THE END OF THE EARTH #1, PUNTJIE, WESTERN CAPE
THE ENTRANCE (FROM "SWART STER OOR DIE KAROO, JAN RABIE 1957) TABLE MOUNTAIN, CAPE TOWN, WESTERN CAPE
'There are no traces of a city anymore, just ice. It is Jordaan who sees it first, a small glossy lump above the ice, a structure like a glass dome. There they will probably land.'
Photograph inspired by ‘Swart ster oor die Karoo’ (Black star over the Karoo) by Jan Rabie, 1957. Translated from the original Afrikaans. Upon travelling to the future earth where everyone is living underground to stay alive, the main characters land on top of Table Mountain.
Read MoreTHE END OF THE EARTH, CAPE POINT, WESTERN CAPE
These cliffs are always reminding us of the ‘End of the Earth’ - here indeed ends, it seems like it just falls into the deep dark sea.
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EVA STELLARIS PLANT (FROM "SWART STER OOR DIE KAROO, JAN RABIE 1957), ITHEMBA LABS, CAPE TOWN
From ‘Swart ster oor die Karoo’ (Black star over the Karoo) by Jan Rabie, 1957. Eva Stellaris was sent as a helper from the future with an assignment to specifically help with biological and hydroponic work - as an attempt for humans to stay alive living underground as it was too cold above ground.
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EVA STELLARIS (FROM "SWART STER OOR DIE KAROO, JAN RABIE 1957). DR. LUNA PELLEGRI, ITHEMBA LABS, CAPE TOWN
Vir die eerste maal kyk sy op, haar blik reguit en eerlik, maar haar stem treurig: “My opdrag was slegs en spesifiek die biologiese en hidroponiese werk wat ek hier in Saakni gedoen het. Asseblief, u beskik oor my lewe, maar nie oor my woorde nie."
For the first time, she looks up, her gaze straight and honest, her voice sad: “My assignment was only and specifically the biological and hydroponic work I did here in Saakni. Please, you have the power over my life, but not my words."
From ‘Swart ster oor die Karoo’ (Black star over the Karoo) by Jan Rabie, 1957.
Eva Stellaris was sent as a helper from the future. Part of her command involved only answering in a way that complements the knowledge that already exists and not help directly, “that man should, after all, help himself.”
ELSABE UYS, IZIKO PLANETARIUM PRESENTER, CAPE TOWN
'The place where I was born influenced my life to a great extent - I was born in the Northern Cape, in a small town called Upington, where the summers would be so hot you couldn't sleep indoors; we would carry our beds outside and sleep there. That is where my love of stars started, and it kept on influencing the rest of my life - it is as if I was born to do this. I'm at my happiest when I am here and telling people what they can see up there in the night sky. When I've been away from the planetarium and I come back to it again and activate the system and see what is up there, it is like coming home. It really touches me - I remember showing children for the first time with the new system flying away from Earth, and seeing planet Earth projected on the dome, even though I knew it was just a projection - to me it was such an emotional moment, to see our planet so fragile, so beautiful, so blue, projected on the dome. I could share that moment with the children as it felt like they were with me from the responses I got. You can do so much more with the new system than the old one, although I'm still sometimes very nostalgic about the old system, how it was really a hands-on system, now you are just sitting behind the computer and pressing the buttons, but it can show you show much more and can put you right there. You feel less contained with this system, here I can fly you thought the solar system, through the galaxy, out of our galaxy and the gasps I get from people when they see our galaxy from the outside is just absolutely amazing. This is as close to real as we can take you, without putting you into space, which is of course not possible at the moment!'
Elsabé Uys, Planetarium Presenter, Iziko Planetarium, Cape Town
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ELISE FILIPPERS, SUTHERLAND, NORTHERN CAPE
Elise lives in Sutherland, home to the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) - the largest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere.
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