Page 60 - David Goldblatt _ Johannessburg 1948 - 2018
P. 60
DAVID GOLDBLATT ..... 58
HILLBROW
Hillbrow is the most densely populated area in Africa; a suburb north of the city centre of apartment buildings and concrete canyons. At the time David photographed there it’s less salubrious buildings were home to city workers and transient hopefuls who came to the city
to find their fortunes; the more elegant buildings
were inhabited, largely, by the aged middle class, my grandmother among them. At that time apartheid prevailed: whites in the apartments, black employees
in the servants quarters on the roofs of the buildings
or home to Alex or Soweto at night. By the early-80s apartheid started fraying at the edges. Hillbrow became one of the first ‘grey’ areas in the city, as people of colour moved into apartments and progressive lawyers defended them against Group Areas violations in court.
Brenda Goldblatt
