Soweto Scenes: Street art
Yesterday I was in Soweto (South Africa) to take photos for one of Johannesburg Child Welfare’s facilities. I find myself in the townships around Johannesburg quite regularly, and I would hate my photos to become hackneyed – with each township’s images indistinguishable from the previous one’s.
But as I was driving to the children’s home I was fortunate enough to see a few character-filled, graffitied walls down a side street – images like none that I’d taken around here before. And so I turned off to capture them. I’m always amazed at how friendly people are in the townships too – smiling and welcoming to the out-of-place large white man with a camera wandering around their suburb.
Just after taking the last two images – of the Orlando Power Station cooling towers (with their large-scale wall art) – a violent storm hit the township, turning the streets into raging rivers. It was beautiful in its fury.
I’d love to return one day to do a more in-depth series …
Nelson Mandela. South African icon.
Rise Chiefs Rise! (Kaizer Chiefs FC)
Black Madonna (on a wall next to South Africa’s biggest Catholic church, Regina Mundi, in Orlando East.)
Give thanks
Woman
And child
Graffiti on a Nicholas Street boundary wall
The decommissioned Orlando Power Station cooling towers, from Chris Hani Road
“Dust Bunny” sign and the cooling towers with the bungi-jump platform spanning the two (from Nicholas Road).
7 Comments on “Soweto Scenes: Street art”
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They called me weed
I have been blogging here since around April 2011 - my little place on the blogosphere to express myself creatively. As a teenager I used to write a diary - in fact, as a 17-year-old living in Belgium, I wrote religiously every day. Fortunately the Internet didn't exist back then because my ramblings as a teenager were ever-so-slightly dark, cynical and depressing. You won't find much of that here. Also, mostly, I try not to get too deep or philosophical in this forum - I'd like my photography to uplift and inspire, and, where I can, I try to bring a bit of humour into my writing too. I've been fortunate enough to travel extensively and have made many friends across the globe. This is my spot to keep in touch with them.
I love the colours on the cooling towers – so vibrantly African.
Now that’s what I call street-ART! Beautifully done, uplifting and bright unlike the usual graffiti – which is depressing and rebellious.
It’s wonderful to see the art captured in this way. Thanks for sharing! I’ve got a few of the Berlin Wall when it came down. In those days I was a teenager with a Pentax camera and using film, so I’d have to scan them in if I wanted to share them in the future. I still haven’t posted my latest series on 1camera1mom. It will be on South Africa’s wildflowers and two recent hikes.
Tina – mom of 4 and author of 5 blogs
http://1camera1mom.blogspot.com
Sounds good Tina. I know that the Cape flowers are beautiful at this time of year!
I love South Africa!!!!
The fifth art photo is really beautiful, wow.
Wow!! Hey uncle Rob, do people do that with spray-paint?