As many of you already know, I’ve been on a mission to discover Joburg’s best shawarmas. This turned out to be a bigger challenge than I initially anticipated.
First, I like to do my “best of” posts in groups of five. But there are a lot more than five great shawarma restaurants in Joburg. I thought I knew more or less where to go, but once I started researching I found Joburg’s shawarma culture extends more widely than I realized.
Several months ago I spotted a post in the @WhatsOnInJoburg Instagram feed. “Africa’s tallest Shiva Shakti Statue is in Benoni”, the post read, with a photo of the biggest, boldest, most colorful Hindu deity I’ve ever seen. I made a mental note to visit the Sivan Alayam Temple, a.k.a. the Shiva Temple, as soon as possible.
Over the past two weeks I’ve seen dozens of heartbreaking pictures of the recent flooding in Kwa-Zulu Natal, and there’s one image I can’t get out of my mind: a shot by photojournalist Jacques Nelles of a Durban beach piled high with plastic waste. Apparently many of the flash floods in and around Durban – which killed hundreds of people – were caused by storm drains choked with plastic. Single-use plastic is killing us, yet we keep voraciously consuming it because there seems to be no alternative.
Almost ten years ago, I did an exhibition of photos I shot in Maboneng and Jeppestown, two adjacent neighborhoods in downtown Joburg. I had nearly forgotten about this exhibition (which you can read about here). But then a week ago I received an Instagram message from Abdullah Dajee, owner of a men’s clothing and shoe shop in Jeppestown called City Hall (which is also known as City Outfitters or City Hall Outfitters).
If you live in Melville, or have lived in Melville at any point between December and April over the past few decades, then you know the call of the Mielie Lady.
You all know I’ve become obsessed with second-hand shopping – especially thrifted clothes curated by my friend Ryan of @threedogsthrift. And while I buy most of my clothes directly from Ryan, I’ve also become interested in sustainable shopping more generally. Joburg is a major hub for buying and selling second-hand clothes and I’m really keen to learn more about it.