Charlayne Hunter-Gault narrates the documentary. Ms. Hunter-Gault played a role in ending racial segregation in the United States. "In 1961 she and Hamilton E. Holmes were the first African American students to attend the University of Georgia."1 Ms. Hunter-Gault currently lives in Johannesburg, and is a foreign correspondent with National Public Radio. The film traces Kim Berman's early involvement in Johannesburg, to her time in Boston, Massachusetts, when she was in a self-imposed exile, then her return to Johannesburg in 1990 after Nelson Mandela's release from prison. Before she left the States, she sold everything she had to purchase and ship an American French Tool press to Johannesburg to build a workshop for printers called Artist Proof Studio (APS). With the help of printmaker Nhlanhla Xaba, artists from the Johannesburg community used the workshop as an outlet to voice their points of view about the issues in the changing South Africa. Young artists, with limited access to advanced education, came to APS to gain skills and to learn how to articulate visually their opinions. APS became a force that went beyond skill development of using inks, plates, and presses. "What we were faced with was not teaching art making," states Berman in the documentary, "it was teaching life skills, it was teaching leadership, it was teaching how to be a professional." The art and teaching at APS expose the dilemmas of poverty, illiteracy, substance abuse, violence, and HIV/AIDS. By raising awareness of these issues, they start the process of facing them. At APS enormous energy goes into education towards alleviation of these problems. To build on the strength of the community of printmakers at APS, Berman had the idea to incorporate hand papermaking at APS. Berman leftabove: Project member at the Lebone Project in Lebone, South Africa. Photo: Patricia Piroh, 2004. left top: Cooking fiber at the Khomanani Project in Venda, South Africa. Photo: Patricia Piroh, 2004. left middle: Hand beating sisal fiber at the Dikgophaneng Papermaking Project (formerly known as the Cloe Sisal Project), Aganang Village, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Photo: Eileen Foti, 2004. left bottom: Sheet production at the Tshwaraganang Project in Winterveldt, South Africa. Photo: Patricia Piroh, 2004. 40 - hand papermaking Johannesburg to conduct research and procured a grant from the South African Government Department of Science and Technology to begin Phumani Paper, a handmade paper venture in all nine provinces across the country. The Phumani Paper base is in Johannesburg with a research, product and packaging design initiative, and a distribution center. The sites work independently but assist each other depending on the sites' particular strengths. At projects located in rural settings, papermakers collect invasive fiber, indigenous fiber, agricultural waste product such as pineapple fiber, recycled paper, and cotton rag. Where paper projects have no access to electricity, the workers must hand beat the fiber. Some paper projects collect fiber, cook it, and send partially processed pulp to other projects for sheet formation. At the paper projects where there is access to enough water, paper is made. Other paper projects concentrate on producing products and packaging. Along with the papermaking projects, women in the rural provinces and squatter settlements can participate in the Paper Prayers project. Paper Prayers, which is centered around making embroidered cloth, is based on broad Asian practices of using paper to carry the prayers and aspirations of the maker. The Paper Prayers project raises awareness of the somber reality of HIV/AIDS in South Africa which has a higher percentage of people who are identified as HIV positive than any other country in the world.2 The project generates income for the participants from sales of the embroidered cloth. For some, it is the sole source of income. All three projects are living and changing entities. They develop their own successes and challenges. The residual effects of Apartheid are exacting a social cost in South Africa. There is depression in the young who live with the physical abuse of women and children in the home. Enormous social and economic inequities lead to crime that cripples the ease of day-to-day life. Relief print created at Artist Proof Studio. Courtesy of Kim Berman. Studio member printing at the new location of Artist Proof Studio, 2003. Photo by and courtesy of Kim Berman. Members of Artist Proof Studio, Johannesburg, South Africa. Photo: Patricia Piroh, 2004. The unending death toll from HIV/AIDS causes the problem of child-run households and adds to the difficulty of life in the Democratic Republic of South Africa. Through Kim Berman's activism important issues are brought to light as a first step towards change. The documentary was viewed at the United Nations in February 2008, sparking much interest in the projects. For papermakers this documentary suggests more than it has time to explain. The implementation of the nationwide system of Phumani Paper Projects is an enormous and ambitious endeavor. A documentary on Phumani Paper is waiting to be made. Such a film could report on all of the different projects across South Africa and allow time for each to tell their individual stories. A band of artists, students, and scientists researched the availability and feasibility of local fibers for papermaking across South Africa. The international papermaking community would benefit greatly from hearing their perspectives and discoveries. Recently Phumani Paper developed an archival unit in Johannesburg由ag 2 Paper葉hat was too young to be part of this documentary. Which projects have survived? Which have failed, and why? What is being made with each of the different fibers? What is the success level of the different handmade paper products? What are their markets? Are sales mostly tourism- driven? Perhaps Eileen Foti, who teaches papermaking at Montclair State University in New Jersey, will make a sequel to answer these and other questions. ___________ notes 1. Wikipedia, s.v. "Charlayne Hunter-Gault" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char layne_Hunter-Gault (accessed March 16, 2008). 2. Celia W. Dugger, "Rift Over AIDS Treatment Lingers in South Africa," New York Times, March 9, 2008, international edition, 8.