'Portraits of a City Region' Photographic Exhibition

On Wednesday 17 April the GCRO launched the exhibition ‘Portraits of a City-Region’ and announced the winners of the GCRO photo competition held in February/March 2013. The exhibition is an illustration of the Gauteng City-Region (GCR) as a place we interact with, with a strong 'personality' of its own, and one with which we are constantly engaged in building relationships. The title of the exhibition ‘Portraits of a City-Region’ highlights these intriguing aspects of the GCR, prompting us to think about it in terms other than merely a place where we live and consume. The selection of photographs reveals the different aspects of this multi-faceted ‘personality’ of the GCR and deepens our understanding of the complexity of this space, with the images standing as clues to a spatial identity we are still exploring.

The event launching the exhibition attracted over 250 people. Guests were welcomed by the Dean of FADA, Professor Federico Freschi, and the Executive Director of the GCRO, Professor David Everatt. The keynote speaker was the photographer and judge of the competition, Roger Ballen.

The GCRO competition gave students and staff from all tertiary institutions in the Gauteng City-Region the opportunity to present their perceptions of the GCR through photography and stand a chance to win prizes to the value of over R15 000. The purpose was to allow these residents of the GCR to express their perceptions of their city-region and realise their imaginaries in a creative way. The competition attracted over 600 entries.

The judges were the renowned photographers Jodi Bieber and Roger Ballen and the Chief Curator of the Hector Pietersen Museum, Khwezi Gule. The judges selected 62 images to exhibit and the five prize-winning photographs.

The result of the competition is an exhibition of powerful images that reflect how these city-region residents see this space. The five winners announced at the exhibition opening, were as follows:

1st Blaq Smith
2nd Jenna-Lee Ferrer
3rd Irene Lambrianos
4th Thato Nkoane
5th Martin Bolton

The winning photos are currently scrolling on the GCRO home page and all 62 images are on exhibit at the FADA Gallery, University of Johannesburg, until 8 May 2013.