City of Johannesburg

Johannesburg Development Agency

No 3 Helen Joseph Street PO Box 61877 Tel +27(0) 11 688 7851 (O)
The Bus Factory Marshalltown Fax +27(0) 11 688 7899/63
Newtown 2107 E-mail: info@jda.org.za
Johannesburg, 2000

www.jda.org.za
www.joburg.org.za

To: All news editors

For immediate release
11 September 2019

ART AND HERITAGE IN THE CITY

Art, culture and heritage are an essential part of human development and are also unique to
identity. The City of Johannesburg’s public art adds cultural identity and expression to the
urban landscape and brings meaning and identity to spaces.

The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) has been a catalyst in installing public art all
over the city. Sculptures and murals of all shapes and sizes can be found in the inner city
and the results of undertaking is a portfolio of artwork that brands Johannesburg as a
creative and welcoming city that celebrates its heritage and people.

This heritage month we focus on the Cultural Arc, the connection between three dominant
cultural precincts, Braamfontein, Newtown and Constitution Hill, and explore some of the
renowned artworks in the precincts.

Directors
M Ntanga (Chairperson) A Ngcezula (Acting CEO) S Moonsamy (CFO) S Jensma TG Sambo JW Karuri -Sebina EF Peters K Govender A Steyn P Zagaretos R Shirinda (Company Secretary)
Registration Number: 2001/005101/07
Braamfontein is one of Johannesburg’s most vibrant examples of inner city regeneration.
The Braamfontein Precinct is filled with galleries, public art installations and colourful graffiti
murals that can be spotted throughout the student district.

 The Eland

The Eland, by Clive van den Berg, is on the corner of Ameshoff and Bertha streets
and is more than 5.5 metres tall, weighing more than 20 tonnes. Motorists driving
through Braamfontein towards the city centre and across the Nelson Mandela Bridge
are welcomed by the Eland gazing down on them.

 Nzunza by Hannelie Coetzee

Hannelie Coetzee’s Nzunza is a 10 storey tall mural on the side of the North City
House building, in Braamfontein, made from more than 2000 ceramic plates. The
artwork, unveiled in August 2018, is named and inspired by the history and culture of
the Ndzundza Ndebele people who lived in the area in the 17th Century.

Newtown, Johannesburg has long been a place of gathering for social and political change.
It has grown into a hub of cultural institutions and businesses focused on growing the
creative and cultural space of Johannesburg and is now a place of artistic and creative
expression, known for its public art and heritage attractions.

 Nelson Mandela: Shadow Boxer

The Shadow Boxer, created by artist Marco Cianfanelli, guards Chancellor House on
25 Fox Street, where Mandela and Oliver Tambo situated their Mandela & Tambo
law firm in the 1950s. Now a heritage site, the space is open to the public, with
historical displays.

 Newtown Heads

The Newtown Heads, a public art installation of 560 carved wooden heads that sit on
plinths across the Newtown Precinct, have become one of Newtown’s most iconic
features over the last 18 years. Last year, restored Newtown Heads and a colourful
new art installation by the Imbali Visual Literacy Project were revealed to the public.
Spearheading the refurbishment of the Newtown Heads was sculptor Americo
Guambe who led the original team of artists who first created them in 2001.

Constitution Hill has become an integrated, multipurpose and multidimensional space

major tourist attraction situated between the high-density residential neighbourhood of
Hillbrow to its east and the commercial and residential node of Braamfontein to its west.

 Arch For Arch

The Arch for Arch public art commemorates the work and life of Archbishop
Desmond Tutu. Consisting of 14 individually arched beams of wood, each of which
signify a line from the Constitution’s preamble. The artwork, designed and built by
Oslo- and award-winning architecture studio Snøhetta, in collaboration with South
 African architect Thomas Chapman, was installed as part of 21st anniversary of the
South African Constitution celebrations.

 The South African Flag

One of the most impressive at the Constitution court, the highest court in the land, is
the 6m by 2.5m intricately beaded and embroidered South African flag, found the
court chamber. The flag was hand-stitched over a period of six months by a group of
women from KwaZulu-Natal.