Drama and fine arts graduate Alastair Mclachlan is an artist and photographer. He describes himself as a "drive-in stalker, fire chaser, magic bus driver, rooftop venue instigator, dreamer, and recovering optimist".
Maclachlan is compiling a love letter to the city in book form. It's a compilation of a decade of visually documenting Johannesburg from the bird's eye view he had from the 19th floor of his studio and home at Lister Medical Building in the City Centre.
"Photographing Johannesburg from this vantage point began with a naive awe for an experience unlike my own of growing up on farms. I was initially drawn to the spectacular: the sunsets and the thundershowers, the hustle and bustle, the beauty and the potential. I found myself in the business of making Johannesburg look good."
"Loving Joburg is like loving that dear, sweet, creative, vibrant person you know, who enriches your life immeasurably, but who you cannot trust to take the most basic care of themselves."
In our latest #MyJoburg interview we look into his journey of capturing Johannesburg in portraits and find out what drives his commitment to the city.
Your recent exhibition at Stokvel Gallery, I wrote a letter to my love, allowed visitors to write postcards to Joburg. What made you want to create this dialogue?
I used to collect stamps as a kid which led to collecting postcards, which inspired my earlier project Postbox 1984. My very first exhibition, of photos of Johannesburg, was called Wish you were here and I used to be the proud caretaker of P.O. Box 1984, Johannesburg, 2000, at the Jeppe Street Post Office. The act of sitting still, in contemplation and intent and committing one's most inner thoughts by pen to paper, has always been especially poignant to me. There’s this beautiful melancholy of words born in solitary that have such grand aspirations for rapport. The connection between writer and reader is as delicate as a breath and yet so potentially robust.
I believe that words are powerful and that words of pure intent will find their mark, over distance and even time. I began pairing some of my photos with excerpts from famous love letters and posted them on my Instagram account @intermission. I enjoyed how the words danced with the photos; this resulted in my dialogue with Joburg. It's a kind love letter, for a love which is true but complicated. Initially, I did not set out to create a dialogue; I was driven mostly by the curiosity of how others felt about the city. I’m thrilled that dialogue took place and so many people took time to join in.
"What began as a personal discovery of Johannesburg, spilled over into my excitement of sharing my experience and I established my living space as a venue called Intermission."
What was the most surprising response to the city in these postcards?
Loving Joburg is like loving that dear, sweet, creative, vibrant person you know, who enriches your life immeasurably, but who you cannot trust to take the most basic care of themselves.
Your 20-year or so project to document Joburg. How did it start?
I used to take day trips to the Johannesburg Art Gallery with my gran when I was young. When I knew Johannesburg from the inside, with vestige evidence of colonial glory, and from the outside, a smoky picture of industry, seen from the highway, driving past. I only moved to Johannesburg in 1999. I had a solo exhibition at the Generator Arts Space called Fireworks! These were cathartic, mixed-media works dealing with a sense of loss and cultural memory cycles. I was subsequently invited to participate in the Tour Guides of the Inner City art intervention programme under the auspices of the Urban Futures 2000 conferences. I produced drive-in murals on neglected spaces and buildings within the city, strapped a projector to the top of a pink bus, and conducted a series of cinematic bus tours. The tour started at the Market Theatre with a film, projected on a painting, of a drive-in hung between two palm trees.
Showing home-grown video art on the drive-in murals along the route, the tour culminated in a 35mm projection of Felix in Exile by William Kentridge. I was still painting and documenting drive-ins at the time. I could see the back of the Top Star drive-in from where I lived. What began as a personal discovery of Johannesburg, spilled over into my excitement of sharing my experience and I established my living space as a venue called 'Intermission'. I hosted my first event for Red Bull in 2005 and my last in 2014. When the events diary filled up, I packed away my painting studio and started deliberately taking photos. There was a photo I took in 2006 of a person bathing, from a bucket, on the adjacent rooftop of a hijacked building. It seemed immediately significant.
"I enjoyed how the words danced with the photos; this resulted in my dialogue with Joburg. It's a kind love letter, for a love which is true but complicated."
You are compiling a book of images about Joburg. Tell us about the narrative thread?
My photos of Joburg, many taken years apart, have started talking to each other. Layering and informing each other and generating deeper nuanced meanings. I've decided the book will take the form of several short stories and photo essays including [chapters titled] 'A Province and its People'; 'Histories and Futures'; 'Economy and Economic Life'; 'Space and Time'; 'Marks and Longings', and more. I'm currently working on the 'Still Life' chapter. I'm calling the opening chapter 'Wish You Were Here'. It speaks to how I came to live in Johannesburg and be one of its cheerleaders. I hope it will set the scene and the tone, which is unashamedly subjective and in some cases quite contentious. I'm not shying away from the fact that I'm part of the story.
