JOHANNESBURG
Architecture and Heritage
Book launch and photographic exhibition by Patrick de Mervelec
David Krut Projects, 142 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood, Johannesburg
Saturday 9 March 2013 at 12pm
The event will be opened by Her Excellency Mrs Elisabeth Barbier, Ambassador of France in South Africa.
Opening address by Fanuel Motsepe
“In the gloom – the presence of a great city looms.” – Clive Chipkin.
In this landmark photographic book Patrick de Mervelec takes us through the old CBD of Johannesburg, the heart and soul of the city, with a selection of over 150 images accompanied by texts by architect and acclaimed author, Clive Chipkin. The introductions have been contributed by architect Fanuel Motsepe and urban consultant Neil Fraser, author of the celebrated column, Citichat.
In the words of Fanuel Motsepe “the book is an exquisite narrative of a pedestrian’s experience of Joburg. Building after building, panoramic view after panoramic view, a story is felt, told or imagined through the lens of a photographer with a keen sense of detail that embraces the architecture of the structures as well as the spirit of time and place. The photographer takes us through a journey of his emotions filled with a passion expressed by the quality of light he seduces out of the colour of the sky to pronounce the design, form and texture of each building and scenic view.” The images, Motsepe continues, “resonate with a hope and a desire that the city will outlive its political and socio-economic idiosyncrasies; the images of dilapidation on some of the buildings are cast as patina on priceless antiquities.”
To Neil Fraser, it is the city’s “unique, fascinating and remarkable history of magical contrasts” that have been “so sensitively captured in the pages of this book.” De Mervelec “presents the city in all its beauty and yet its starkness; its fine detailing and sometimes coarse decorations; its modern freshness and yet its often faded charm; its tragic secrets of political separation and inhumanity and its great hope for its democratic future.”
In inimitable style, Clive Chipkin’s insightful texts complete the book.
The exhibition accompanying the launch of the publication comprises a selection of images from the book. To see the works on exhibition, please click here.
An epic 192 pages in large format, the book is available in a hard or soft cover edition.
192 pages Publisher: In Camera Art Publications ISBN 9780620554930
Order your copy of the book here.