27 November 2011 - Perth Road, Westdene

I left the first of these images un-cropped, so that you can see what it looks like to drive by on this road, on a clear summers day in Johanbnesburg.

It takes a closer, and even closer look, to see the details. Notice the Joburg skyline in the eyes.

27 November 2011 - Perth Road, Westdene

Evey few houses on Perth Road has a painted wall...

27 November 2011 - University Road, Auckland Park (2)

This walls is a little further up the road from my previous post on University Road. The wall was recently painted over, Unfotunately I dont have photo's of how it looked before. (also graffiti style)

I told you it was University Road

27 November 2011 - University Road, Auckland Park

When you work for your heart, work becomes play

M1 - Woodmead

From Woodmead getting onto the M1 Highway South, this bridge provides cover for a homeless man. And home to this graffiti:

Bryanston- Petervale

This is a piece of graffiti that I see everyday on my way to work through the suburb of Petervale.
Its sprayed on a wall of an electricity station inside a park. This main pic is road facing. The other two, luckily, are not.

Two of the other walls:

Then a little further along my route. Bryanston road, there is this little gem, which fans of the rock band System of a Down will recognise as a lyric from the song: "Vicinity Of Obscenity"
I like it because of its location in an up-market neighborhood.

Joburg Zoo - Stencil

I havent seen alot of stencil art so far around the city, so I was very excited to find this one along the Johannesburg zoo wall.
The words are from a Poem by Dylan Thomas, Do not go gentle into that good night

Republic Road - Sports ground

On the same trip over the weekend I found this container on a sports ground next to the Road Loadge, facing the road.

10 September 2011 – Malibongwe

6:30 am, the sun is still a bright orange ball low on the horizon. I went for a drive while the roads were quiet to a wall on Malibongwe drive, Randburg, that I knew was always brightly coloured and well painted. Almost every wall on the length of this main road is scattered with tags and markings. I wish I could stop for every one. Soon enough I’ll try to capture as many as I can, but for now its the murals which excite me more. On my route back I found many more locations with grafitti, my eyes dart around everywhere I go now. Finding a place to stop the car, not mid-street, is a small problem.

Centre Piece

Credits to these artists

 Below is a Google Maps view of the same road earlier in the year:

Copyrights are Google Maps

Copyrights are Google Maps

4th September (part2) Joe Slovo

This group of photos were taken on a wall on Joe Slovo drive. Some of the walls are in bad condition and the paint is cracked or faded, so I assume that they have been there for quite some time.



Artist: KDJ



Artist: KDJ

I'm not 100% sure of the artists, In time I'll learn to read and recognise the grafitti styles.
Credits to each artist.

4th September 2011

Today was my first Painted Joburg excursion. I was dropping off a friend then decided to take another route home that I knew was going to take me past some areas where I was sure to find some wall art. When you are looking for grafitti, you notice just how much there actually is. So finding my first photos was alot easier than I anticipated. Advice from a family member who is in the photography industry advised that I dont go alone to certain areas of the city, and dont wear any jewelry or flash any kind of money. I was not expecting, on this trip, to feel afraid but I must say that it was a little unnerving to park my car, get out and walk around with a camera. Next time I will be sure to bring someone along.

I'll start with my best find of the day:

I had parked on a one-way street and had to do an around the block trip to get back on the main road, when I spotted this wall of a Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the republic of Greece office.

Artist Unknown.

Quick as a flash, a group of locals started posing against the wall for me to take their photos. I did, but managed to get these two photos with no added subjects. They asked me how much I was charging and how soon can I get the prints to them.

Graffiti Project - The Beginning

ART: “is the product or process of deliberately arranging items (often with symbolic significance) in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression”

GRAFFITI: “is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property. Graffiti is any type of public markings that may appear in the forms of simple written words to elaborate wall paintings”

“In most countries, marking or painting property without the property owner's consent is considered defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime. Sometimes graffiti expresses social and political messages and a whole genre of artistic expression is based upon spray paint graffiti styles. To some, it is an art form worthy of display in galleries and exhibitions; to others it is merely vandalism.”

(Definitions and quotes from Wikipedia)

Where would we draw the line between Art and Graffiti, or rather where would these two meet?

I’ve been wanting to start this project for a long time now. Since moving to the city in 2006 and even before then I’ve seen so many painted walls, bridges, sign posts and pavements in the city of Johannesburg, some indeed are acts of vandalism others are forms of street art or advertisements on comissioned walls scattered around the city.   I’ve become fascinated by this and have been wanting to document them for my own personal photo collection, and share for others what I see. A large part of this may very likely be merely photos of illegal public graffiti, thugs or gangs marking their terriroty by tagging and the defacement of this beautiful country. However, graffiti is a temporary art form, and is often cleaned up, removed and painted over. In the cases where this is true, art is lost in memory, but retained in photography and although I am not a professional photographer, I really do hope to capture some of the best.

I was recently inspired by the movie/documentary called Exit through the gift shop. It is highly recommended for anyone interested in this kind of street art and modern pop culture.

The best way to start is with google, of course. But I’ll soon be hitting the streets with my camera in hand and will be posting my findings soon thereafter.