Muller Street Portrait

1. Sally Gaule – Photography course facilitatorClaire Benit-Gbaffou – Workshop facilitatorWits November 2010 Muller Street Portrait Wits students photographs commented by Muller street residents • Residents were asked to chose, amongst 48 pictures (using stickers) : • - The two pictures they liked the best • The two pictures they disliked the most • - The two pictures that they thought capture the best Muller street ‘as it is’

2. Picture 1 – Jarred Pincus Box for Dots “It’s not so nice. It’s very dirty”. “There is a lady outside, she is busy cleaning - Magogo cleaning the floor. It is not so bad. There is a good tree, it makes the street fresh”.

3. Box for Dots Picture 2 – Michael Flanagan “It shows that Muller is still underdeveloped. It has old houses, old cars. You need to have new houses – the old houses show that you still live in the old days. I also don’t like the fact you can see the dustbin outside.” “It is so untidy! I wish that dustbin could go behind the house. The window is not maintained. Otherwise l like the position of the car, the rust on the car is nice.”

4. Picture 3 - Megan Sharland Box for Dots “It is nice, there are flowers, it’s clean around the house and I like the shape of the house.” “I don’t think the house is beautiful but the gate is.” “ The gate could have been painted. Mostly the picture depicts the depreciation of the street.”

5. Picture 4 - Natalie Moore Box for Dots This place does not look like Yeoville or Muller Street. It’s like we are somewhere else, it is nice. It brings feelings of security, with the fencing and the flowers.   I feel safe. Nothing can go inside, it is safe, clean; there are flowers. It is protected.   I like it. I like the trees, and the hedge and the distance from the gate to the house. It’s eye-catching..

6. Picture 5 – Megan Sharland Box for Dots “That boy looks so peaceful... He feels secure. Like: I’m fine, I’m safe.”

7. Picture 6 – Bianca Fizzotti Box for Dots “It is nice, you have flowers in front and a security gate, it looks as if people look after the house.” “I’ve got a bad memory about number 6. They robbed me there. Somebody stole my bag at the corner and rushed to the house. Other people saw what was happening and followed them into the house and brought my bag back. That house does not have a wall, no fence, no hedge, it is just open.”

8. Picture 7 – Michael Flanagan Box for Dots I like this house…It’s different…It is the only one that stands out …[it] has this pottery thing. It’s got its own design, this old design. It’s very nice. This house reminds me of the picture of the bundu lands, not the urban areas. A white man stays there. It’s very dirty. Those [roof] tiles are on the floor, there are about 20-40 cats and dogs - you won’t say a white man stays there!

9. Picture 8a and b – MweziMcingwane &James Norwood-Young Box for Dots “This man looks like one of those from back home, starring outside at the kids and wondering where his goats are.” “I also like this madala of mine. It shows we still have our old people with us. Most of us are younger people. But it is good. We are taking care of him.” “It is a good thing that we have old people here. It is a blessing.”

10. Picture 9 – MweziMcingwane Box for Dots “The person should put order in his own house. OK, it is a pawn shop, but try and put some order ubekuhle [so that it is nice]. Otherwise I’ll say, ah, I can’t go there. “ “The owner is not a businessperson as the stuff comes on to the pavement and does not leave any room [on the pavement].”

11. Picture 10 – Rebecca McNally Box for Dots No comment from community so far

12. Picture 11 – Bianca Fizzotti Box for Dots “I don’t like the big tree—it looks distracting, falling on top of the roof. Nature isn’t being taken care of; we should be cutting the trees [down].”

13. MweziMcingwane Box for Dots No comment from community so far.

14. Picture 13 – Shanna Miles Box for Dots “The kids can no longer sit there because there is no more green grass. There’s nothing. They are not doing anything with the park, it is dead. There used to be someone watching that place, now there is no one, they are vandalizing it.” “There are patrols in the street and there are always people in the park up, until eight at night because it is kept safe for people to use.”

15. Box for Dots Picture 14 – Rebecca McNally “I like birds and the graffiti.” “This represents Muller Street. it’s quiet and has many pigeons. It looks like a park and it is very secure. Beautiful nature!”

16. Picture 15 – Bianca Fizzotti Box for Dots Q: Which photos would you say represent Muller street as it is? A: The church. It is there. It’s been there [a long time]. It is the backbone. If you look at the other streets, amachurches ama new churches. This is an original. Q: Do you go there? A: No, I don’t.

