Employing Credo Mutwa’s thinking of deconstructing nguni words to their roots, I hope to find a different approach of looking at the term, but also understanding the concept of Umoya a bit more broadly. Starting with the first part, Mo (here, in Sesotho), imo (a condition in Xhosa), ummo (ones nature in characteristics), secondly “ya” suggests movement, going (uYAphi, iYA pha, O YA kae ). In essence then using my discernment and understanding of this, I can safely say […]
This is a story of a social injustice happening in my backyard: Makause, the informal settlement next to Primrose. Several Ethiopian families have settled there, their life is confined between the walls of the container that hosts their Spaza Shop and the community they belong to. Their rituals, the prayer service, the longing for their home. Here, the usual accusation of stealing local jobs and business opportunities are hurled at them. Prejudice and ignorance mark their lives, already constrained and reduced. […]
This project is about a man from Ghana that works at the Yeoville Market. This ‘African man’ called Alexanda has spent 5 years without a legal South African Residence permit. The mother of his children is from South Africa and he has a family of three. Alexanda came to South Africa to further his education, he studied marketing in Ghana for 3 years and was expecting to get a bursary to study further but could not due to not […]
“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 […]