Street art to the rescue of the decrepit streets of Johannesburg

Bongani Mahlathi of his real name, 32 years old, is a figure of an artistic movement which has seized for several years the buildings of the urban center. And his portraits with black and white faces, which leave the color to backgrounds often inspired by traditional African fabrics, have commercial value today.

His latest work in progress is an order, paid for a few thousand euros, from one of the world's largest streaming music platforms: the portraits of four local artists, including the Afro soul singer Simphiwe Dana or the sensation amapiano Nobuhle, appear little by little on this Johannesburg wall, a mixture of trendy bars and dilapidated warehouses.

"Dbongz" had already made a series of portraits in tribute to deceased South African artists, on huge concrete pillars supporting the highway, in the cultural district of Newtown.

"Art has changed the environment and the way people think about the city. They now see a bright city, whereas before it was dull, plain and also a little fearful," he explains to the AFP.

Originally from the township of Mohlakeng, in the west of Johannesburg, the black artist is also known for his huge portraits of children made in their deprived neighborhoods on the outskirts.

"It gives people confidence, it makes them feel good to see themselves in a different light, bigger than in their not always famous daily life," he says.

Bringing the center back to life

The historic center of the agglomeration of six million souls sank into an era of degradation and neglect first in the 1980s during the international sanctions imposed against the apartheid regime. Then when in the wake of Nelson Mandela's election in 1994, white South Africans fled, taking their businesses with them, to the wealthy suburbs protected by high walls.

Entire buildings have been abandoned, hotel entrances have been walled up, often leaving all the furniture there.

In the early 2000s, these vacant properties finally became the playground of daring entrepreneurs. Entire floors of former offices have been transformed into apartments, in a city center that has been seeking renewal for years.

Abandoned towers have been transformed into low-rent housing. One of these facades has taken on colors thanks to the artist Hannelie Coetzee, with the portrait of a woman on 166 square meters, made from more than 2.000 plates, saucers and bowls.

"The city is a cold, concrete, very gridded place. Art brings a softness or a moment of reflection that you don't necessarily expect", she says.

The upstairs hair is inspired by the way South African women adapt traditional hairstyles to give them a trendy edge.

Known for his emblematic portrait of Barack Obama with the message "HOPE" (hope, editor's note), the American Shepherd Fairey has also left his mark on the city with a portrait of Nelson Mandela on a ten-storey building which dominates the city. Again an order from the South African property developer, Adam Levy.

These works, in a subliminal way, give people "the feeling that they matter, that we are interested in them", they show "that there is a kind of machine behind the scenes which is interested" in the life of the neighborhood, notes the businessman. This can induce the desire to give back to the collective and thus launch a virtuous circle.

"That's how you start to build a culture," he says.