(Pic: One of the works on show)Exhibition of photographs of an inner city mass eviction, accompanied by poems on housing and homelessness at KZNSA.
The Red Ants exhibition consists of 34 colour photographs by Johannesburg-based photographers Moshe Sekete and Kabelo Mofokeng. The photos depict the eviction in 2007 of hundreds of residents from Monis Mansions, a block of flats in central Johannesburg. They focus on both the plight of the residents and the nature of the Red Ants – the popular name given to the security company employees carrying out the eviction; this name is inspired by their bright red uniforms and riot control gear, accompanied by their unthinking robot-like behaviour. The Red Ants body of work was developed in partnership with the Goethe-Institut South Africa, and first showed at GoetheOnMain project space in Johannesburg.
Allied to the vivid colouration and sharp subject matter of the photos are 14 poems and short prose pieces focusing on homelessness and the inevitable brutality of forced eviction, particularly when the city authorities do not provide alternative accommodation for those being evicted. The poets include Pietermaritzburg-based Ingrid Andersen, two members of the Botsotso Jester poetry collective (Ike Mboneni Muila and Allan Kolski Horwitz), Uhuru wa ga Phalafala, Kai Lossgot, Goodenough Mashego, Elvis Maleka and Onaka Mhlaba.
The exhibition thus highlights a major inner-city problem – how to deal with buildings which have been abandoned by their owners (or whose owners have lost control and are therefore unable to or unwilling to carry out maintenance whilst taking legal steps to restore payment of rent) and then enter a spiral of inadequate maintenance, over-crowding and unsafe and unsanitary conditions, often becoming magnets for criminal activities. This net of conflicting interests continues to dog us: high rentals / poor service levels / rent strikes / overcrowding / landlords abandonment of buildings / opportunists hijacking of buildings and refusal to maintain basic services / local government failure to enforce by-laws so that buildings become unsafe and unsanitary: all these factors contribute to evictions which further compound the problems because no alternative accommodation is provided to the families who find themselves out in the street.
By highlighting the above issues in a non-propagandistic and sensitive manner, the project, hopes to contribute to the debate on finding solutions to homelessness, inner city crowding and the current ineffective government responses. As such, the exhibition will be accompanied by symposia on these topics involving a wide range of stake holders – inner-city residents, government officials and NGO’s involved in housing and landlord associations.
In addition, there will be workshops for photographers interested in exploring the tensions between commercial photo-journalism, socially-committed photo-journalism and photography as an art form. Such workshops will be led by Moshe Sekete and Kabelo Mofokeng but include other local KZN photographers as co-panellists and facilitators.
Red Ants runs until May 30 at the KZNSA Gallery at 166 Bulwer Road, Glenwood, in Durban. More information on 031 277 1703, fax 031 201 8051 or cell 082 220 0368 or visit www.kznsagallery.co.za
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