about
JOZI is one of the many nicknames for Johannesburg. In July over 100 architecture, planning, urban design and international relations students, academics and professionals from 52 universities and more than 20 countries met in Johannesburg for the third Global Studio. Working with the University of Witwatersrand School of Architecture and Planning and the City of Johannesburg, Global Studio developed a range of projects and propositions for the townships of Alexandra and Diepsloot, and a depressed area of the downtown- Marshalltown.
Outcomes included hands-on improvements with local people, design proposals for housing and neighborhoods, urban agriculture and wetlands, income generating projects, transformative urban design proposals the downtown, films and festivals.
Shooting JOZI is a project of Global Studio Johannesburg 2007. Hugh Snelgrove, one of three students selected to represent the University of Sydney Faculty of Architecture, Design & Planning at Global Studio, initiated it. 100 cameras were donated to Global studio by FUJI Australia. Through work in these communities, Global Studio participants helped realize the project.
the photographers
Men, women and children living in Diepsloot, Alexandra, Marshalltown AND Makause were offered disposable cameras and asked if they would like to record the places they live.
Over two weeks they documented many aspects of their lives: places of informal trading and work, places where they play, sleep or relax, as well as things they’d like to improve in their communities
While some chose to document an average day, others saw the photographic project as an opportunity to document more poignant subjects, hoping to raise awareness of the poverty and environmental deprivation afflicting many of them.
In Diepsloot, Alexandra and Makause poor infrastructure including inadequate public transport and sanitation, open space and pollution as well as forced evictions to “temporary” settlements were documented .In Marshalltown, a single mother battling her second bout with cancer took photos of her daily struggle, to draw attention to what she believed was a disproportionate amount of resources being devoted to find a cure for the highly publicised AIDS epidemic while resources tackling other diseases were lacking.
The community photographers also captured some of the contradictions in these areas of urban poverty in Johannesburg. They included the presence of expensive cars such as BMW’s, Mercedes & Jaguars parked outside humble corrugated iron shacks!
The majority of local residents participating in the project voiced a sense of pride and optimism for the future of South Africa, and the opportunities their country presented.
Shooting JOZI is currently on display at the University of Sydney. Global Studio participants are planning exhibitions of photos on this website in their home countries of India, Italy, Finland, Australia, South Africa and Uganda. The exhibition can be made available to others (please visit our contact page).