Taxi Hand Signs
Susan Woolf
For the past two years Susan Woolf has been researching and documenting the hand signals relating to taxi routes in South Africa. Taxi Hand Signs is a collection of these.
To date, Woolf has sourced and painted twenty eight gloved taxi hand signs in bright colours. Each hand sign is aligned to the specific routes to which they belong. She has also designed a separate set of taxi hand signs for the blind, in collaboration with the South African Blind Workers Association (SABWA). The set of ten symbols represent all the taxi hand signals and are designed in shapes of raised dots so that blind people, even children, can learn them quickly and easily. A separate book will be manufactured in relief using the brail method of raised dots. To start with they will be distributed to every blind person in Johannesburg by SABWA (The South African Blind Workers Association).
At the moment, limited information exists for commuters; many people who see taxis every day are completely unaware that such a simple yet complex communication exists. Even people who regularly commute via taxi only know the few that pertains to their usual routes. All South Africans (and tourists, particularly in 2010) should have easy access to information regarding commuting to various destinations.
This book is part of an ongoing project that forms part of Woolf’s intended doctoral thesis, currently in proposal form. Woolf’s Taxi hand sign artwork has been accepted for the National Stamp of South Africa for 2010.
