23 Mar 2012

THE COOLEST POET FROM SOUTH AFRICA



“There are certain environments, particularly these post-industrial cities, which are clotted with words in the same way that certain landscapes are polluted by filth. Words proliferate here like layers in a landfill: all psychic space is overpopulated with them. At the same time they float free of all signification, losing their substances as a result." (Stephen Watson)

This is one of my favourite photos from my trip to Cape Town because when you drive just 1.5 hours outside of this bustling metropolis, you are met with quiet and a word-less world. You are surrounded by nature (as the opposite to Watson's quote).

My brother hand-cut and scanned the film for me and I love how it looks like an old photograph. The process of the development is entwined in the result. I took this snapshot just outside of Cape Town as the sun was setting on my way back from Kleinmond at a petrol station. It was a lucky shot. But it somehow captured my home town for me: it reminds me of how gritty and imperfect life is. We live on this earth that god created and I want to capture and experience every moment of it. Every moment of life. Every moment of freedom. Every moment we feel alive.