FEATURES
Masters Architecture student , Hariwe Johnson ’ s thesis and project was offered space to exhibit at the Circa Gallery in Rosebank .
THE EXHIBITION
Middle and upper class Johannesburg visitors were able to ' experience ' a bad building . Images , sounds , videos and even trash and smells filled the usually spotless gallery , intermixed with carefully curated infographics , profiles and other art pieces which laid bare the realities of living in one of these buildings . The exhibition opened up the social divide between the haves and the have nots .
The collections of works were curated by Johnson and are illustrated and composed in several visual art media . This includes documentation , drawing , conceptual art , installation art , historical drawings , photography , cinematography , video art — and will be showcased by the three primary project contributors : Hariwe Johnson , Jono Wood and Dirk Chalmers .
Photographer Jono Wood says that the project is a window into many of South Africa ' s underlying social issues and injustices . “ The alien nature of the building is both alluring and terrifying , but the sobering reality of it seems too real to ignore . It is a rare view into a world many privileged members of society never get the chance to witness ,” he says .
Wood describes the area as a place where abject poverty exists in a realm where the normal rules of society are distorted and somehow twisted into a form of their own . “ A place where human rights are not constitutional rights and where boundaries are continuously crossed either by or towards their subjects . The norms of society no longer exist , how we know and expect them , it is a place where the price of life is both morally and emotionally expensive for its residents ,” he says .
Johnson carefully designed , managed and curated the entire exhibition which has several lives or modes : artistic , visual , academic , social and political . With parts of chapter 2 , section 26 and 27 of the Constitution hanging on the walls stating what all people in South Africa have rights to , video footage and imagery reiterate the continuous violation of these rights .
‘ The single biggest management problem in the inner city is the high incidence of ‘ bad ’ buildings .’ – Johannesburg Development Agency ( JDA ).
Section 26 states that everyone has the right to have access to adequate housing . The state must take reasonable legislative and other measures within its available resources , to achieve progressive realisation of this right . Section 27 states that everyone has the right to have access to health care services , including reproductive health care as well as a right to sufficient food and water . With water and electricity cut off , night time brings complete darkness with little activity for an average of 220 people in the building . In a sectional drawing through the building , which took Johnson over three months to document , compile and illustrate , the inhabitants speak of hearing people crying or screaming on other floors during this time and they speculate that these ‘ people ’ may be ghosts .
The ratio of water to residents is 1 to 220 . The building only has one water pipe on the first floor . It also has no ablution facilities so residents relieve themselves in buckets and packets . They have a dedicated floor for refuse , however , rubbish and human waste can be found on the stairs , doorways and other areas of the abandoned building .
AFFORDABLE
SA HOUSING MARCH - APRIL 2017 23