{"id":8313,"date":"2025-05-23T16:56:47","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T14:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sareit.co.za\/?p=8313"},"modified":"2025-05-23T16:56:47","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T14:56:47","slug":"art-puts-the-heart-into-student-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/art-puts-the-heart-into-student-living\/","title":{"rendered":"Art puts the heart into student living"},"content":{"rendered":"

New mural in a Johannesburg campus community reminds students where they\u2019re from, where they\u2019re going \u2013 and that they are not alone.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sleep, study, eat. Sleep, study, eat.<\/p>\n

Sleep, study \u2026 art?<\/p>\n

For tertiary level scholars studying in Johannesburg, far away from their roots and often with the weight of their family\u2019s expectation on their young shoulders, the chance to find beauty and breathing space amidst the relentless learning may seem like a fanciful dream. However, at Thrive Student Living\u2019s new Arteria Parktown 500-bed student residence, the art is right there in \u2013 even on! \u2013 their custom-built home away from home.<\/p>\n

Local poet, healer and multi-disciplinary artist Thobile Mavuso was commissioned by Thrive Student Living to create a mural for the R200-million Arteria Parktown property and designed a unique artwork that encapsulates both the displacement and excitement of student life in \u201cres\u201d. The piece is fittingly entitled Ukuzilanda Ukuzilandela Nokuzelapha<\/em>, which loosely translates as \u201cto return to one\u2019s roots is to care for and heal oneself.\u201d<\/p>\n

For artist Thobile \u2013 who is currently doing a master\u2019s degree in Fine Art at the University of the Witwatersrand \u2013 those roots are in her Ndebele background, echoes of which are found in her vibrant yet restful mural. Painted on an internal courtyard wall in acrylic, using a palette of teal, yellow ochre, red and green, this vast piece features a circle of connected figures in traditional headdress\u2026 or perhaps a tangle of opening flowers\u2026 or perhaps a patchwork of homesteads amidst fields\u2026<\/p>\n

Whatever, it begs to be looked at, to be contemplated.<\/p>\n

And that is precisely the point.<\/p>\n

The Arteria Parktown mural, says Thobile, explores \u201cthe wounding that comes with displacement, dispossession and landlessness that many South African people experience, which often leads to a loss of cultural identity, heritage and traditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interplay depicted between the human body and the land communicates the interconnectedness of the two, she explains. \u201cIt encourages enquiry into one\u2019s history, roots, and imvelaphi<\/em> \u2013 one\u2019s origins \u2013 as a means of care and healing. The artwork aims to suggest that through knowing who one is they may find what they are not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thobile was commissioned by Thrive Student Living in consultation with Latitudes, the curated online market for art from Africa, and South Africa in particular. This collaboration was a natural one, as Latitudes\u2019 inclusive ethos mirrors that at Thrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cLatitudes is not just a marketplace but an educational platform about and for art,\u201d says co-founder Roberta Coci. \u201cThe difference is in our approach. We are flexible, inclusive, and insistent on equitable participation for all players, from the artists, like Thobile Mavuso, to the galleries, curators, and the collectors \u2013 many of whom first find the courage to start buying art through our open, inclusive showcase.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thrive Student Living benefits from Growthpoint Properties\u2019 award-winning green building initiatives and ongoing mission to create healthy, sustainable environments, with a socially conscious mandate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe in lifting as we rise and endeavour to partner with members of the university community where possible,\u201d stresses Amogelang Mocumi, Fund Manager of Growthpoint Student Accommodation, which operates Thrive Student Living. \u201cThe decision to partner with Thobile was easy given that she is a Wits student and her work resonates with what Thrive Student Living stands for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thrive offers tailor-made campus communities, which include study areas, games rooms, gyms, and backup power and water. Its Student Life programme offers round-the-clock support for students, encompassing everything from academic performance to physical health and mental wellness. It is this unique approach that gives parents and bursary providers peace of mind, knowing students are in a fully supportive environment. Ukuzilanda Ukuzilandela Nokuzelapha<\/em> is a visual extension of this spirit, believes Amogelang.<\/p>\n

\u201cArt is a language, a universal form of expression,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen students who are sitting in the courtyard underneath this wonderful mural, and they then read the plaque detailing its inspiration, they find new meaning in it and derive their own meaning from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioning Thobile Mavuso proved the perfect fit: she is young, female, vibrant, upcoming, locally-based in Joburg, multidisciplinary \u2013 she works in paint, photography, text, sound, and printmaking \u2013 and a student too, with her own complicated history. Born and bred in the city, she has long wrestled with her Ndebele culture. She started writing poetry in earnest at the age of 11 to process her emotions around troubles at home, culminating in the publication of her award-wining anthology Songs Broken Women Sing in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis latest artwork calls for its viewers to remember who they are no matter how far away they may feel or be from their ancestral lands and events,\u201d she says. \u201cTheir work is to celebrate their culture, and to keep it alive. Culture, like art, is a living thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New mural in a Johannesburg campus community reminds students where they\u2019re from, where they\u2019re going \u2013 and that they are not alone. Sleep, study, eat. Sleep, study, eat. Sleep, study \u2026 art? For tertiary level scholars studying in Johannesburg, far away from their roots and often with the weight of their family\u2019s expectation on their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8312,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[167,168,79,18,15,169],"class_list":["post-8313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-impact-news","tag-art-mural","tag-arteria-parktown","tag-environmental-sustainability","tag-growthpoint","tag-sa-reit","tag-student-accommodation"],"featured_image_src":{"landsacpe":["https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/23079_Mural-for-Thrive-Student-Livings-Arteria-Parktown-entitled-Ukuzilanda-Ukuzilandela-Nokuzelapha-web-1.jpg",412,269,false],"list":["https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/23079_Mural-for-Thrive-Student-Livings-Arteria-Parktown-entitled-Ukuzilanda-Ukuzilandela-Nokuzelapha-web-1.jpg",412,269,false],"medium":["https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/23079_Mural-for-Thrive-Student-Livings-Arteria-Parktown-entitled-Ukuzilanda-Ukuzilandela-Nokuzelapha-web-1-300x196.jpg",300,196,true],"full":["https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/23079_Mural-for-Thrive-Student-Livings-Arteria-Parktown-entitled-Ukuzilanda-Ukuzilandela-Nokuzelapha-web-1.jpg",412,269,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}