johannesburg

44 WHAT TO SEE
Public art
People who live in Joburg rarely extol its beauty. Mostly
they point out that it is a city without an ocean and, until
the Nelson Mandela Bridge was built, one without any
landmarks that aren’t communication towers or apartment
blocks. And those are the polite remarks. But over
the past few years an impressive and growing number of
public artworks have been installed. The City’s splurge is
directed at creating social cohesion and recognising the
different communities that contribute to making Joburg
the city it is today. Tour companies like Past Experiences
(see Tours) offer guided public-art walks.
Albertina and Walter Sisulu C-5, Intersection of
Diagonal St, Ntemi Piliso St and Albertina Sisulu St, City
Centre. These two great South Africans are immortalised in
a clay sculpture by Marina Walsh installed in a small square on
the historic Diagonal Street in 2009. The artwork depicts the
couple sitting holding hands, commemorating their enduring
love for each other and the country. Both were prominent
anti-apartheid activists, and Walter spent 25 years in prison
on Robben Island, with his great friend, Nelson Mandela.
The site is across the street from where Walter once had
his real-estate office.
Angel of the North D-2,
Cnr Queen and Kotze Sts,
Hillbrow. The 5m-tall concrete
winged angel, installed
in 2010, stands near Constitution
Hill, welcoming all
to Hillbrow. It has been called
a miniature version of Rio de
Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer.
Artist Winston Luthuli says it ‘serves as a kind of sentinel, and
is incongruous with what one might expect to find in this crime
and grime-ridden part of Joburg’.
Mandela sculpture
Shadow Boxing C-5,
Cnr Fox and Gerard
Sekoto Sts, Ferreirasdorp,
City Centre. In
2013 sculptor Marco
Cianfanelli returned
Nelson Mandela as a
public figure to Johannesburg
and specifically
to the places he
inhabited in the 1950s.
Almost six metres tall,
‘Shadow Boxing’ towers
between Chancellor
House – once the home
of Mandela and Tambo
Attorneys, the first black law practice in Johannesburg
(see Places of Interest) – and the Johannesburg
Magistrates’ Court. Mandela was an avid boxer, and the
sculpture was inspired by a photograph of him, taken by
Drum magazine’s Bob Gosani in 1952. Mandela was to
spend much time in court, both as an attorney and as the
accused, and in the boxer‘s stance the sculpture conveys
both the defensive power and the possibility of a powerful
strike. His words are etched across the concrete plinth:
‘In the ring, rank, age, colour, and wealth are irrelevant.’
Johannesburg In Your Pocket
Brenda Fassie B-4, 10 Henry Nxumalo St, Newtown.
Before social media and celebrity-obsessed magazines,
Brenda Fassie (1964–2004) was one of South Africa’s biggest
home-grown music stars and the original Bad Girl. She was a
true pop idol whom Time magazine dubbed the Madonna of
the Townships and whose songs are still heard everywhere.
Artist Angus Taylor’s life-size bronze sculpture (2007) of her
was commissioned by the Sunday Times Heritage Project.
Eland C-2, Cnr Bertha and Ameshoff Sts, Braamfontein.
Clive van den Berg’s 2007 sculpture of a giant antelope
garlanded with Highveld plants greets visitors at one of the
gateways to the inner city. The sculpture evokes the natural
environment that has been taken over by a growing metropolis.
Firewalker C-4, Cnr Simmonds and Sauer Sts, City Centre.
Along nearby Diagonal Street women still carry lit braziers
on their heads, selling sheep’s heads or mielies (corn cobs).
Firewalker (2009), by William Kentridge and Gerhard Marx, is
an 11-m-tall sculpture that pays homage to these women and
the everyday activities of city dwellers. Its position just off
Queen Elizabeth Bridge makes it difficult to view, and walking
alone in the area is not advised. Drive-past slowly.
Governor’s House Trees D-1, Governor’s House, Queen’s
Rd, Hillbrow. Americo Guambe’s exquisite sculptures (2010)
were carved from dead trees found in the area. They stand
behind the house built around 1908 for the governor of the Old
Fort prison. Tree I depicts a young girl looking towards Hillbrow,
while Tree II is a sculpture of a boy pointing towards the city.
Mahatma Gandhi D-5, Gandhi Sq, between Rissik and
Fox Sts, City Centre. Tinka Christopher’s bronze statue
(2003) of a young Mohandas Gandhi shows him in the guise
of a lawyer in a part of the city once known as Government
Square, home to the city’s law courts. Today it is the site of
a bus terminus. Gandhi came to South Africa in 1893. Over
time he became active in the politics of resistance, calling
for Indian and Chinese people (classified as non-white) to
burn their pass (identity) books. He was tried, convicted and
sentenced for this. He left for India in 1914, having shaped and
established his policy of passive resistance to oppression.
Paper Pigeons C-5, Intersection of Main Reef and
Albertina Sisulu Rds, Ferreirasdorp, City Centre. Three
three-metre-high grey steel pigeons, created by Gerhard and
Maja Marx (2009), resemble origami shapes. Tour guide Jo
Buitendach remarks that ‘most statues have pigeons that
sit and poop on them; these pigeons were made for that’.
The sculptures have metal rods so that live birds can roost
on them, encouraged by food left by the local community.
According to one of the artists, having the pigeons sit on the
sculpture is part of its choreography.
Troyeville Bedtime Story Cnr
Albertina Sisulu Rd and Viljoen
St, Troyeville. With its concreteplush,
studded headboard and pillows
resembling a luxurious velvet
bed, the 2011 artwork in the park
below Troyeville Ridge is the stuff
that Joburg vagrant dreams are
made of. The work of photographer
and artist Johannes Dreyer,
designer Damien Grivas and public-art consultant Lesley
Perkes, the installation is the result of neighbourhood activism
to transform an unsightly pile of rubble. Troyeville Bedtime
Story has hosted photo sessions and story-telling events, and
has, at times, become a platform for performances, part of
a never-ending bedtime story.
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