Over the past couple months I’ve been working with Conteu Magazine to come up with my ultimate 12 hour guide to Johannesburg and it’s finally here! I love working on fun projects like this that celebrate South Africa just for the hell of it! The lovely and have also collaborated to create similar guides .
You can and keep them for yourself or send them on to a loved one for Christmas, especially if they’re visiting Joburg anytime soon because we all know it can be a little hard to find your feet in the city if you don’t know where to go. My guide centres around food, a little shopping, spending some time outdoors….and then straight back into food. They’re only R95!
Conteu asked me to write a little piece on my relationship with Joburg and I thought it would be cool to include it in this post:
“Last week I was in an aeroplane and not for one second did I stop to appreciate that I was hurtling through the air in a metal tube, an act that would have been impossible just over a hundred years ago. Just like the flying, I’ve become accustomed to Joburg.
I’ve lived in Joburg my entire life. I think it’s the human condition to become accustomed to the place you live in. You stop seeing the wonder in the every day, stop appreciating all the little things that make it work or the idiosyncrasies that don’t. You start to look beyond for inspiration and stimulation.
This year has been an interesting year for me, one aspect being that my once rather passionate relationship with Joburg came under a little strain. I wanted more from it, I wanted new things and I wanted better. As the year comes to a close, I realise that it’s not Joburg that’s changed — it’s me. I stopped showing up to the party. Joburg doesn’t have the sea, we don’t even have a mountain (excluding numerous mine dumps) but what Joburg does have is a culture and a spirit and you can only tap into it if you make an effort.
Once you make the effort, you’ll discover a truly African city with a spirit you’ll be hard-pressed to find elsewhere.
This quick guide to Joburg will give you a sneak peek into the city’s burgeoning art scene, a taste of its most acclaimed restaurants and a window into the soul of the people that live here.”
Here’s to doing more cool things in and around South Africa next year, high five to the Conteu ladies for always producing such incredible work. High five to for the illustrations and Warwick Kay for the design.
