Alon Skuy

advertises itself.

“The aim was not to put it out there but for people to find it,” says MK.

We’re sitting in his living room, which, like the kitchen, is crammed with art. MK runs the place with a small team.

He points to a portrait of a woman from Tembisa above his head, part of his series “We’re All Village People”.

“As an artist from here, there aren’t any places made for you to get inspired. 4ROOM is about self-recovery, self-discovery and has a direct link to spirituality,” he says.

I give MK credit for keeping the place going for such a long time. He looks too exhausted to give compliments much thought. He also runs an online magazine, Sixteen Phashash, that profiles everything about the township. He is working

A Tembisa house has been transformed into a gallery and creative space whose fame spreads by word of mouth, writes

on a book on the township’s history.

Tembisa, established in 1957, is Gauteng’s second-largest township, after Soweto. The bloodshed that plagued the township during the violent 1980s and early 1990s was partly fuelled by geographic divisions.

There are still hostels on the western part of Tembisa, in a section called Vusimuzi, that were dominated by Zuluspeaking IFP members. Ethafeni and its surrounds were predominantly ANC and PAC areas. Criminal gangs exploited the conflicts and added to the chaos.

MK and his team came second recently in the Geepee Tourism Challenge, when they competed with other sites across Gauteng to see who could offer the best experience to tourists.

Ironically, a tour through the hostels