Carlos Garaicoa

Goqa, 2022

GOQA is a body of work produced during a 2022 research trip to Johannesburg. The title for the photographic series is Zulu slang for a special key to enter a house illegally. This reference manifests in the installation of the work: a collection of blank keys held on rings alongside key holders that show photographs of Johannesburg’s buildings. Collectively, these photographs present a portrait of the city’s architecture today - an entry point for thinking about buildings as witnesses to history and as storytellers of failed urban ideals, forgotten spaces and deterioration.