17. Picture 16 – Michael Flanagan Box for Dots “It is beautiful. The pavement is beautiful, the roof is fine, it is safe. The trees are cut up nicely. The wall is nice, the gate is safe.” “It is clean, proper. It is beautiful. The gate is always closed. The people don’t come in - they are walking in the road, they are not near the boundary.” “There is also a shadow. If it is hot, you can sit under the tree – no-one can control that tree because it is outside”.

18. Picture 17 – Bianca Fizzotti Box for Dots “This is what the street should look like: nice and clean and neat, with no garbage”. “I like the view, because in some of the streets they are cutting the trees. They should stop cutting the trees. They are the ones telling kids to plant trees, but they are the ones cutting them down.” “I like the way it captures the street. “

19. Box for Dots Picture 18 – Michael Flanagan “This is a place that I know – there’s this burglar-proofing, so you can’t get in. I know someone who lives in this building, they’ve never had any problems. It’s somewhere I would like to stay.” “It is nice. It’s beautiful. It has beautiful flowers – it’s the best picture I can choose”

20. Picture 19 – Shanna Miles “I don’t like number 19, with the dustbins. I don’t know if it is people being careless or if there are not enough dustbins. They put these plastics in the street at any time. They must know when the municipality car, will come and pick them. ” “Sometimes those bags are there for 2-3 weeks. It causes rats, flies, sickness in the young people and it pollutes our air.” Box for Dots

21. Picture 20 – Jarred Pincus Box for Dots “I like the long fence.” “It is representative. It shows that we have beautiful women around here.”

22. Picture 21 – Rebecca McNally Box for Dots “I like this one because it shows women and children feel safe enough to walk the streets. They can enjoy life.” “Yes [as women] we feel safe and anyway I am an old woman and who would rape me?”

23. Picture 22 – Jarred Pincus Box for Dots No comment from community

24. Picture 23 – Rebecca McNally Box for Dots “I like it. It is safe and clean. I feel good when I look at it. The boy is playing, or maybe he is just watching. It is peaceful.” “There is a passage here and dirty water and sewage is running into the streets – and we have small kids there. It could spread diseases. This is the back of the building”.

25. Picture 24 – James Norwood-Young Box for Dots “I like this picture. I feel, that the way the child is standing. Maybe he is thinking about future. He is thinking of getting his own call, his own objectives in life. Yeah, maybe he is thinking about his life.” A: He seems lost, out of place. If he is sad he should be at home, or in the yard, with his mother. Q: But what if he needs to be on his own? What if he argued with his mother? A: I suppose, yes. Boys are like that

26. Picture 25 – Shanna Miles Box for Dots No comment from community

27. Box for Dots Picture 26 – Jarred Pincus No comment from community

28. Picture 27 - Megan Sharland Box for Dots “This should not be allowed. It means that the by-laws are not working at all.”

29. Picture 28 – Megan Sharland Box for Dots “Someone is cleaning, collecting waste material, doing something about cleanliness motivated by survival, he’s doing something”. “They don’t wait for the government to come and give them money, they are self-employed.”

30. Picture 29 – Shanna Miles Box for Dots “That person is selling to make money. He is always busy, he can’t think about crime. They create their own job.“  “There is an initiative to create a living. It is a good attitude that Muller Street should be proud of, even as compared to other streets, instead of going on strike for government to give us more.”

31. Picture 30 – MweziMcingwane Box for Dots “They are asking for food. It shows that there are some people suffering. Even once, he came to our place asking for food, this guy. I gave him some.” “I feel scared when I pass through there, they might rob you. They are hungry and hunger can push you.”  ”This picture does not represent us nicely. It shows we are not able to take care of our own.”

32. Picture 31- Shanna Miles Box for Dots “He will take anything you give him and as a result he sells rubbish, and you can’t tell what it is, is it scrap?”

33. Picture 32 – Shanna Miles Box for Dots “The lady with a table with sweets and snacks: I don’t think it is not good because it is not a market here. It is poverty, she has to sell, she is not working or her children are not working.”

34. Picture 33 – James Norwood-Young Box for Dots “Number 33-35, the tuck shops. You can’t change that. That represents Yeoville. They are almost in the whole of Yeoville. It is everywhere”.

35. Picture 34 – YoanaHristova Box for Dots “I am proud that this woman has taken the initiative to do something and has found a space to sell something.” C1: I think this woman represents Yeoville. C2: She should stay at home. Do you think she should work in the street? She is too old. C1: But it is better than those loiterers. C3: But she is not that old, she is maybe in her 60s. She is there almost every day.

