There is art everywhere you look. And if there were ever a visual metaphor for Joburg – a “powerful performance piece” on the state of our city – it would be a triptych of images (turned into the GIF above) snapped by Mark Barnes yesterday.
Blinking red, orange, green, the tragic yet somehow still-functioning traffic light on Glenhove Road stopped him in his tracks. But the scene was far too poetic and perverse not to capture too.
Our fallen comrade would make a terrific art installation – except, of course, that it actually has an important job to do. Presumably, the poor thing was knocked over by a shoddy driver and has been left to do its best in a bad situation. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it, dear Joburg readers?
In a conversation about the fallen robot, a friend of Currency mentioned that there are 42 traffic lights between Rosebank and his farm in Kromdraai. On average, 37 of them (many along Beyers Naudé Drive) don’t work. Then, inevitably, we got talking about the potholes – which could have kept us going for days.
Take, for example, the particularly moving one on Frederick Drive in Northcliff. Moving, first, because it is expanding by the minute – but also because someone has placed a gargantuan branch in it to alert drivers. The tree bit, alongside yellow bollards and chevron tape, has taken on the arresting appearance of a land art installation. A powerful cultural commentary on the chasm of capitalism engulfing nature? Or just the Joburg Roads Agency being useless? Creativity is subjective, so you interpret it as you wish.
We aren’t making light (pardon the pun) of this dire situation – Gauteng dwellers clearly deserve better service delivery – but we’d love to see your images of our strange, distressing and sometimes darkly hilarious city. Send them to info@currencynews.co.za and we’ll create a gallery of the best ones.
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