My first encounter with the Yeoville Market was very interesting. I noticed similarities in the food in the market and the food I know to be my cultural foods, that is the Vha-venda culture. What was even more interesting was the fact that these foods were imported from other African countries such as Nigeria, Maputo etc. I was happy that I could now enjoy cooking and eating these vegetables like Phuri, Delele, Thebe, Phonda without having to travel all the […]
“I was walking to the market for the third time when I immediately noticed that the colour was different. They were painting it. After several years of Robin’s Egg Blue, the market is now Pumpkin Orange. I thought, it does not matter what colour the walls are because you slowly get distracted by the various African cultures that give the space a colourful look.”
Johannesburg has always been seen as a city of hope. This project shows the reality of the Yeoville Market, but also reflects the hopes and aspirations of its traders. The Market is a community of migrants, mostly economic migrants from all over Africa. It is a vibrant, colourful, often chaotic pan-African space. These images look at how people adapt to a new and foreign space, a space with different types of soil, food and cultures. How they utilize the […]
The series of images I have developed focuses on the aura of the market. The market on the surface deals with the reality of gain vs. loss or the process of exchange. Beyond that lies a subtle ritual, an invisible language, a notion of give and take and a common ground between the space and the people occupying the space. The dialogue I have picked up in the space is that individuals bring with them their spirituality and beliefs. […]
My mother once told me a story of how during Christmas time, her mother would buy one large roll of fabric and from that roll she would make a Christmas outfit for each one of her children, nieces and nephews. The younger girls would get flared out skirts and the older girls would have theirs made more fitted around the waist. The boys would get bow ties and buttoned shirts to match. She would add little accents of a pocket […]