The Parking Gallery: Sometimes a Fire

posted by Ismail Farouk at Sunday, April 01, 2007

'Sometimes a Fire' was the name give to the photographic series depicting a fire and subsequent struggle at a heritage house located in Bertrams, the oldest suburb in Johannesburg. The fire occurred in June 2006 on a cold winters night and was caused by a paraffin heater. The photographic series was exhibited 1 month later at the Parking Gallery in downtown Jozi, on the 29th of July 2006.

The house has been suffering from structural problems and has been declared unsafe for sometime now. Regardless of this fact the building was at the time of the blaze sublet by slum lords and the house had a high occupancy rate of +-40 people of various ages. Currently, the house is being demolished to make way for a new housing development linked to the 2010 soccer world cup.

In addition to the photography, visitors to the exhibition were treated to sneak preview of my film JHB626GP - A film made for the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2006. The movie was projected on a whitewashed wall, which formed an impressive rooftop cinema, with commanding night time views of the inner city of Johannesburg.