South Africa

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Art History Photography

Aerial Shots That Demonstrate The Stark Divide Between Rich and Poor

During apartheid, barriers were both constructed and modified to segregate urban spaces—roads, rivers, and large stretches of open land separating rich neighborhoods from the poor. Twenty-two years later these barriers still exist, large homes with lush lawns just a few yards away from tightly-packed communities organized with dirt roads rather than tree-lined streets. Photographer Johnny Miller wanted to capture the dramatic divide from a new perspective, and decided to shoot many areas in South Africa from several hundred feet in the air for a series titled “Unequal Scenes.”

By utilizing aerial photographs, the separation is all the more apparent, suburban sprawl nestled up against tight and overcrowded streets. Due to the camera’s position so high in the air, the details of each area becomes obscured. It is difficult to pinpoint an exact location for the photographs, allowing the viewer to relate the imagery to communities in their own part of the world that may also carry distinct inequalities.

“My desire with this project is to portray the most Unequal Scenes in South Africa as objectively as possible,” Miller explains in a statement about the project. “By providing a new perspective on an old problem, I hope to provoke a dialogue which can begin to address the issues of inequality and disenfranchisement in a constructive and peaceful way.”

Miller has an upcoming exhibition of his photographs in early August in Johannesburg that will be announced soon. You can see more of his aerial photographs that document inequality on his Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. (This Isn’t Happiness)

Art

Site-Specific Elephant Murals on the Streets of South Africa by Falko One

Working with the iconic image of the elephant, South African artist Falko One brings lumbering pachyderms to the facades of homes, alleyways, and businesses across the country. The Cape Town-based graffiti artist has been painting murals in the region since 1988, and though he depicts a wide range of subject matter in his artworks, the elephants seem to most easily capture the imagination of the viewer. Many of his site-specific murals incorporate elements of the building or even items far off in the background directly into the painting, creating fun optical illusions. You can follow more of his work on Instagram and on Global Street Art.

Design

Step Inside ‘Truth,’ a Steampunk Coffee Shop in Cape Town, South Africa

Features on interior design here on Colossal are few and far between, there are times when a space is so wholly original it’s just too hard to pass up. Case in point: Truth Coffee Shop in Cape Town, South Africa. This radically designed steampunk-themed coffee shop was created by Heldane Martin who considered the form factor of espresso machines and coffee roasters to be somewhat similar to the Victorian futuristic fantasy style found in the aesthetic of steampunk. The hope was also to personify Truth’s attempt at roasting the very best coffee by offering a perfectly executed space.

Every inch of the coffee shop is packed with visual candy from large saw-blade tabletops to beautiful overstuffed booths and an ornate array of coffee making equipment that looks absurdly complex, almost like interior of a World War 2 submarine. If that wasn’t enough, Martin also crammed the space with vintage typewriters, Singer sewing machines, and old candlestick telephones. The design even extends to the restrooms which have exposed copper pipes, old extending mirrors and victorian tap levers.

You can see many more photos over on Heldane Martin. All photos above courtesy Shanna Jones. (via Yatzer)

Photography

Software Architect Turned Photographer Alexander Safonov Captures Breathtaking Underwater Scenes off the Coast of South Africa

Alexander Safonov is a software architect from Voronezh, Russia who currently lives and works in Discovery Bay, Hong Kong. Not content to sit in front of a computer full-time he obtained a diving license in 2002 and started to experiment with underwater photography about two years later. He has since made numerous excursions to photograph underwater wildlife off Cocos Island, Fiji, the Galapagos and Raja Ampat. However his favorite destination is the annual sardine run off the coast of South Africa where most of the photos you see were captured over the last few years. You can see much more of his work on Flickr and 500px.