FOSATU – A WORKERS UNION

The History Archive of the University of Witwatersrand Johannesburg briefed It’s a Go to design an exhibition to celebrate 30 years of a FOSATU, the workers union that preceded COSATU. Bie Venter, the incredible project manager and installer of exhibitions helped us create a suspended, floating, 60m, contained exhibition space in Senate House on campus. A forbidding, unloved venue that is 6 stories high, with concrete concourses and lots of noise. What we didn’t anticipate was the power of the space we created to bring back memories for the activists who had been involved in the workers movement. On opening night old foes pointed out themselves in images to their families, swopped stories about the first strike actions in factories during the apartheid and celebrated what they had achieved.