I Declare I Am Here 

'In the series, I Declare I Am Here, photographer Caroline Suzman reflects on Johannesburg as a city of shadows and dreams. Pedestrians streaming in and out of the so-called City of Gold navigate architecture from a bygone era with resilience, grit and grace. The photographs record fleeting interactions between the photographer, the inhabitants and the city environment; peeling walls, brut graffiti-covered concrete pillars and flyovers, littered pavements and potholed streets. Combinations of traditional dress and street fashion reflect the hybrid identities and personal creativity of passers-by. In seeking out unexpected matches between the streets and the people who pass along them,Suzman’s intention was to transmit a sense of the soul, vitality and radical changeability of Johannesburg.  When explaining his use of black and white film during the years of apartheid, South African photographer David Goldblatt famously said, ‘Colour was too sweet for apartheid.’ Several decades later, those who walk the streets of Johannesburg announce their presence via an assembly of colour and pattern. Street art and gritty urban palimpsests are the backdrops against which the people of the city declare themselves, their stances and sartorial choices echoing patterns in the urban fabric. Juxtapositions of culture, personal style and inner-city ephemera provide snap readings of a complex city and offer glimpses into the deeper urban strains of heritage, migration, xenophobia, crime, security, faith, aspiration and adaptation.'

Visual culture writer Alexandra Dodd, author of David Goldblatt: The Last Interview (Steidl, 2019)

"The images from I Declare I Am Here are striking, thoughtful, playful and pertinent to Johannesburg. They work particularly well on a large scale.'' Karel Nel, Associate Professor at the School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024, curator of the Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa)

"The mark of a significant photographer is that her images teach us to see our world differently. With "I Declare I am Here", Caroline Suzman has used her camera to create striking conjunctions of street art with the inhabitants of inner-city Johannesburg. Although touted as "a world class African city", the reality of downtown Johannesburg is often a depressing mixture of urban decay, filth, and the threat of violence. Suzman's photographs, with her powerful graphic sense and her feeling for the individuality of her subjects, reveal an aspect of the city which explodes with colour and the optimism that continues to attract new waves of immigrants to Johannesburg from the rest of Africa."

Professor Christo Doherty, The Wits School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2023

'To be brutally honest, one of the most visually beautiful exhibitions I have ever seen'.

Lucia Boer, curator, Johannesburg, 2023

NOTE: These are large thumbnails - click on individual photographs to see captions and street artist details