I recently spent two days in Clarens – a quaint resort town in the mountains of the eastern Free State – as part of the MeetSouthAfrica local blogger trip. I’ve been to Clarens three or four times but never devoted an entire blog post to it, even though I think it’s one of the loveliest towns in South Africa (albeit a bit touristy). You can find reference to Clarens in several of my posts though: see here and here and here and here.
This post isn’t about Clarens either. (Sorry, Clarens fans.) It’s about Kgubetswana, the township right next to Clarens, where I saw some really cool graffiti.
Graffiti with a backdrop of emerald-green Free State mountains.
We discovered this graffiti through a quirky art gallery in downtown Clarens called Ism Skism. Some of the other MeetSouthAfrica bloggers wandered into Ism Skism and started chatting to the owner, Sven Christian, about what he was up to.
Inside Ism Skism.
Sven offered to take us to Kgubetswana, which is a five-minute walk from Clarens, to show us some street art he curated as part of a project called the Flatlands Tour. You can read a nice description of the Flatlands Tour on the Graffiti South Africa website.
I have a special interest in graffiti, as most of you know, and a special interest in finding beautiful things in unexpected places. So this impromptu tour was exciting for me. I took dozens of photos but here are a few of my favorites.
A water tank at a community center in Kgubetswana, painted by Cape Town artist Skubalisto.
A wall at the same community center, also by Skubalisto.
Painting on the wall of a Kgubetswana tuck shop, by Skubalisto and Mr. Migo (also an artist from Cape Town). I love this.
The gorgeous Felicia, who happened to walk out of the tuck shop dressed to the nines in traditional garb and agreed to pose for a portrait. What luck.
The Jazzland Bar in Kgubetswana. I think Sven might have painted this but I’m not sure.
The next time you’re in Clarens, pay a visit to Sven at Ism Skism. Clarens has tons of great art galleries but this one is really something different. If you ask nicely, Sven might even take you on a street art tour – a refreshing change from the conventional Clarens pastimes of hiking, shopping, and eating.
By the way, my conventional Clarens post is still coming. Some day.
How have I never blogged about 44 Stanley Avenue, the coolest shopping and dining complex in Joburg, which is only five minutes from my house?
I guess it’s wrong to say I’ve never blogged about 44 Stanley; I’ve mentioned it countless times over the years (see here and here) when writing about specific restaurants or shops that are there. But I’ve never written a dedicated post about 44 Stanley as a destination and it’s about time I did – especially now, with the holidays upon us.
I’ve been dreadfully uninspired lately, struggling to think of anything I want to blog about despite having a long list of great ideas (many of which you, my readers, provided in September). I’m finding it hard to feel positive about life at the moment. But on Saturday Thorsten and I got the chance to visit Indwe Park, an indigenous garden and sculpture park in Braamfontein, and I knew I had my topic for today.
Given this week’s political nuclear bomb blast, it feels like a weird time to publish a light-hearted post about my recent (pre-election) jaunt through the United States. But I’m hoping you’ve have had enough of the U.S. election horror show – I know I have – and are ready (at least temporarily) for some wholesome American travel adventures. If so, please read on about my four-day visit to Maine, the northeastern-most state in the lower 48, with my sister, Susanna.
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It makes me smile, when I see it.