Mamasan Eatery, with its distinctive blue, yellow, pink and green colours, has brought the Bo-Kaap to the corner of 1st and 7th Street in Melville. They are serving up food inspired by traditional Cape Malay flavours with locally sourced ingredients. In addition to delicious food, you are served an experience of South African art and design which has been hand-picked by co-owner Dawood Petersen.
This experience begins before walking through the door. Through his various travel experiences, Dawood explained that there is often a disconnection between the look of a space and the food that it served. Visual artist Chloë Hugo-Hamman was commissioned to create a window display that would be able to make this connection for Mamasan. The images of ingredients that frame their large windows reference South African food and exploring holistic and spiritual practices. With most of the work coming from Dawood’s private collection, the space has been laid out in such a way that it feels homely with pink fleece blankets draped across the back of chairs, pot plants hanging from the ceiling and piles of books on the shelves.
The art on display represents “my identity, my culture, where I am from…the art relates to food or people culturally,” Dawood explained. The counter produced by Johannesburg-based design company Dokter and Misses has a direct link for Dawood with its cutout of Table Mountain. The macramé chairs made by Jade Paton’s House of Grace also has evoke a sense of homely nostalgia and familiarity with the weaving reminding him of how pot plants were hung up at home. Every piece comes with a story as he has a connection with each of the artists and designers he buys work from.
While there was no particular formal curatorial structure to how the art should be displayed, it was important to find a balance between mediums. There are paintings by Lady Skollie, textile work by Lawrence Lemaoana, conceptual work by Megan Mace among others. The desire was to not only have work that can be put in a frame. “I think the frame itself sometimes supersedes the art you know,” Dawood explained.
Dawood emphasized the importance of encouraging an interest in art, particularly in South African art. This fits in with his attitude around buying local and supporting people of colour. Not only does it contribute to allowing artists to be able to live off their work, but artists are examining topics that are socially and politically relevant in South Africa. As a result it the conversations that people have about the works has them engaging with these issues. The Mamasan team have also managed to do this with the Beautiful Boys long-sleeved tshirts they have hung up on their bathroom doors. The shirt with ‘Beautiful Boys’ on the chest is often associated with the men’s bathroom and the shirt with the large ‘B’ printed on the back assumed to stand for ‘babes’ often thought to be the ladies bathroom. However, the bathrooms are unisex and so the tshirts play conventions around gender-specific architecture.
The Mamasan team have created a space where one can engage with art without feeling intimidated by the white cube space.”You can view it for free. It is here you know. You don’t have to go to a museum [or gallery]. Like Laura [Lady Skollie] her work is on display here and she has her show in London. It’s that connection,” Dawood explained.
Make sure to visit Mamasan to get a taste of Cape Town and to view some of the art they have on display.
