#BEWAREOFCOLOUR
https://web.archive.org/web/20141203085524/http://morethanfood.co.za/bewareofcolour/It’s been there for a few months, interest has waxed and waned, but what actually has been done following the great pinking of Joburg?
Well not much…
Such is the fate of many activist art projects. While it is not the place of the artist to evoke change, but rather to highlight the need for it, you can only but wonder at what is the actual point of it all if all it is? Is a one-off statement piece worth the time and effort if it comes to nought in the end?
The buildings that have been doused in pink had up to that point been almost entirely forgotten, mere shells serving as a vague reminder of the former greatness of the inner city, and an even greater reminder of the state it has fallen.
In a country where countless people have nowhere safe to stay, and many more are forced to live in squalid conditions at the mercy of slumlords, it is a crime against the people of South Africa that such buildings are left to fall into ruin, or even worse be turned into parking complexes as was once proposed.
In a phone interview with the Guardian, Yazmany Arboleda (the man behind the #bewareofcolour project) deplored the state of downtown Joburg saying, “Every citizen is supposed to have a constitutional right to housing, and safety is a real issue downtown. If the authorities were serious about fixing these problems, then wouldn’t programmes like Operation Clean Sweep start with these properties? They embody the injustices in the city.”
Arboleda’s aim was to generate conversation in the hope that it would lead to action. He has succeeded in the first part. Publications spanning the globe have joined in on the pink building debate. The two most engaging responses can be found on Urban Joburg and The Heritage Portal.
The #bewareofcolour project has been cited as operating outside the law and an act of Vandalism. Is it perhaps is its scale that draws it such attention and criticism? We must ask ourselves why are the authorities so incensed by this act of protest yet remain mum on the ever-growing graffiti on our buildings. Is it perhaps that while graffiti and other vandalism can be written off to perceived criminal elements.
#Bewareofcolour has a purpose and a manifesto. This scares those in positions of authority. It reveals their inadequacy to the world, and thus they are quick to decry it in defence of their own positions.
It serves to highlight the torpor that has encapsulated Johannesburg’s authorities with regards to regenerating the inner-city. They have left it to private investors and developers, most of whom will not act until it is financially beneficial to them, and in some cases, this might mean the destruction of buildings that form a massive part of Joburg’s heritage in favour of erecting soulless buildings that will bring in revenue ie parking complexes.
If Joburg’s heart and heart and soul is to be saved, further action needs to be taken. Pink slowly fades with time and becomes but a distant memory of a call to action.
What the next step is, however, is another question entirely.
Acting within the bounds of the law is a long and arduous process and can matter can easily be drowned in the bureaucratic process so that a solution is never found. It thus becomes our responsibility to step beyond the bounds of the law so as to effect positive change.
Chris Hedges states that “if we don’t rebel, if we’re not physically in an active rebellion, then it’s spiritual death.”
Johannesburg is slowly dying a spiritual death due to neglect. #bewareofcolour was an opening salvo against this slow death, but in and of itself is not enough. This is the art’s greatest strength and greatest weakness, in a single stroke it can reveal hidden wounds and injustices, but remains impotent to right them.