Your work has often focused on the views from a rooftop in Joburg. What stands out from this perspective?
The Joburg City Centre is not quite a metropolis. You can hold its perimeter in view from a 19th-floor perspective. You can see old mine dumps and some of the more affluent suburban hubs on the horizon, so there's a clear geographical and historical context. The City Centre is also not one thing. It's a collection of quite distinct precincts, with different personalities. I like that it's possible, with some imagination, to discern a timeline of Johannesburg and its evolution, and even look back through time. Bree Street is a one-way street. The city grid north of Bree (west of Eloff Street) doesn't align with the streets to the south. Vehicles crossing Bree, going south, turn 20 metres into oncoming traffic. The congestion at these intersections is a wealth of amusement and metaphor when you're not stuck in them. That sight line from dump to traffic jam, from gritty pioneers with golden aspirations to a picture of all our current impediments and entanglements is, for me, the story of how we are all connected and how Joburg works, even when it doesn't.
Home is...
A hug from my son.
Your favourite Joburg suburb, and why you choose it?
I've known Melville the longest. As a favourite, it waxes and wanes and sometimes you want to give it a bath... but it keeps me honest.
What is a surprising thing people might learn about Joburg by having a conversation with you?
That it's loveable. That the urban myths (all of them), from wildlife in the streets to ruthless commercialists, as true as all these may be, are only half the story. I meet people all the time who have shifted from trepidation to wariness to being pleasantly surprised. People soon learn that Joburgers, for the most part, are open, warm and authentic, and that they can relax.
What three things should a visitor not leave Joburg without seeing or experiencing?
Meeting three different people, from three different places, doing three different things.
Your favourite Joburg author or favourite Joburg book?
Joburg: Points of View, by photographer Guy Tillim.
One song on your Joburg soundtrack that either is about Joburg or makes you think about this city?
Grazing in the Grass by Hugh Masekela. Also, We Built This City by Starship. I worked on a retainer basis for two properties and an earthworks company, documenting their various projects over two years. I delivered but also made portraits of some of the contractors on site. We Built This City makes me think of the unsung heroes of the Joburg economy.
The most memorable meal you have eaten in Joburg?
A beyaynetu [mixed plate of meat and vegetables] of various wats [stews] on an injera [sourdough bread], at an Ethiopian eatery in Jeppe Street. It came with an avo, mango and guava lassi, so thick the colours looked like a flag.
If you could buy one Joburg building which would it be?
It was always The Lister Medical Building, where I lived, but I would have loved the Bosman Building, at eye level a few blocks away, so I could tightrope walk between the two.
If you were the Joburg mayor for one day (average tenure) what would you change?
Open the Johannesburg City Library Rebuild and re-open the Top Star drive-in! Also, Data Must Fall.
Favourite Joburg label, and why?
Magents is an old favourite. I'm still wearing a shirt of theirs, which I got at the Carlton Centre, more than 10 years ago! Tshepo is a new favourite. Too très cool and everything just hangs right... and they're committed to manufacturing locally at their atelier at Victoria Yards.
What makes someone a Joburger?
Feeling undaunted and sometimes heroic resignation.
What do you love most about Joburg?
That it's down to earth and its people have a can-do-will-do attitude.
What do you least like about Joburg?
The inequality. That so many people are desperate and lack prospects. Litterbugs. The litter, in general. Road rage. The closed-minded and the closed-off.
"I was initially drawn to the spectacular: the sunsets and the thundershowers, the hustle and bustle, the beauty and the potential. I found myself in the business of making Johannesburg look good."
Your number-one tip for a first-time visitor to Joburg?
Keep 'em peeled but don't be surprised if people are friendly.
One Joburg personality whom you would honour with the freedom of the city if you could, and why?
All The Twilight children, from a care shelter based in Hillbrow. I did a mural painting workshop with the centre, followed by a short 16mm screening, a while back. The children were amazing! Their engagement and enthusiasm was palpable. Most watched the film, two kids watched the projector and quizzed me afterwards. I'd desperately love to feel that more doors are open to them, more often, and that they and the gatekeepers become and remain inspired.
The perfect weekend in Joburg includes...
Some sunshine. Some activity. Some quiet time. Some company. Some music, maybe even a dance, something tasty, and something unexpected.
Three words that describe this city
Pregnant with prospect.
Check out some of our previous #MyJoburg interviews for more insights into the city:
#MyJoburg with Bambo Sibiya, artist
#MyJoburg with Zydia Botes, textile designer and entrepreneur
#MyJoburg with David Mann, writer and arts journalist
Comments