For many years I have been documenting the streets and subcultures of Durban, aka Poison City. I am drawn to flamboyant characters, artists, musicians, performers and all those who disrupt the order of public space with a moment of magic or self-expression. These interventions are often at odds with social norms, laws or perceptions of how people should behave in public. But, in my view, they are the unseen artworks of the city – a splash of graffiti on the wall, a busker dancing at a traffic light or a religious ceremony on an unlikely patch of land. I am also fascinated by forgotten spaces, and the way in which nature fights to reclaim the city. Trees that crack concrete, jungles that hang from windows. Similarly, the informal economy spills out into the streets, sabotaging the capitalist status quo. For me it’s all about an unusual vision of the city. Celebrating the beauty in between the hard urban edges, searching for artful gestures and celebrating ordinary people in their constant struggle to survive and flourish…
Take a closer look – that’s a nine-year-old at the wheel.
“My name is Brandon Botha and I come from Bloemfontein. I moved here because it’s too cold to live on the streets in Bloem. Me and my sister and my son sleep under the pier at North Beach. But these last two weeks have been the worst of my life, sleeping in the rain. And then my son got hit by a car. He’s in Addington Hospital now. I hope he wakes up soon. I got these tattoos when I was 16. We smoked some zol and my friend did them all in one night. But the next day, when I looked in the mirror, I thought to myself ‘Ay there’s something wrong here!’ The tattoo says ‘Ass Bad’… it’s supposed to say ‘Bad Ass’. Anyway, if there’s one thing I can tell you, it’s this: you must marry your woman and enjoy every moment with her. I waited 20 years to marry my wife… and then she died of cancer.”
Nana: I got this tattoo on my shoulder to remind me that God is with me. The men treat me alright, but I’d like to work in a house rather so that I can chill on my phone during the day. I like you cos you’re tall. You can take my picture for R20 if you want. Make me look pretty.
Amanda: This tattoo is about what’s in my heart… it says FAITH, HOPE, LOVE. I have faith that one day my life will change. I’m from the Eastern Cape. I’ve been working this job for two years. I want to go home with R1000 today. I make R200 per session. I’ll stand here and work even if it’s raining.
Spider-Man celebrates his fourth birthday alone due to Covid-19 Lockdown.
Meet Pappa, one of the most innovative busker/street performers I’ve met in a while. It took him a year to build his ‘Ford Ranger’ bicycle artwork, which he rides around Northdale, a downtown suburb of Pietermaritzburg. “It protects me from the weather, and all the people love my bike,” he says before he heads off into to traffic like it aint no thing.
Rasta Khulani roams the Durban inner city with a trolley and a boom box playing strictly reggae music. Why? “Because it makes you feel so good,” he says. “I’m working on my solo album. I have five tracks recorded. I hope I can share my music with the world one day.”
A bus driver burns incense in hope of a safe journey.
This historic mural in Wawrick Triangle depicts Nomkhubulwane – the Zulu goddess of rain, nature and fertility. The ‘Mother Earth’ figure watching over the inner city was painted in 1994 by the Community Mural Project, which included one of the city’s original king mural painters – Thami Jali.
