Johannesburg restores city monuments and art objects — Daily Maverick
In Johannesburg, South Africa, city authorities restored four landmark public art objects, replaced or restored 15 blue heritage plaques, and are installing new historical information boards and signs. The work focused primarily on the cultural district of Newtown and adjacent historic areas, Daily Maverick reports.
The programme to repair and renew public art was commissioned by the city’s Department of Arts, Culture and Heritage and implemented by the Johannesburg Development Agency. The work was carried out by the specialist team Sticky Situations in consultation with the works’ authors.
Restored sculptures and portrait
The restored objects include a sculpture of jazz musician Kippie Moeketsi, a work dedicated to singer Margaret Msingana, also known as Margaret Singana, a monument to Mahatma Gandhi’s burning of registration certificates, and the Paper Pigeons installation.
Moeketsi’s bronze sculpture was cleaned and re-patinated. The informational inscription was also changed: previously, the word “Moralong” was described as the musician’s nickname, but jazz researcher Gwen Ansell said that it was his Tswana clan name. According to Eric Itzkin, the former head of the city’s heritage department, not everyone, including members of the musician’s family, agreed with this interpretation. The new plaque provides basic information about Moeketsi and the work, while a QR code linking to an extended biography has been installed nearby.
Artist Dbongz created a new version of the large portrait of Margaret Singana after the previous canvas had become worn and torn. The canvas is mounted on the facade of Nikki’s Oasis Jazz Restaurant and is part of a series of large portraits of cultural figures in Newtown and Maboneng.
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Stories of protests and communities
At Mary Fitzgerald Square, the blue heritage plaque installed in 2005 was replaced, and new information boards about the square’s history and the labour movement were put up. They tell, among other things, about the 1946 strike by Black mineworkers and trade union activist Mary Fitzgerald, who was known as Pickhandle Mary. A steel silhouette depicts her wearing a hat and holding a pickaxe handle.
The Mahatma Gandhi monument is dedicated to the events of 16 August 1908, when he led more than 3,000 people to the Hamidia Mosque, where registration certificates were burned in protest against discriminatory legislation. Usha Seejarim’s sculpture includes a cast-iron cauldron and a zoetrope: when it rotates, an animated image of a certificate can be seen through the slots.
In Ferreira’s Dorp, boards are also being installed about Johannesburg’s first Chinatown, where a settlement existed from around 1893. Paper Pigeons was restored there: three steel pigeons about three metres tall, created by Gerhard Marx and Maja Marx. The installation, put up in 2009, honours the city’s Chinese and broader Asian communities.
Heritage plaques
The city’s collection of blue heritage plaques includes more than 230 markers installed over approximately two decades in different parts of Johannesburg, including Alexandra and Soweto. One plaque marks the Red Square site, where political gatherings and protests took place, while another tells about the Battle of Fordsburg Square during the 1922 strike. The city is also preparing an online catalogue of these commemorative markers.
