Ismail Farouk

by Rat Western

Rock Salesman
(http://www.ismailfarouk.com)

‘I’ll follow you, I’ll lead you about a round,
Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier:
Sometime a horse I’ll be, sometime a hound,
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire;
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.’

Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Act III Scene I

The character of Puck or Robin Goodfellow as portrayed by Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night’s Dream or in British folklore as a Hob Goblin is a many layered and changing thing. Sometimes malevolent, sometimes playful, sometimes tricksy - his personality is always colourful.

This ever shifting persona in many ways embodies the transient and vibrant ethos of Johannesburg’s poorer neighborhoods. An inner-city space which is often romanticised and frequently feared, these spaces never fail to capture the imagination. It is their fleeting essence at a time poised before gentrification that Ismail Farouk examines in his work.

It is their hybrid personality, naturally evolved rhythms and complex network systems that he attempts to document before they become a mass of chicken and pizza fast food franchises and corner bistro-style cafes where the northern suburbs nouveau riche may now dare to tred.

Screwdriver Salesman, 2002 & Fruit Stand, 2001 (Sidewalk Reservation Series)

Ismail Farouk began his studies with a degree in Fine Art at Wits University where he first embarked on the observation and documentation of the socio-economic inequalities of urban living.

Farouk’s early work focused on informal trade in the area of Braamfontein which he documented using an entry level 1.3 mega pixel digital camera. It was specifically the continuous mode feature of this camera (which takes 2 pictures per second) that would become pivotal to Farouk’s modus operandi.

Johannesburg’s bylaws prohibiting street trade were instituted before the democratic change in South Africa but were only enforced in 2001 during the first stage of regeneration in Braamfontein.

This has resulted in a socially exclusive urban environment. The instituted economic regeneration model for Johannesburg has no regard for the informal sector which makes a significant contribution to the South African economy and, consequential, the traders of Braamfontein were pushed off the streets.

In response to this situation Farouk devised a performance piece which he entitled ‘Rock Sale’ For this work he stationed himself on a pavement in Braamfontein and, in direct contravention of the area’s bylaws, he attempted to sell rocks and piles of sand – objects of no monetary value. He priced these items at R150 each.

The price is significant as it is the amount a hawker has to pay to reclaim his goods from the police should he be caught trading in this area – a price often much higher than the total value of his merchandise.

Video Stills from Rock Sale, 2001

After completing his Fine Arts degree, Farouk joined the Geography Department at Wits for a Masters degree in Urban Geography. Here he learnt a theoretical framework for some of the observations he had already been making during his Fine Arts degree.

In 2004, Farouk was hired by a leading architectural firm to develop an alternative methodology for the regeneration of Yeoville. With his business partner and fellow geographer Milos Sajin, the network approach methodology was developed.

He explains:
‘The network approach makes urban research manageable by separating socio-economic and cultural networks into manageable chunks. Once a network typology is mapped, a wide range of spatial and non spatial data can be viewed in a single image thus providing a helpful tool to the development process. It is extremely helpful as a monitoring and evaluation tool in tandem with the mainstream development process.’

However, mainstream development has a narrow view - to attract new investment. This is favored despite the fact that the research shows that potential outside investment and existing activities can co-exist. New investment prefers a familiar, privatised environment and this limits the expression of the local community and what ultimately leads to a sterile, franchise or shopping-mall-like space.

Farouk uses his artistic expression as an outlet by compiling his footage from this research into a four minute movie (Yeoville 2004) for which he won a merit award at the Sasol New Signatures competition 2005.

Video Stills from Yeoville series 2004

Farouk’s more recent work has taken him into the suburb of Bertrams. The suburb, the oldest in Johannesburg, has been ear marked for regeneration because of its proximity to the Ellis Park Stadium and the 2010 Soccer World Cup. The area and many of its heritage homes are in a severe state of physical decline. This has long been a problem in the area.

Farouk elaborates:
‘Rapid urbanisation and trans-national migration are both significant contributors to the ever increasing resident population who arrive in search of new economic opportunities. Yet, Bertrams seems to have little to offer global economies and has become a place of poverty. Bertrams has a history of displacement which dates back 80 years.’

Farouk’s involvement in the area has led him to make two new works. The first entitled ‘Here Be 2010’ (on which he and I are collaborating) is an ongoing project over the next five years or so. The work takes its name from old maps of unexplored terrain where cartographers would often write the legend ‘Here Be Monsters.’ In many ways Bertrams is still a wild frontier as yet uncolonised by multiple chain stores and homogenous urban design. The regeneration programme that will be implemented in the lead up to the Soccer World Cup will change the landscape drastically. It is these changes that we will be documenting as they happen over the next few years. The first phase of this project will be presented in September at a symposium called ‘2010 And Life in the City’ hosted by the Centre for Urban and Built Environment Studies (CUBES) located at Wits University.

^{Sometimes a Fire series 2006}

The second work based in Bertrams is a photographic series of a burning house. It takes its name, ‘Sometimes a fire,’ from the above Shakespearean quote.

The building is a heritage house and despite the blaze it is more or less still standing. However, the building has been suffering from structural problems and has been declared unsafe for sometime now. Regardless of this fact the building was at the time of the blaze sublet by slum lords and the house had a high occupancy rate of +-40 people of various ages. The house caught alight from a paraffin fire during the first cold snap this winter and Farouk managed to photograph the fireman and residents struggling to put out the blaze.

Video Stills from JHB626GP, 2006

Farouk’s latest work, JHB626GP, is a film which he has made, in collaboration with electroacoustic composer Dimitri Voudouris and the London School of Economics, for the Venice Architectural Biennale this year. The theme of the Biennale is Cities. Architecture and Societies. and aims to examine the mass urbanization that has taken place in the worlds cities over the last century. The film focuses on the complex rhythms and history of Johannesburg by using a mixture of archival footage and Farouk’s own signature animation style.

Whether it be a film on a continuous animated loop, a structured video installation, a performance work or a still image; there is a dynamism which occurs between Farouk’s geographer’s observations of the unfair logic of exchanges which characterizes urban living in the developing world today and his artist’s eye for rhythm, framing and irony.

Rat Western (www.ratwestern.com)

Ismail Farouk will be exhibiting his work ‘Sometimes a Fire’ on 29th July 2006 at 18h00 at The Parking Gallery; 149 Pritchard Street, Johannesburg. The exhibition will be opened by Lindsay Bremner. (http://www.parking-gallery.net)