History painted large in new city mural
Q: Tell us about the artwork and its significance.
Anton Lembede has standing among the legal professionals who populate the area, as well as remaining as a symbol of hope for young aspiring students of every profession.
Urban Lime is producing a large-scale piece of urban art that honours and remembers South Africa’s past, while celebrating and looking to the future of central Durban. The piece will “landmark” Durban Club Place and Anton Lembede Street, provide a reference of hope for all young South Africans and is significant to the legal profession who are so intrinsic to our society.
Q: Is this a first for the city of Durban?
No, there are some fine examples of public art in Durban.
In 2014, Faith47 was commissioned to produce six large-scale public murals for Warwick Junction as part of the UIA 2014 Fringe projects. A number of installations and projects were designed to activate public space through art and culture, showcasing the links between the built environment and creative activities.
In the heart of Durban’s “design precinct” known as Station Drive, Wesley van Eeden aka Resoborg painted one of his largest and most detailed works to date.
Q: Who is driving this project and how many people are involved?
Katie Friedman, our marketing director, is behind this project. Over a hundred people have been involved in it.
Q: Who is the artist behind the artwork?
Sakhile Mhlongo. Sakhile is a young Zulu artist who is passionate about painting. His work aims to subvert the public stereotyping of African men and woman in his culture.
He discovered the love of art after he had moved to Umgababa from Empangeni in KZN. After he matriculated he decided to study fine art at Durban University of Technology.
Sakhile has been directly involved with a number of large-scale murals in and around the city of Durban, including a number of iconic pieces featured in Rivertown.
Slumdog Millionaire
Q: What is your involvement in the project?
As the MD, I oversee all projects in Durban. In this case, making sure the delivery is of quality, with the least interruptions to our tenants, and working with the city.
Q: What is inner city regeneration?
In very simple terms, urban regeneration is the attempt to reverse that decline by improving both the physical structure, and, more importantly and elusively, the economy of those areas.
Q: How can public art drive inner-city regeneration?
Urban regeneration, when done well, uses the historic element to deliver today, where buildings are restored and upgraded for the modern working environment.
The role of public art in urban regeneration is complex as it involves the inter-relationship between the aesthetic values, the social identity and the economic behaviour of the city.
Clearly in this case, Anton Lembede is a source of inspiration to many young black South Africans, and we can think of no better place to honour him and his legacy than by putting a mural of him on the building that houses most of the legal fraternity of
Durban.
Q: Tell us a bit about yourself.
My mum is from Saudi Arabia and dad from Pakistan and they moved to the UK in the 1950s. My three brothers and sisters were all born in the UK but I was born in Karachi, while my parents were on holiday, and came back after three months.
I was a professional cricketer for 20 years in England and came to Cape Town on a pre-season cricket tour with Surrey, and I fell in love with the place. I then started coming to Cape Town for six months at a time (your summers) to play and coach in Cape Town, returning to play in England.
I made a permanent move to Cape Town in 2009. Subsequently I moved to Durban about 14 months ago.
Q: What are some of the things you enjoy about South Africa?
What is there not to enjoy? The weather, the people, the landscape and, of course, the food.
Q: What do you miss about Britain?
To be honest… not much! Q: Family life? I am married to my beautiful wife Julie and our first child Leo was born in October. Q: Hobbies? I love all sports, especially golf and running. I love eating out and spending time with my family and friends.