In 1950 the National Party passed the Group Areas Act, which facilitated the forcible division of population groups, as classified by the Population Registration Act, into separate racially-defined residential areas. On 11 February 1966, District Six was declared a ‘white group area’, and the state began to implement a policy of forced removals, systematically demolishing people’s homes. Residents were gradually moved to racially-defined residential developments across the Cape Flats (an under resourced residential area far outside of Cape Town’s city centre). Many people resisted and remained defiant in the face of the removals.
The unrestricted self-expression and energy of Kewpie and other members of the queer community apparent in these photographs reflects their perseverance and resilience, even in the midst of a disintegrating District Six. They created their own vivid and subversive world amid the hardships of everyday life, and the looming tragedy of forced removals.
The process of forced removals changed people’s lives forever. The depth of loss experienced by all those who were displaced, including Kewpie, cannot be overstated. Their world was stolen from them.
After District Six, Kewpie lived briefly in Salt River and then moved to Kensington. She spent the last 10 years of her life at the Kensington Home for the Aged. Amelia Brinkhuis, a former staff member at the Home, recalled that Kewpie used to do the other residents’ hair and knit scarves and caps for them. Whilst at the Home Kewpie dressed entirely in pink and would often show her photographic collection to staff. She retained her dancing skills to the end.
Invery Place
c. early 1960s
Invery Place
c. late 1960s
Invery Place
c. late 1960s
Invery Place
A reunion event called ‘The Last Party’ was organised for Kewpie at the Kensington Home by Sandra Lentoor, a younger sister. In 2011, Kewpie’s family organised a 70th birthday, inviting all of Kewpie’s friends and neighbours from Osborne Street. Kewpie died in 2012 at the age of 71. In 2014 a drag competition was held in honour of Kewpie’s memory, with all of Kewpie’s peers who were still alive taking part. They performed under a photograph of Kewpie at the Roaring ‘20s party at the Ambassador Club in the 1960s.
In 2018, GALA and the District Six Museum collaborated on an exhibition of Kewpie’s Photographic Collection at the District Six Museum’s Homecoming Centre. As part of the programming around the exhibition, the District Six Museum hosted a Heritage Day Parade (Public Holiday in South Africa) titled “Reclaiming with Pride”. A memory map was developed using keys landmarks in Kewpie’s photographs. A procession of fabulously dressed up ex-residents of District Six, and young queer people marched through the streets of what was once District Six. Along the way, this procession encountered public art interventions by the Burning Museum, who prepared a selection of images from the collection and wheat pasted them on the redevelopments in Osbourne Street, Rutger Street, Invery Place and Nelson Street.
In 2019 the exhibition then travelled to Johannesburg and was held at the Market Photo Workshop, A photography school and Gallery.
In more recent years, Kewpie has lived on in the form of the Kewpie Legacy Project, showing how a new generation is embracing Kewpie’s story, as well as their fight to save the heritage of District Six. The Legacy Project forms part of a fundraising initiative to raise funds for the District Six Museum and Homecoming Centre, which like many heritage spaces, was hit hard by the COVID-19 lockdowns. Last year the Salon Kewpie Ball was hosted by Spectrum, where the past met present ball culture and vogueing could be reimagined against the backdrop of Kewpie’s amazing photographs.
