G u y   T i l l i m
Jo'burg

All works from this series are available in an edition of 5 + 1 AP.

Guy Tillim has won the Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2005 for the Jo'burg series. The photojournalism prize was awarded by the Leica Camera Group in collaboration with the Rencontres de la Photographie festival held in Arles in the South of France in July 2005. The award is given annually to the photographer "whose sure powers of observation most vividly express man's relationship to his environment". See the Leica website.

Johannesburg is experiencing a radical transformation of its inner city, and the City Council's approach to the regeneration is contentious. Tillim's work considers the private lives of the people who are the often-forgotten subjects of the decay and renewal of apartment blocks in the city. Click here to view artist's statement.

The Jo'burg exhibition - which has travelled to the South African National Gallery in Cape Town, the Durban Art Gallery and the Johannesburg Art Gallery - forms part of the DaimlerChrysler Prize awarded to Tillim for South African photography in 2004. The series also showed at PhotoEspana, Madrid, in June/July 2005.

The series has been published in book form by Filigranes Editions and STE Publishers.



1.
A map of central Johannesburg at the Inner City Regeneration Project office, City Council, Loveday Street

2.
View of Hillbrow looking north from the roof of the Mariston Hotel
sold out

3.
Al's Tower, a block of flats on Harrow Road, Berea, overlooking the Ponte building


4.
The roof of Sherwood Heights, Smit Street

5.
On the roof of Jeanwell House on Nugget Street

6.
Tayob Towers, Pritchard Street
sold out


7.
San Jose, a block of flats in Olivia Street, Berea

8.
A fire threatens the Miller Weedon building on Twist Street

9.
Oupa's geraniums, Yeoville


10.
San Jose, Olivia Street, Berea

11.
Manhattan Court, Plein Street

12.
Cape Agulhas, Esselen Street, Hillbrow


13.
Jeanwell House, a former commercial property in Nugget Street, converted to residential use

14.
Milton Court, Pritchard Street
sold out

15.
Milton Court, Pritchard Street


16.
Thulisile, eighth floor, San Jose, Olivia Street, Berea.

17.
July's shop, selling beer, chips and cigarettes, on the eighth floor of San Jose, Olivia Street, Berea

18.
Barber's shop, Hillbrow


19.
Manhattan Court, Plein Street

20.
Stanhope Mansions, Plein Street

21.
Corridor of slum apartments, Auret Street, Jeppestown


22.
Cape Agulhas, Esselen Street, Hillbrow

23.
First floor, Jeanwell House, Nugget Street

24.
The view from an apartment in Jeanwell House overlooking the intersection of Nugget and Pritchard Streets
sold out


25.
San Jose, Olivia Street, Berea

26.
Pinky Masoe at her home in Sherwood Heights, Smit Street. The building's water and electricity had been cut off for four months

27.
The view from San Jose, Olivia Street, Berea, looking east over Yeoville


28.
Namasonto makes her bed, Jeanwell House, Nugget Street

29.
Fourth floor, San Jose, Olivia Street, Berea

30.
Thulani Magome and Sheila Thabang's place in Al's Tower, Joel Road, Berea


31.
Kenny Ncube on the balcony of his flat in Sherwood Heights, Smit Street

32.
Yonela Kwaza, Grafton Road, Yeoville

33.
Mathews Ngwenya at his place in Sherwood Heights, Smit Street


34.
Ntokozo (right) and his brother Vusi Tshabalala at Ntokozo's place, Milton Court, Pritchard Street
sold out

35.
San Jose, Olivia Street, Berea

36.
Mbulelo at the bar he runs in a house in Joel Road, Berea


37.
Mbulelo's bar, Joel Road, Berea

38.
Mbulelo's bar, Joel Road, Berea. Justice Sibanyone (centre) and his wife Monica (extreme left)

39.
Milthred Court, Kerk Street


40.
Zimbabwean Innocent Mazeka's place, 402 Al's Tower, Joel Road, Berea

41.
Zimbabwean Innocent Mazeka's place, 402 Al's Tower, Joel Road, Berea

42.
Al's Tower, Joel Road, Berea


43.
Philip Radebe, Jeanwell House, Nugget Street

44.
Tshililo (right) and her friends share a one-roomed apartment in Cape Agulhas, Esselen Street, Hillbrow

45.
Richard in the girls' room, Cape Agulhas, Esselen Street, Hillbrow


46.
Nomasanto's room, Jeanwell House, Nugget Street

47.
Nomsa Kubheka, Milton Court, Pritchard Street

48.
Masala Kwinda's place at Jeanwell House, Nugget Street


49.
Export House, Bree Street

50.
Grafton Road, Yeoville
sold out

51.
Jeanwell House, Nugget Street


52.
Members of Wozani Security, known as the Red Ants, enter the Chelsea Hotel in Hillbrow during a clean-up operation

53.
Eviction by the Red Ants, Auret Street, Jeppestown

54.
Noverna Court, Paul Nel Street, Hillbrow


55.
Eviction aftermath, Noverna Court, Paul Nel Street, Hillbrow

56.
Eviction aftermath, Noverna Court, Paul Nel Street, Hillbrow

58.
Eviction aftermath, Noverna Court, Paul Nel Street, Hillbrow


59.
The Red Ants evict residents of Crest House, Main Street, Jeppestown

60.
The view from the top of the Mariston Hotel looking south

61.
Sherwood Heights, Smit Street

Artist's statement

White residents fled Johannesburg's inner city in the 1990s. The removal of the Group Areas Act foreshadowed a flow into the city of black residents and owners of small businesses seeking opportunities and better lives. Former denizens looked back in self-righteous justification at a city that was given over to plunder and mayhem. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy, backed up by eyewitness reports and statistics. Everyone had their horror stories.

In amongst this turmoil existed the tower blocks occupied by tenants who were holding onto occupancy and managing the buildings in ways of their own devising. Their story had gone something like this: in the 1990s the owners absconded, leaving managing agents to retrieve what rents they could. In most cases, these agents were corrupt, did not pay the utilities, and disappeared with the money. These were tidy sums, handed over by poor people who conscientiously paid up to avoid having to go back where they came from.

The decay of Jo'burg's centre can be ascribed to many factors but perhaps none more so than the absence of Body Corporates. These had become relics of a more genteel era; the communal responsibilities that are contentious in even the most well-heeled blocks were not marked out. Windows were broken and not repaired. Lifts froze and their shafts became tips.

The relationship between tenants and owners or their agents deteriorated with disputes over the state of the buildings, and in some cases resulted in unpaid rents and dues. The buildings started looking like fire hazards, and the City Council began closing on them for unpaid utilities.

In between the needs of City Council and the aspirations of developers anticipating the bloom of an African city lies the fate of Jo'burg's residents. The outcome will decide whether or not Johannesburg becomes, again, a city of exclusion.

For more information contact +27 (0)21 421 2575 or fax +27 (0)21 421 2578 or email info@michaelstevenson.com.

© 2003 Michael Stevenson. All rights reserved.