A story of Lighthouse

The Lighthouse naturally provokes a number of feelings. It is associated with hope and romance and at the same time lighthouses stand lonely and dominate the landscape. It is a combination of brightness and loneliness that our modern life is full of and the hope for safety and warmness that we as humans, are longing for. Cape Town is known as the City of Storms, surrounded by strong ocean currents. Lighthouses are known as a universal symbol of guidance at the storming sea, and this is where the idea meets the ground.

“When I first looked at the wall that had to be painted, I was a bit scared of its size, but more over its shape. It was tall and very narrow, which limited us, the artists with the ideas… At the same time, it gave me the right direction from the beginning. The more I looked at the long piece of concrete the more I had a feeling of having a significant symbol on it. And suddenly I saw a glimpse of lighthouse!”

My involvement in uplifting the environment through public art in Cape Town began in 2018 when I took part in the International Public Art Festival organized by BAZ-ART, a non-profit organization. Here is my first artwork done for IPAF.

In 2019, when the festival organizers were looking for an expert on large scale murals, I suggested to bring a professional artist from Ukraine, Alexander Nikituyk, who has many years of experience of public art on tall buildings in Ukraine.

Once we agreed on the artist for that scale, we started to develop the concept and creating a sketch of Lighthouse.

The concept was to paint a Khersoness Lighthouse from the Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula on the Black Sea which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

The Crimea has a complicated political and social situation for the last few years. Some of local people had to leave their homes and settled a new life elsewhere in Ukraine. By coincidence, the person who designed a digital sketch of Crimean lighthouse for us was one of those Crimean refugees, Alex Marchenko. He joined our creative team and was feeling immensely proud of his visual contribution to the project.

We created a surrealistic sky which makes it look as if the lighthouse is inside a box. This optical effect was made for a purpose to symbolize the lighthouse as a Gift from Ukraine to South Africa. The gift that is for the public to take it out of the box. The hand that holds the rock and lighthouse on top symbolizes the combination of nature and culture that has always connected us as humans. A sign of support, guidance and unity.

I also wanted to add some softness and a feminine touch into that strong and powerful message to show the beautiful harmony between masculine and feminine energies. The ornamental flowers that twine around the strict-shaped tower was the perfect idea. I painted them in the beautiful Ukrainian folk art style Petrykivka which I was exploring at that time

With the great support of the Ukrainian Embassy and Ukrainian Association of South Africa, Alexander Nikituyk visited South Africa for 2 weeks to complete the mural. Baz-Art is very passionate about setting up collaborations.

2 artists on a 11-storey building, 9 days of a hard painting, 14 platforms of scaffolding, which they had to constantly run up and down, carrying buckets of paint and other materials.

This became an incredibly massive and fast colourful transformation in the city. A new landmark on the busy Strand Street had been created!

When the first lines were done and one could clearly see the shape of a lighthouse through the scaffolding, it was noticed that everyone had its own interpretation. This art piece speaks to people in their own language. Once the gift is taken out of the box, people find their own interpretation. It just shows us that we all have different perceptions of the world and the symbolism behind the image. This is such a great phenomenon!

We shared our knowledge and skills through facing many challenges, hard physical work and time limit.

It was truly a great collaboration of our dear partners: building owner Rob Cane, BAZ-ART, Ukrainian Embassy in South Africa, Ukrainian Association of South Africa and City Business District in Cape Town to let this first and unique landmark shine upon all.