JOBURG, OUR JOBURG

Jo’burg City
I travel on your black and white and roboted roads
Through your thick iron breath that you inhale
At six in the morning and exhale from five noon.
Jo’burg City
This is the time when I come to you,
When your neon flowers flaunt from your electrical wind,
That is the time when I leave you,
When your neon flowers flaunt their way through the falling darkness
On your cement trees.

Paul Stopforth (1945)
Detective
oil on canvas
163 x 112cm

This exhibition was dedicated to Johannesburg, financial centre of the country and home to millions of South Africans and immigrants. Joburg is a complicated place, layered with almost a century and a half of stories – many, many stories of life and death, struggle, love, happiness, and profound despair. It has always been a place of hope, prosperity, and success.

In appreciation of both the sharp edges and deep heart of the city,
SABC Art Collection Curator Koulla Xinisteris made a selection of artworks from the Collection – an important heritage capsule that holds up a mirror to the light and dark of South African society and our past. The theme of the exhibition reflected the perennial concerns of struggle and predicament that are core to the Collection as a whole.

Jo Ractliffe (1961)
from The Johannesburg Series: Commissioner St cnr Crown St JEPPESTOWN; Commissioner St MARSHALTOWN; Commissioner St cnr Smal St; Commissioner St cnr Eloff St JOHANNESBURG CENTRAL
2000 – 2004
Pigment print on cotton paper
50 x 200cm
edition: 1/5

Jo Ractliffe (1961)
from The Johannesburg Series: King George St; Twist St Joubert Park
2000 – 2004
Pigment print on cotton paper
50 x 200cm
edition: 1/5

Jo Ractliffe (1961)
from The Johannesburg Series: Commissioner St; Sauer St Johannesburg Central; Sauer St cnr Bree St Newtown
2000 – 2004
Pigment print on cotton paper
50 x 200cm
edition: 1/5

The exhibition featured works by David Koloane, William Kentridge, Dorothy Kay, Jürgen Schadeberg, Julian Motau, Dumile Feni, Jo Ractliffe, Stephen Hobbs, Gerard Sekoto, Sam Nhlengethwa, Tracey Rose, David Goldblatt, Paul Stopforth, Ranjith Kally, Marcus Neustetter, Sabelo Mlangeni, Ephraim Ngatane, and Durant Sihlali. The choice of art works spoke broadly to the many faces and facets of the city, tapping directly into personal experiences of everyday Johannesburg – the streets, the buildings, the colour, the people – through the eyes of artists who call it home.

Equally, the selection displayed a vivid sliver of Joburg history, and of the tragedy of Apartheid and separate development in particular.

Sam Nhlengethwa (1955)
The End Of The Shift
2003
collage, pastel and oil on paper
51 x 70cm

It was also a commentary on Johannesburg’s economic significance and origins. The City of Gold, offers the promise of jobs and money. The curation echoed the complex relationship the inhabitants of the city have with mining, living in a metropolis structurally defined by its headgear and shafts. The works included in the exhibition spoke of extremes – of wealth and privilege, of poverty and opportunity.