Kim Winter

I graduated from UCT in 2005 with a BA English and Politics, and went on to join the marketing department of CWD, a well-known NGO with community centres in and around Cape Town. During the 18 months at CWD, I was given the opportunity to experience my city – people, places and personal journeys – in ways I had not before. I am and always will be grateful for the learning and guidance I received in those foundation years. From the NGO world, I made a leap into the corporate sector and joined a PR, marketing and communications company where, as Account Executive, I was able to gain insight into a diverse range of industries, working with executive-level clients. The people and creativity the work demanded was motivating, but the corporate world wasn't for me. I had reached a point where I wanted to explore my writing, create, be my own boss and set serious challenges. I went freelance and ended up working in the world of documentary making and research. This move inspired me to hit the books again. I signed up for Honours in Social Anthropology at UCT and studied part time while working. My interests in visual anthropology, gender and medical anthropology evolved and culminated in my pursuit of a journalistic career. I currently freelance for SAfm, producing The Enviro Show with Nancy Richards, and presenting the women's show, Otherwise, on a stand-in basis. I have a passion for radio and the potential it holds for this country and the continent. I look forward to being a part of enriching the world of radio through research and academic thought. This year, the groundwork for my thesis is unfolding in a small town just outside of Cape Town and is centered around a portrait project started in 2007. An artist has committed to painting the portraits of approximately 400 people that reside in the ‘dorp’ as a way to break down what he perceives as entrenched and oppressive boundaries between the residents. My ethnographic concern is with both the agents involved in or affected by the project as well as the portraits themselves – as living and meaningful objects. I wish to track the portraits completed in 2007, explore how they are being used, valued or ignored. I also intend on observing what the activities of the project reveal about relationality and subjectivity – the intimate space of a portrait sitting, preparation for being painted and the interactions in and around the act of portraiture.