By Ra’ees Moerat

7 Steps Hub, was founded by Clint White, a social entrepreneur, artist, branding strategist and multipotentialite. Under his banner, he is currently facilitating an exhibition at the Open Design Festival in Cape Town, where he aims to highlight the success of prominent figures on the Cape Flats. White says that the exhibition showcases twelve people who’s been doing amazing things on the Cape Flats.

“I’ve been invited to exhibit at this year’s Open Design Festival in the City Hall. The exhibition is called ‘Togetherheid’ and it celebrates twelve people who’s been doing amazing things, coming from the Cape Flats and surrounds of the CBD,” he says.

He identified the icons, which are referred to as ‘heroes’ in the exhibition and reached out to them, for them to form part of the exhibition. He also reached out to different photographers to capture the portraits.

“I identified icons who I felt, are doing amazing things in their communities and I just basically reached out to them and curated their photographs,” he adds.

White says it is important to highlight the success of people of colour, in order to break the negative stereotypes surrounding our communities.

“We don’t highlight the success of people of colour enough. There are negative stereotypes of us who live on the Cape Flats particular. People say we are gangsters and drug addicts. The aim of this exhibition is to show that we cannot all be painted with that one brush,” he says.

Moreover, he says that the ‘heroes’ comes from a variety of backgrounds, industries and areas in Cape Town.

“It is important for us to highlight and showcase these specific people, as a basis because it [the exhibition] is the first version of its kind. I want to extend the campaign as the years go on,” he says.

YoungstaCPT from Wynberg, is a music icon in the Hip Hop culture, with a sole purpose of ‘spitting dope bars’ and representing the coloured community both nationally and abroad. His deep roots in the Cape Town underground Hip Hop scene, on-point and authentic rhymes – and superior work ethic, have made him the most talked-about rapper in the Cape Town Hip Hop scene to date.

Nadia Fisher, known as ‘Nardstar’, is a female graffiti artist based in Cape Town. Originally from Westridge, Mitchells Plain. As a child she moved from Cape Town to Durban and then to Johannesburg. She ultimately relocated back to Cape Town, where she now calls Rondebosch her home.

In this predominantly male dominated industry, Nardstar has defied all stereotypes and misconceptions about female graffiti artists, setting herself up as one of the best in the country. She is a qualified graphic designer and attributes vector art as one of the influences on her signature style; filled with bright, bold colour schemes, using shapes to break down and transform her subject matter into a harmonious work of art.

One of the other ‘heroes’ featured in White’s exhibition is, Christelle Dreyer. She was born and raised in Brackenfell and obtained her Btech Degree in Graphic Design in 2011 from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

Dreyer lives with a disability called Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI), also known as brittle bone disease, a group of genetic disorders that mainly affect the bones. At a young age she discovered her love and passion for dance, despite earlier physical concerns, she strongly pursued her desire to dance. As a ballroom and Latin dancer, she won numerous competitions. In 2007, she won first place in both, ballroom and Latin at the Holland World Championships.

White hopes to take the Togetherheid exhibition to schools all around Cape Town, in hopes of motivating the youth to do remarkable things with their lives too.

“The youth can identify themselves with the ‘heroes’ in the exhibition and hopefully it will encourage them to realize their potential and become change-makers in their societies themselves,” he says.

The exhibition is open until the 19th August until 5pm.  VOC