Cascoland Mafikeng 2010
Hi Tonkana
.jpg)
Jonna Slappendel
Bogosi Makhene
A Tonkana blanket, commonly known as a `prison blanket` is the worst blanket in the world. It rolls into little balls and gets stuck on your clothes, in your scalp and on hairy backs. The street slang for the blanket is `Donkey Blanket`, where Tonkana was then derived. These cheap blankets are found in bulk in stores country wide. Another commonly used blanket is the Travel Tsale, later rearranged to Trouble Tsale. These blankets hold warm memories for people as they were once bundled into a little ball and tucked inside them on their mothers backs to watch the passing world.
Hi Tonkana sets out to introduce artists to the possibilities of the combination of these two blankets. This takes place in the form of creative workshops, a fashion show involving local artists and experimental garments, a warm snug area called Maf Cosy and a performance theatre piece that interacts with the audience. Local designers were also asked to invent something unusual with these materials with the aim of exposing young designers in Mafikeng and putting them on the fashion map of South Africa. The basic form of the blankets is generally kept so as to donate all blankets to Operation Blanket after the project is finished.
Post-Cascoland responsibility: Operation Blanket (Dan Thloloe) & Life Line