Flowers Gallery 21 Cork Street WIS 3LZ London Royaume-Uni
A city built on gold, Johannesburg was founded in 1886 when settlers and immigrants descended on the largest reef of the precious metal ever to be discovered. The area transformed quickly into a mining mecca with the vast and rapid expansion of the city reflecting the increasing global thirst for gold, and helping to fuel a government that changed South Africa for ever. In this incisive and layered series, Jason Larkin explores the social and environmental impact of the vast waste dumps created by Johannesburg’s once powerful gold mining industry. Six billion tonnes of these deposits form the backdrop of South Africa’s largest city with around four hundred thousand people currently living surrounded by six billion tonnes of toxic waste. Larkin’s images of life on and around the city’s incongruous man-made hills; territory where history, economy and contemporary South Africa collide, shed light on some of the most challenging questions facing the region today. Photographing the landscape and people affected by these toxic monuments, Larkin highlights the ignored realities of these spaces, and the denial of the complicated legacy left behind. Tales from the City of Gold explores these tailings as an extension of the thriving metropolis that surrounds them. Ethnographic in its approach, this project is the result of Larkin living in Johannesburg for two years, observing the ordinary and extraordinary nature of life alongside the dumps. Focusing on the co-existence between past and present allows a unique perspective on the actions of previous generations and reveals that impact on the current society and environment. Jason Larkin (b. 1979) is a British photographer internationally recognised for his long term social documentary projects and environmental portraiture. His immersive process and slow approach allow for comprehensive bodies of work that reveal and frame important social, economic and political issues. His work is often concerned with contextualising present realities through historical legacies. After completing his M.A. in 2007, Larkin moved to Egypt. His first body of work, Past Perfect, a meditation on the way museums present history to us, was widely recognized with awards, including the PDN New Portraiture Award in 2011. Cairo Divided, a unique and freely distributed bilingual newspaper explored the capital’s rapidly-mutating urban landscape. Exhibitions have included the Brighton Photo Biennial 2012 and the Hereford Photography Festival Commission in 2011.
