The Walter Sisulu-themed Kliptown Open Air Museum is located in Soweto’s Freedom Square and relates the history of the Freedom Charter’s drafting. And it accomplishes it by using pictures, artwork, music, news clips, and narration. Visitors to the museum embark on a visually rich trip that emphasizes the freedom for which South Africa fought so valiantly.
Using multiple media to tell a story is not a novel concept, and neither is the idea of an open-air museum; the first was established in Scandinavia at the end of the nineteenth century. However, in this case, the story it tells—the pursuit of freedom—gains an additional dimension because it is not constrained by a building.
There are artefacts from the individuals who were present when the charter was signed, songs sung at the assembly in Kliptown, and testimony related by those who were there, among other things, on display. This fusion of sound and art has a powerful effect.
A picture is painted through photographs, newspaper clippings, documents, and wire sculptures of particular contributors to the charter, including Walter Sisulu, Lillian Ngoyi, Dorothy Nyembe, and Professor ZK Matthews, who came up with the concept for the Freedom Charter in the first place.
Kliptown, a multiracial, freehold neighbourhood that served as a sort of buffer between Soweto and Johannesburg in those days, was chosen as the location for the celebration, which went on in spite of a police blockade. People travelled great distances to see the charter’s signing. The Kliptown Open Air museum purpose is to both highlight the importance of the charter and act as a constant reminder that it is the cornerstone of democracy and must be protected.