David Goldblatt
The Cross Roads People’s Park was built by the youth of Oukasie, the Black township of Britz, during the mid-1980s when the government tried to ‘persuade’ residents to move to what it claimed was a model township, Letlhabile Removal Camp. Similar parks appeared in Oukasie and other Transvaal townships at the time. They proclaimed democracy and justice, they had benches, tables, shaded pergolas, sculpture and symbolic artillery (pointed invariably at the local police station) made from debris and scrap. The parks were among the very few physical structures to emerge during the years of apartheid as symbolic expressions of popular resistance and hope. They were destroyed by the security forces during the State of Emergency of 1986-1989.
Oukasie, Brits, North-West. 22 November 1986
The Cross Roads People’s Park was built by the youth of Oukasie, the Black township of Britz, during the mid-1980s when the government tried to ‘persuade’ residents to move to what it claimed was a model township, Letlhabile Removal Camp. Similar parks appeared in Oukasie and other Transvaal townships at the time. They proclaimed democracy and justice, they had benches, tables, shaded pergolas, sculpture and symbolic artillery (pointed invariably at the local police station) made from debris and scrap. The parks were among the very few physical structures to emerge during the years of apartheid as symbolic expressions of popular resistance and hope. They were destroyed by the security forces during the State of Emergency of 1986-1989.
Oukasie, Brits, North-West. 22 November 1986
Silver gelatin print on fibre paper
Paper size: 54 x 66cm
Image size: 44 x 56cm
© 2007 Michael Stevenson. All rights reserved.