Although the City of Cape Town declared graffiti a public nuisance when it gazetted its Graffiti By-law in 2010 in what many street artists see as an attempt to regulate artistic expression outside of curated galleries, the city is nevertheless graced with world-class murals created by local and international graffiti artists.
Although unsigned, the different styles contained in this work in Langa reveals the collaboration of two or three artists to commemorate the youth uprising of June 16, 1976, when thousands of schoolchildren confronted the apartheid state in Soweto. The intricate black and white geometry of Colombian graffiti artist Mas Paz can be seen on this double-storey mural gracing a unit in the N2 Gateway housing project in Langa. His work is often purely abstract yet maintains a sense of organic form. Animals are also a favourite motif and drawn using the same geometric style.
Elements of Afro-punk, a distinctive Johannesburg street style characterised by bold clashing colours and celebrating the multiple possibilities of “African” hair, are evident in the blue lipstick and hairstyle depicted on the main subject. Colourful signage including a detailed rendition of Table Mountain, brightens a wall in the N2 Gateway Housing project in Langa. The work is unsigned and the artist unknown.
There is a great difference between proper street art and graffiti scribbles done by taggers. I love street art.