RealCity Group Photographic exhibition, is a selection of images from the @therealcityofcapetown instagram feed, selected by Barry Christianson. The exhibition will also include a photograph taken by Peter Clarke, generously on loan from the Ocean View library.
The real city of Cape Town. Is there such a thing?
Ilze Wolff writes:
‘I have followed this group on instagram and without fail, each image, each daily post is indeed a paradoxical view of Cape Town. A sublime, complicated view of Cape Town.
I asked Barry Christianson, the creator of the instagram feed if we should have a real exhibition, in a real space. He said yes, and then he selected images from regular contributors that he felt best shows the paradox that is Cape Town. Photos by Lidudumalingani Mqombothi, Leanne Brady, Iqraa Daniel, Lindsey Appolis, Musaed Abrahams, Ashraf Hendricks, Zayaan Jappie and Barry, himself were selected. We met as a group, online many times, once in real space. The idea of dialogue became an important feature of the exhibition. Words with images were created and a zine was born.
On a trip to Ocean View with Lindsey Appolis, we were shown by Alvin Castro, an image taken by the late fine artist and cultural icon, Peter Clarke. The image, printed out large and mounted on hard board, was on display at the Ocean View library, donated by Peter Clarke, himself. It is a birds eye view perspective of Ocean View captured from the Redhill ruins, a forced removal site at the top of Simonstown. It became important to include the image in the Realcity exhibition, not only as a homage to Clarke as a photographer, but also to reflect on the tradition of capturing the city within this mood of nostalgic melancholy. The Ocean View Library agreed to lend us the image for the duration of the exhibit (one week) and to put up prints of the new generation of photographers’ work in its place in the library. We are humbled and grateful that they agreed.
So, to get back to the question: Is there such a thing as the real city of Cape Town? Maybe, and maybe not. But perhaps it could be interesting to consider reality not as a subject in a frame, but reality as a transformative search.’
The exhibition opens on Thursday 07 July
Wolff Architects 136 Buitengracht
