Gentrification. 2017. Amber-Jade Geldenhuys. Found object, plastic grass.

This piece reflects my ongoing fascination with the politics of remaking place in Johannesburg. The work is an ironic play on class identity using the signifier of topiary shrubs found in the manicured suburbs of Johannesburg on wheels, indicating a move from the suburban to the urban as well as the metaphorical notion of mobility as signifying middle class characteristics. I hope it reads as a self-reflexive critique of gentrification. Self-reflexive, as I realise personal complicity as being part of the middle class, and, acknowledging the yearning for places of safety and security, but fully aware that these places specifically cater to certain groups of people while excluding others. Inspired by parts of the city such as Braamfontein and Maboneng, both having gone through recent change – from being relatively inaccessible to the middle classes, to effectively being run by it, I notice the contradictions and disparities that exist in these spaces and respond to these paradoxes with my work titled gentrification. I hope the viewers gain an understanding of the complexity of the work along with its quirky and humorous character and the multidimensional places that inspired it.