectural heritage, because the traditional architectural archive more often values artifacts that have been designed or built by prominent figures. Through selected objects from the CCA Collection and by using the case study of South African township Bophelong, Bongisa Msutu explores globally applicable strategies of building an “unarchivable” architectural archive as a decolonial project.

This event is free and open to the public, but space is limited, so registration is required. Admission to the museum is included with your registration.

Bongisa Msutu is an artist, designer, design educator, and researcher with a strong foundation in visual arts. Msutu holds an undergraduate degree in Interior Architecture from the University of Pretoria, along with postgraduate qualifications in Anthropology from UNISA and Heritage Studies from Wits University. She currently teaches in the Interior Design Department at the Greenside Design Center, South Africa. Her design and research focus is centred on exploring the spatial and archival imaginaries and materialities of black and marginalized communities.