Jozi Traffic Light
Australia and South Africa
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An Aussie View
It has taken Australian Joe Murtagh just 18 months of living
and working with South Africans to fall in love with us. He thinks
the two nations share more than their beautiful, sunny landscapes
and boozy habits
Notes from Mud Island
Camping in Cornwall: So there we were. In a tent. In a field. In Cornwall.
In the wettest summer Britain has seen in years. It had to happen at some
point: naturally we chose the week my parents were visiting from South
Africa.
CowParade
Is on its way to SA, have
a look.
The Apartheid Museum
Don't look away, it really happened.
Do
you know what South African cities are called now?
Pretoria is called Tshwane,
Pietersburg is Polokwane,
Warmbaths is Bela-Bela and Durban is eThekwini.
And thats not all... visit www.africanlanguages.com
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Art
at a traffic light in Jozi
Among the purveyors of cheap
belts and mobile phone accessories accosting drivers at an intersection
in Fourways in Johannesburg I came across Malawian
artists Esop and Allen.
Their paintings, (a steal at R300 each) which I chose from dozens they
proudly laid out on the grass verge next to a service station, are colourful,
rich and truly African. Typically, the men - who are most likely living
hand-to-mouth in an urban hell - depict scenes of rural paradise, remembered
from their youth or perhaps only from stories. I bought these two acrylics
of life on and around
Lake Malawi.
Photos
are published with permission of artists,
Esop Tshovutshovu and Allen Kupeta
CowParade
Large lone
cows, something like the brightly-coloured ones that many of us saw dotted
around central London recently, will be seen grazing in urban pastures
in South Africa soon. They are set to wander into Durban in September
and October; Cape Town over the festive season; and Johannesburg in February
and March next year.
South African artists are entering designs into a competition and the
successful applicants will be commissioned to design the cows and will
be paid R10 000 on completion of each design. The designer cows are then
bought by fans after a bidding war and the money is donated to charity.
CowParade is currently making its way through Prague, Stockholm and Manchester,
in a bid to raise millions of dollars for charity. You can bid online
for the cows, the official site is:
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Gauteng
Johannesburg
is the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa, it’s a modern, bustling
metropolis that powers the continent's economy. It is the centre of a
vast urban industrial complex that covers most of the province of Gauteng
and is home to more than 6 million people.
The
Apartheid Museum
The origins of the Apartheid Museum are something of a mystery. A couple
of years back, LeavingSA's Curious Chameleon turned purple with excitement
when she heard a rumour that the museum was somehow the result of a government
offer to private companies to build a casino and an amusement park at
Goldreef city near Johannesburg.
We haven't
been able to get to the bottom of the story and now are appealing to you,
Ms C. Cham's faithful followers, to unravel the mystery of the Apartheid
Museum. We love the place - please will someone tell us how it came to
be ....
email us!
Andrew
Hollis
This talented South African artist lives
and works in London but shows around the world. His next exhibitions are
in Brazil and South Africa. For more information about his work and his
shows visit his website. www.andrewhollis.com
image 01:
Afghan Boy in Red, White and Blue. Oil on X-ray Plates, Displayed on a
Light-box, 1215 x 1535 mm
image 02: The Anonymity of Victimhood (the Anonymity of Reproduction).
Oil on 30 Pieces of Aluminium sheet, 1250 x 1500 mm
image 03: Last Man Standing. Oil on 18 Pieces of Aluminium sheet, 2250
x 1330 mm
click to enlarge image
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