The promenade on Durban beachfront was constructed in anticipation of the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Approximately 6.2 km long, the promenade stretches from uShaka Marine World until Blue Lagoon in the North. Durban’s beaches have undergone a rapid transformation in the past 20 years. Holidaymakers, locals, fisherman, surfers, runners and religious groups share the area. The promenade seems to have evolved into a truly shared space within South Africa. However, the nature of the beachfront shifts constantly, as the day progresses the flow of people constantly changes, and the function of the beach transforms. The beachfront seems strangely impermanent, as if in a few years it will either be an arcade for tourists, or lost to the degradation and squalor that thrives just behind the promenade. That or the ever-encroaching sea will take it. That said, at present it is a truly distinctive place in Durban, outside the determination of class, race or wealth restrictions, the beachfront is free to all who wish to use it. However, in this body of work, the artist seeks to challenge preconceived notions around Durban beachfront. What the beachfront represents shifts decidedly depending on expectations and memories. At first the promenade appears to be a truly integrated space, however looking deeper the lines of segregation are lingering just below the surface. This now shared space is a front. Nothing is what it appears. The history of Durban beachfront is an inescapable backdrop, a point of reference intrinsically located within the various bodies that now occupy the space. The Front is an investigation, a revealing, of space. It documents the people who use the beachfront. It seeks to record the rapidly changing nature of the promenade by placing a marker as to what the space is now at this point in time. The Front confronts, diversity, identity, and multi-functionality of shared public space. Matt Kay says, “this body of work was about looking harder at a space I thought I knew and understood. The harder I looked the more I realized that I understood very little about a place that clearly was significant to so many people in so many different ways. The beach has a strangeness to it that is constantly visible but only when looked for. This project finds relevance in that it is often the quiet and disconnected moments we see that stay with us and challenge our perspectives.” For Matt, photography is about searching for a way for him to make sense of the world and then express what is important to others. His process very much revolves around photographing instinctively and then really discovering the narrative through the editing process. Matt describes the Tierney Fellowship experience, “As a photographer who normally works very much alone it was a big challenge to open up and allow others into the process of making this body of work. At times it made me feel vulnerable and at others great to know that there is real knowledge and experience guiding you in the right direction. The whole experience is very grounding and although sometimes confusing I feel it is a crucial part of moving forward in my career.”

The Durban beachfront promenade could be seen as metaphor of racial, cultural enigma bedevilling the much vaunted attempts at social cohesion and the transformation project. Designed as space for interaction during the controversial World Cup 2010 these short-lived objectives have had difficulty being sustained. These noble goals floundered in the face of local diversity potential long after the world went home and exposed the challenges of race and difference without hype. In Kay’s work there is a sense of the potential in the proximity of possible racial, cultural and social solidarity that lies dormant at best and woefully apathetic. At worst paradoxically belying the ‘promenade’ as a ‘place to be seen’ and in this case not spoken to, interacted with or proffering any attempt a civil engagement. This may be because the act of being present in this public space requires a requisite period of cautious engagement awaiting some miraculous intervention to break the reach of our divisive past. Dereliction cheek by jowl with potential lies within touching distance, transformation’s agenda closer yet cautiously optimistic, the images are non indicting yet beckoning the viewer to engage an almost apocalyptic landscape, the ‘Golden Mile’ like the troubled mines of South Africa in contention but ironically wealth producing. We still live in the landscape of apartheid even as cosmetic changes strive to change this physical phenomenon struggles to mitigate against the long reach of history seem more illusive. The work references the ambiguities of edifices that should and could foster social cohesion but fast deteriorating in the face of insurmountable racial division where cultural diversity is exotically on display though never the twain shall meet – together apart.

Matt Kay was born in 1985 and completed the Intermediate and Advanced Photography course at the Market Photo Workshop. Matthew has received numerous awards and mentions that include: Winner of the 2011 CIT:Y award for photography, Finalist for the International Salzburg Summer Academy of Fine Arts residency, Finalist for the GUP/Viewbook International Small Stories Competition, Recipient of the Ituba Arts Fund and Nominee for the 2014 Hel –Ved new Talent Award. Matt recently showcased his work Losing Ground during the inaugural Joburg Photo Umbrella.

The Tierney Fellowship was created in 2003 by The Tierney Family Foundation to support emerging artists in the field of photography. The primary goal of the Fellowship is to find aspiring artists who will be tomorrow's leaders and to assist them in overcoming challenges that photographers face at the start of their careers. Tracy Edser, the first recipient of The Tierney Fellowship at the Market Photo Workshop, exhibited her body of work in a solo exhibition, Amelioration. Mikhael Subotzky mentored Edser. Simangele Kalisa, the second recipient, exhibited her body of work at a Joint Tierney Exhibition at the Substation Gallery, Wits University, with fellows Monique Pelser and Ariane Questiaux. Jo Ractliffe mentored Kalisa. Thabiso Sekgala(1981-2014), the third recipient, exhibited a body of work entitled Homeland at The Photo Workshop Gallery in April 2011. Mikhael Subotzky also mentored Sekgala. Mack Magagane, the fourth recipient, exhibited his work called ...in this city, a reflection of Johannesburg city by night. The exhibition opened in April 2013 at The Photo Workshop Gallery. Jo Ractliffe also mentored Mack Magagane. Lebohang Kganye, the fifth recipient, exhibited her work Ke lefa laka, a research into her family history using family photographs, testimonies from family members as well as personal narratives. Nontobeko Ntombela and Mary Sibande mentored Kganye. Sipho Gongxeka The sixth recipient, Sipho Gongxeka, was mentored by the renowned South African photographer Pieter Hugo. Sipho’s exhibition, Skeem’ Saka, opened at The Photo Workshop Gallery in July 2014. Skeem’ Saka aims to create a dialogue with the audience on issues relating to masculinity; how men view themselves and the perception society has on the male figure. Matt Kay is the seventh recipient of the Tierney Fellowship at the Market Photo Workshop.