Arts and Crafts and Reconstruction

Abstract

This paper examines the role of arts and crafts in reconstructing communities after times of upheaval, their use in creating employment opportunities, and their impact on the nature of South African art history. It looks at craft initiatives during and after the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, and draws parallels with early twentieth-century initiatives, particularly those of Florence Phillips, who founded the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 1910, Emily Hobhouse, who established Boer home industries, and the South African National Union, which promoted the manufacture and use of local products.