The Colour of Home
A kaleidoscope of culture rooted in a landscape that has a life of its own keeps internationally renowned visual artist Zwelethu Mthethwa coming back to the bright lights of Cape Town, a city that has a ‘new way of being African’
Profiles
Residents tell you what the guide books won’t
A Good Space
Satirical playwright, novelist and Aids-awareness campaigner Pieter-Dirk Uys left Cape Town for Darling after he’d had enough of the vicious southeaster. But he still climbs the hill behind his house to see Table Mountain and regularly returns to present his one-man shows and explore his favourite inner-city haunts
Woman of Substance
Fashion maven and editor of ELLE SOUTH AFRICA, Jackie Burger is a rare creature. Striking, extraordinarily put together and a person of considerable depth, she looks as though she belongs in Paris. But it is the Cape that nurtures, sustains and means ‘home’ to her
From that tall skyline i come
Justin Rhodes grasps the importance of context and has, with partner Cameron Munro, created platforms that celebrate and regenerate local creativity and culture. It’s no surprise then that, even though a foreigner, he’s more rooted here than most.
Beautiful Stranger
Founder of African Book Connection, an NGO that provides textbooks to the higher education sector, and editor of The Deal,Taweni Xaba tends to focus her considerable talents on doing good. As a straight-talking humanitarian and aesthete, she experiences this city as beautiful but estranged and in need of a bit of mixing.
The Pianist
World-renowned jazz musician Abdullah Ibrahim, once known as Dollar Brand, has transformed not only the world of music but the people who listen to him, such is the healing power of his work. He returned to South Africa in 1992 after 16 years in exile and speaks of Cape Town as a city of secrets with a depth that has yet to be explored.
Art & Soul
Barbara Jackson is an artist, ceramicist, teacher and co-pioneer of Monkeybiz, a non-profit craft organisation employing a collective of 450 HIV-positive women from Cape Town’s townships. Monkeybiz and her latest venture, Toi Toy, see Barbara exporting the notion of Cape Town as a cutting-edge creative hub and melting pot of cultures and communities.
Nature vs Nurture
Boyd Ferguson, owner and design director of leading architectural and interior design house Cecile and Boyd, has created some of the most desirable spaces in Africa. Nature is the source of many of them, so it is not surprising that he has chosen Cape Town as his base. Both beautiful and harsh, the city provides the vibrant contrast which he lives – and works – for.
Ornately Urban
Style arbiter Karen Roos, editor of Elle Decoration, one of South Africa’s leading decor magazines, lives a charmed life in a city she loves. What appeal does Cape Town hold for a creative icon who has also lived New York and Amsterdam?