Sam NhlengethwaAscot Corner, 2019
Despite living outside of the city to this day, Nhlengethwa has spent much of his life working in and around Joburg, occupying a workspace at the Bag Factory in Fordsburg for many years and more recently, a studio at August House in Doornfontein. With the series 'Joburg Selected', Nhlengethwa reflects on the sights and sounds he’s absorbed during this period, zeroing in on a series of buildings and places which for one reason or another occupy a place in his impression of the city.
The human figures, typical of Nhlengethwa’s paintings and collage, are largely absent from this body of work. Instead, 'Joburg Selected' is populated with a different cast of characters including the Market Theatre, Constitution Hill and Ponte City among others.
“The buildings become the persona here,” says Nhlengethwa. “They have their own stories and relate to our history in various ways.” By choosing to depict these specific sites Nhlengethwa views this work as an archive of the city and record of certain buildings that may not exist in the future. “When you look at what photographers like David Goldblatt did in the past, some of those structures no longer exist, but they’re on record. It’s about memory, more than just architecture”.
In addition to mixed media works on canvas, 'Joburg Selected' features lithographic prints. Popular night spots such as Kitcheners and the now-defunct The Orbit are depicted in these scenes, “to remind people that we used to listen to good sounds there”. Another large work brings together several of the city’s iconic high rises into a made-up mise en scene and is titled, I Love Jozi, which for Nhlengethwa about “sums it up”.
