Works - IT'S STILL SUNNY HERE IN JOZI ! 2025

In the heart of Johannesburg, where past and present collide, resilience becomes the soul of the city. It’s Still Sunny in Jozi! is a celebration of this tenacious spirit—a dynamic group exhibition illuminating the layered textures, vibrant contradictions, and persistent hope that define life in one of Africa’s most iconic urban landscapes.

Featuring a rich tapestry of works by Louise Almon, Sarah Grace, Cecilia Wilmot Ballam, Mariette Kotze, Kerri Stevenson, Belinda Ross, Ingrid Uys, Sibusiso Makhunga, Fumani Walter Maluleke, Mario Soares, Thando Ngwenya, Dalingcebo Ngubane, Restone Maambo, John Vusi Mfupi, Blessing Ngobeni, John-Michael Metelerkamp, and Steven John Wilkins, the exhibition invites viewers to experience Johannesburg from multiple vantage points, each offering a unique interpretation of its cultural, emotional, and physical terrain.

As a city that brims with paradox—where sunshine meets shadow, and progress exists alongside adversity—Johannesburg becomes a central metaphor for the human condition. The featured artists respond to this theme with striking diversity, weaving together narratives of nostalgia, urban decay, displacement, and renewal. Their works explore personal and collective memory, urbanization’s impact, and the ever-persistent search for identity, home, and belonging.

John Vusi Mfupi’s vibrant collage work speaks to the resilience of inner-city life, using fragments of memory as metaphorical scaffolding. Blessing Ngobeni’s bold, politically charged paintings deconstruct power, corruption, and the weight of socio-political history. Fumani Walter Maluleke and Thando Ngwenya bring an emotive, figurative lens to the urban experience, exploring displacement and the fluidity of identity. Sarah Grace and Cecilia Wilmot Ballam’s works draw inspiration from nature’s subtle interventions in city spaces, softening the concrete jungle with organic forms that whisper of renewal.

Color and light are central to It’s Still Sunny in Jozi!—both literal and metaphorical. Works by Belinda Ross and Ingrid Uys embrace the luminous vibrancy of Jozi’s unrelenting sunshine as a symbol of optimism and tenacity. Meanwhile, Sibusiso Makhunga and Dalingcebo Ngubane’s pieces offer meditative reflections on shadow, revealing the quiet stories of resilience found in the unseen.

Through painting, collage, sculpture, and mixed media, this collective effort unfolds as a rich dialogue about Johannesburg itself—a city that constantly reinvents, reclaims, and redefines its own narrative. Each artwork becomes a sunbeam, a reminder that no matter the complexities of its stories, it is indeed still sunny in Jozi.