Artwork Rationale:

My designs are inspired by the sights I see on my daily commute from Vaal to Johannesburg. I created a pattern using pictures instead of abstract shapes, to capture the ethos of rural & urban South Africa. I get to see the best of both worlds
as I come from Evaton West, semi-rural area very south of Johannesburg but travel to the city everyday to work. My design combines scenes from the rural & urban, in a story boarded type of design. The different scenes within the design each reference a specific part of South Africa. The hut with the patterns, celebrates the local tradition of Ndebele pattern designers who decorate their own homes. The scene with the vending table references informal businesses scattered across the country, where people set up their own vending tables to sell fruits, vegetables, snacks and drinks, this is one of our most common “marketplaces” and is something a lot of South Africans can identify with as informal vendors are found in the city and in rural area alike. All of them have their own makeshift table and an umbrella or gazebo to protect them & their products from the sun as they spend the entire day at their tables.The city is referenced by the Toyota ‘Super 16’ taxi next to the Ponte City Apartments building & an airplane flying by. The super 16 is a local icon, a lot of rural South Africans have travelled to the city using it, & one of the first things you notice driving into Joburg is Ponte City building, informally
known as the “Vodacom Building”, it too is a local icon that a lot of people in
South Africa can identify with.