An immersive journey through the city’s alternative art spaces.
Johannesburg’s inner-city became the backdrop for Contra: an art festival spread across various rooftops, warehouses and galleries across the city during the weekend.
I started my journey in Asisebenze Art Atelier, an urban art studio in the heart of downtown Jozi. There, I found myself in a labyrinth of different textiles suspended by ribbons from the ceiling. At the centre of this colourful maze was stylist Nqobile Nxumalo who graciously helped fit me into a unique denim pinafore-style dress: one of her favourite pieces. As she weaved the straps around my figure, I watched the dress slowly take shape.
“These are called ‘phinifa’,” she explained, as she tightened the straps. “It’s a traditional outfit for married women mostly.” Nxumalo’s work subverts the conventional roles assigned to women in African culture, allowing for a reimagining of societal expectations. Staring at my silhouette in the mirror, I admired her handiwork: the pleats and folds perfectly hugging my figure to create a bold and flattering silhouette.
Suddenly, a loud boom echoed from the next room. After unravelling myself from the dress, I went to investigate the source. A performance was being held by a few African spiritual healers seated around an assortment of candles and spiritual offerings. Every beat of the drum, piercing note of the trumpet, and squeal of the flute pulsed into a steady melody. I was entranced by how powerfully they commanded the room, warping the air with music.
My next stop was Transwerke, a towering building of crumbling brick and oval terraces originally built as a maternity hospital but now functioning as a creative hub for artists. I descended into the basement first. I stepped into the first room where a few children were busy painting. An array of patterned puzzle pieces were littered across the table: each one a country ready to be assembled into the continent of Africa.
After spending a few minutes here, an eerie rumble rippled through the echoey halls. I followed the sound and found myself in an open courtyard at the centre of the building. Red, yellow, green and pink streamers rained down from the treetops onto the central patio which breathed with loud, clashing sounds.
A woman was banging a bamboo stick against an empty drum barrel while children shook rattles engineered from cutlery and wire. I seated myself on the blankets at the centre of this whirlwind of sound and colour (a soundscape, I learned it was called). We were encouraged to pick up a few of the makeshift instruments, so I rattled a pan filled with bottlecaps and rice. My skin prickled as the sounds raised and waivered, bouncing off and around the tall walls surrounding the courtyard.
Admittedly before this experience, I had only known the city from afar. CONTRA allowed me to step foot into a range of unconventional spaces that I would have never otherwise ventured into. I was able to plunge headfirst into art in all its various forms: from painting sessions to fashion pop-ups to sonic escapes. It felt like I wasn’t just viewing the art; I was in some way a part of it. And while the experience was vastly different across each location, it never felt incongruent or out of place.
Whether it be in the courtyards pocketed away between buildings, the basement of a dilapidated hospital, or the studios overshadowed by towering urban centers, each space was blossoming with life. It was comforting to know that art will always find a way, that it will creep up through the cracks in whatever concrete jungle it finds itself in, to exist in a very beautiful, very plain way.
Vuvu rating: 9/10
FEATURED IMAGE: A musician blowing a trumpet during a live African spiritual performance. Photo: Jamie Ho.
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