36. Picture 35 – YoanaHristova Box for Dots “Those people cater for us when we can’t go to Shoprite. They take care of us.” “This represents Yeoville. It is a small tuck shop; it is better than selling in the street. It’s clean, it is organized. If someone buys something on the street they’ll leave the papers there. Yes, this tuck shop represents Yeoville.”

37. Picture 36 – MweziMcingwane Box for Dots “We’ve got a place we can call beautiful in our street. It’s the first parking space in Muller Street, so it’s in good condition. It creates jobs for people. So it deserves to represent Muller Street.”

38. Picture 37 – Rebecca McNally Box for Dots I like this one as it shows the owner always renovates his house and keeps it nice and clean, and rebuilds the wall.  I don’t like this one, because it’s moving away from being a house to being a spaza shop. Meaning it [Muller Street] is no longer going to be a residential area.

39. Picture 38 – Rebecca McNally Box for Dots “I hate this thing for abortion. With our kids growing up, they see this and the next thing they are going to have abortions. It’s so cheap you know. They can die.” “It is like you do whatever you want because you can just abort the child.” “It is against my church. It is a sin.”  ”How many young children do you see in this street? It’s a lot of young girls having children. Abortion avoids over-population as well.”

40. Picture 39 – Megan Sharland Box for Dots “Those people they are lazy. They are too lazy to work, they are just relaxing – yeah, they are just relaxing. They must go and look for a job. They are just waiting there “.  ”They are tsotsis, but it also shows how little unemployment there is.” “You can see how they are standing – they are thinking about how to catch a victim.”

41. Picture 40 – Michael Flanagan Box for Dots Unemployment is high in the area. It shows how the youth has no jobs and they have nothing to do but just wander the streets.

42. Picture 41 – MweziMcingwane Box for Dots “I don’t drink at all. I used to drink too much but now I’ve stopped. I know what it does to you.” “I myself I drink but not too much. There is nothing wrong with alcohol, it is up to the person. If you are bored at least you can keep yourself busy. Of course, if you don’t even have money to buy food for the family, you need to think about if you want to spend your money on drinks…”

43. Picture 42 – Bianca Fizzotti Box for Dots “This is my building, I have been staying here for almost ten years. I like the flat, this building…but it’s very dirty. It’s a problem because the owner doesn’t want to renovate it.” “It has never been painted. The owner lives outside Yeoville. He overcharges for services. We pay a lot of money but the flat is very dirty. Before the World Cup plenty of places were renovated, but not our building.”

44. Picture 43 – Michael Flanagan Box for Dots “The kids should be in school. The guy in the white shirt is smoking. The one with the hat is not a school child. Maybe he is selling drugs – maybe he is selling drugs to the kids.” “Students are just loitering. The reason they’re in the street is because there is no space in the school”

45. Picture 44 – Michael Flanagan Box for Dots “The crèche shows a place of love and happiness and that the bars are there to protect the kids.”  ”The crèche is helping a lot of women. But this does not encourage women to take on their responsibilities and raise their own children.” “This is not a proper crèche, they might be secure but this is not designed to be a crèche.”

46. Box for Dots Picture 45 – Bianca Fizzotti “The children are happy. The children can play in the street – they are safe.” “If I am a parent and I see my boy playing soccer here [in the street] while cars, are speeding like nobody’s business, what impression are you giving? It is like you are saying ‘go to the parlour, my child, I am giving you away’!”

47. Picture 46 – Megan Sharland Box for Dots The boys greet me. They open the gate for me, they are very polite. This shows that there is a community. The car is safe, the street is safe. Cars parked on the pavement? It is lawlessness. Once he falls it is difficult to get up because of the rollerblades. He will need to find the time to move when the cars are coming. The kids should not be playing like this.

48. Picture 47- Jarred Pincus Box for Dots “Skating on the road - this is not good because cars come past here and something could happen.” “Some places have big parks where kids could skate – parents should take their kids there to play. Kids always like to play near their homes. In Yeoville the space is there but it’s not nice, so kids don’t use it. Even for grownups, being outside can refresh your mind, and you see new people.”

49. Picture 48 – Shanna Miles Box for Dots “I like this picture. The child is free.” “This corner is a very busy intersection because the taxis use it now. They do not care who is coming, they just want to claim the customers. They drive the way they like and it is not safe. Opposite here is the church. Imagine if there are a lot of people going out [of the church].”