The Jo’burg Gini

Johannesburg is not beautiful, it has a bad reputation. Fears about urban degradation, physical threats, rampant consumerism, derelict and invaded buildings are some of the issues that prompted me to photograph this city. But, like it or hate it, it is fascinating.  Not just for its significant historical buildings that represent different visions of the city, and of its modernity, but also for its street life. In photographing it I was able to uncover, reclaim and preserve its rapidly changing countenances and its histories writ large upon the streets we walk today. In witnessing first hand its secrets and its poetry, they  are offered here for the spectators’ contemplation. But I urge you to go there, and walk it and experience its scents and sounds first hand.

The difficulties of photographing in the city were a pivotal issue around which the making of these photographs took place.  By gradually becoming part of the life of the street, the time I spent there offered an aura of safety that enabled me take the photographs.Â

Sally Gaule
Johannesburg
September 2009