Sites of Passage artist Charlie Jansen ran a Super Hero Puppet Workshop while we were in Cape Town. The puppets that the kids make will come to the US with Charlie and be exhibited with Pittsburgh Super Heroes are part of his installation and residency at the Mattress Factory Museum.
The workshops are run out of The Butterfly Art Project in the Vryground township, where Charlie grew up and now works. Kids come to Vryground from all over Africa, migrating for many of the same reasons people migrate to the States.
And just like in the States, bedsides battling racism and class-ism, they battle other similar inner city struggles - violence and addiction. In the Super Hero workshop, kids build their own superhero. They have to create a story of how each hero rose from the ashes to become the hero s/he is today. The Butterfly Art Project is an art therapy NGO “encouraging creativity and healing through the arts”. It is based out of the Capricorn School and the perfect home for Charlie and the Super Hero Puppet Project!
The workshops are run out of The Butterfly Art Project in the Vryground township, where Charlie grew up and now works. Kids come to Vryground from all over Africa, migrating for many of the same reasons people migrate to the States.
And just like in the States, bedsides battling racism and class-ism, they battle other similar inner city struggles - violence and addiction. In the Super Hero workshop, kids build their own superhero. They have to create a story of how each hero rose from the ashes to become the hero s/he is today. The Butterfly Art Project is an art therapy NGO “encouraging creativity and healing through the arts”. It is based out of the Capricorn School and the perfect home for Charlie and the Super Hero Puppet Project!
Capricorn School play area, Vryground Township, Cape Town
 Capricorn School student Thurston shows off his gender-neutral galaxy space hero! |  Students learn the empowerment of creativity through active story telling |
In January, Charlie Jansen introduced us to a neighbor who came to Vryground, the same time as his father did.
By way of introduction from Charlie, Filmmaker Chris Ivey and Art Up Director La Follette believed it was necessary to bring in a 4th artist to the mix.
“He is a South African Thaddeus Mosley!”, claims Ivey, although, Henry Albertus mainly works in corrugated steel and found objects gathered from the junk yard. Ivey will take his interviews and embed them in the architecture of informal settlements (townships) which will be the first installation guests walk through in order to enter the Mattress Factory Museum annex.
 Charlie on the street named after his father who fought for reclaiming land |  Charlie looking over Vryground |
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