Visual Communication Design students installed a mobile toilet on Rooiplein as a space to communicate. It was titled “I am the collective Matie: Making your private thoughts public” where people were invited to write their thoughts and opinions on the inside and outside walls of the toilet.

Botman appointed a task team to draft a concept document on the creation of a welcoming culture at SU.

A project called “Visual Redress” was started in 2013 in the Department of Visual Arts at Stellenbosch University (SU), when a decision was made to move projects outside the studio space into the main square of the university, called the Rooiplein (Red Square) to engage students and communities on and around campus in transformation and social justice-related projects. The concept of visual redress spontaneously developed when a group of students did a project on Women’s Day called Eva: Sprout, Grow, Blossom, which addressed the absence of women statues/artworks on campus. After this project, the term ‘visual redress’ became a concept that was used in various projects that aimed to decolonise spaces and make the campus a welcoming space for all students.

As a result of these projects, a master’s course that focuses on critical citizenship and art education was developed in 2013. See more information about course here.

2^nd year Visual Communication Design students and English Honours students participated in joint projects around memorialising Die Vlakte and the history of the Arts and Social Sciences Building. These projects are the catalyst for the forthcoming Die Vlakte Garden that will be installed next to the building.

Die Vlakte exhibition in Arts and Social Sciences building were installed after the Memorialising the forced removals project with Visual Communication Design students of the Visual Arts Department facilitated by Prof Costandius.

Survey conducted identifying sensitive spaces, places, and symbols on campus by Stephané Conradie, a then master’s student who was part of the group Open Stellenbosch.

Student, Nicolene Burger, enacted an intervention with the Jan Marais statue and built a staircase up to the statue. 

Students participated in Diversity Week projects

August 2015: an online survey was sent to SU students asking them who they would like to see represented on campus. Some of the most prominent comments that were made were, “Let’s not erect statues for people who are already widely celebrated. For example, Mandela was a great man, but South Africa is already saturated with his memorials. Let’s memorialise the lesser-known people who deserve it.” The person who was nominated most in the survey was late Desmond Tutu, while Adam Small was also voted in by many students. The name of the HB Thom Theatre on the SU campus was later, in 2019, changed to the Adam Small Theatre.

Prof Schoonwinkel, Vice-Rector: Teaching and Learning, established the Decolonisation of the Stellenbosch University Curriculum task team.

A Visual Redress Plan based on student projects since 2013 and data collected during the student protest was compiled by Prof Costandius. It was presented to the Rector’s Management Team and was awarded strategic funding to implement new artworks and visual interventions.

The Visual Redress Project officially began.

The Circle sculpture suggested in 2016 was created and installed.

Welcome Benches were installed on the Rooiplein – as conceived of by a 2014 student project.

Maps of the different areas of Stellenbosch were added to the outside walls of the library as suggested by student Joshua Mclean.

HB Thom Theatre name changed to Adam Small Theatre.

Die Vlakte map was installed at the entrance of the Arts and Social Sciences building.

Student project reacting to the Special Collection (previously called Afrikana Collection) in the US library.

Several visual redress workshops with students and lecturers were facilitated at different faculties, departments and divisions such as Law, Theology, Human Physiology, Agri Science and Social Impact/Lückhoff building.

These embodied learning interventions gave rise to the Shared Humanity visual arts module called “How to find my place and space in a changing world”. See more information regarding the Shared Humanity visual arts module here.

SU Senate formally approved the Visual Redress Policy. It is normal practice to write a policy before starting a project, but in the case of the Visual Redress Project, the practice and engagements took place long before the policy was written. The Visual Redress Policy at SU further guides visual redress and the processes linked to the (re)naming of buildings, venues and other facilities and premises of SU. The importance of inclusive dialogue and consensus-generating processes that has been learned since 2013 was also included in the Visual Redress Policy. 

The book Evoking Transformation: Visual Redress at Stellenbosch University edited by Aslam Fataar and Elmarie Costandius is published.

RW Wilcocks building renamed Krotoa Building.

Student and lecturer intervention at Law faculty engaging in the concept insider/outsider

Engagement begins with Hardekraaltjie on the Tygerberg Campus.

Engagement begins with The Rock/Die Kilp on the Tygerberg Campus.

September 2021. Charles Palm and Garth Erasmus enact Xnau, a video installation and performance involving the Jan Marais statue on the Rooiplein.

A Book Mural was installed in the courtyard of the Wimbledon Cluster and another version installed in the library.

The book Visual Redress in Africa from Indigenous and New Materialist Perspectives published in June 2023.

Visual Redress in Africa Conference planned for 7-8 December.