SunStar Shines Brightly on Signal Hill

Cape Town has a new beacon of light, shining brightly into the night…and the future. It’s the new 24-metre high art installation, designed by artist Christopher Swift, that is now providing a physical and figurative glimmer of light on Signal Hill in Cape Town.

Powered by solar energy, the light from the eight-pointed star (which has a sphere suspended within it) is visible from most places in Cape Town, as can be seen in these stunning photos taken by Helena Sousa.

The art project, called SunStar Beacon of Hope, is a World Design Capital Cape Town 2014 initiative, aimed to inspire the city and community. It has been created with aluminium poles, 4,000 solar-powered LED lights, recycled ship containers (for its foundations) and original prison fencing from Robben Island.

In an events page created by Swift on Facebook a few months ago, he described SunStar as “symbolic of both our rusty past and our BRIGHT future, the celebration of one man’s actions igniting a nation and effecting the world. A fitting tribute to Nelson Mandela.”

The artwork is intended to inspire those who see it to think of the past, present and future.

The installation will be dismantled in approximately six months’ time and possibly moved to a Sun International location, as the hotel chain sponsored the piece. There was also a suggestion on the events page that each solar-powered light will be donated to Khayelitsha township to enable energy saving for the next 25 years as part of the legacy project.

To see more photos, please visit Helena’s facebook page.