Author

REMOTEWORDS: Niq, ARTMIGRATION on the roof of the jozi art:lab located in the suburb of Melville. Can you please tell us about the migration of the people from Melville to other parts of the city.

Niq Mhlongo: The reason we thought about ATRMIGRATION was first of all what that house in Melville stands for. It stands for arts and the sharing of arts in two countries: Germany and South Africa. The artists are enriching each other because art migrates from this country to your country and the other way round. Melville itself has a very artistic tradition. You will find many artist, writers and other creative’s there. But - Melville is also part of Sophiatown. It was one of the first multicultural townships. Black, white, colored, no matter what race, people lived together.

REMOTEWORDS: Indra you are the founder and artistic director of jozi art:lab. Why did your foundation supported that work?

Indra Wussow: Jozi art:lab enabled this artwork as a wonderful collaboration of a visual artist and a writer, both working together to explore the spirit of Johannesburg and its different districts and suburbs.
What is the idea of a place, how can you express the idea of a place in a short message that will give passers by and connoisseurs both a clue about what makes this city a special one. It is great that REMOTEWORDS and Niq Mhlongo underwent this experience together – three roofs in different spots of the city – the posh suburb of Melville, the difficult and violent district of Doornfontein and at last the writer’s home in Soweto are the places to send out messages into the world. Migration seems to be the key factor of  Johannesburg’s history – anytime since the foundation in 1886 people deliberately moved and were moved, constant change seems to be the motor of the city and its people. For foreigners like me the most interesting point is how people have coped with forceful removal and neglection and the constant search for a place in their city.

Niq Mhlongo: Yes and people from Doornfountain brought their own culture to Melville in 1934. For example Marabi Dance, done by both black and white. Today it is the culture of Kwaito.

This Interview by Indra Wussow, Niq Mhlongo, Uta Kopp and Achim Mohné was done at the writer’s Soweto home in March 2009.
The Interview continues: REMOTEWORDS#8 / MABONENG / Doornfontein

AUTHOR 

Niq Mhlongo

Murhandziwa Nicholas Mhlongo was born in Midway-Chiawelo Soweto, South Africa on the 10th of June 1973. He is the eighth born in a family of ten children. In the belief that he would be spared the violence that characterized most Soweto schools at the time, his parents sent him to Limpopo province (former Northern Province) for his education, and he did both his primary and secondary schooling there. In his matriculation year in 1990, the schools were disrupted, coinciding with the release of former president Nelson Mandela from jail in February of that year. As a consequence of the widespread turmoil at schools in this period, he failed to graduate from high school and had to repeat the grade, which he did successfully in 1991.

Mhlongo faced the typical challenges and difficulties of a unemployed post-school youth in Soweto, but managed to find employment as a part-time as dispatch agent for a company called Republic Umbrella in Johannesburg. In 1994 he enrolled for a BA degree (Bachelor of Arts) at the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg), majoring in African Literature and Political Studies. He completed his degree in 1996 and enrolled for a Law degree (LLB) at the same University in 1997. In 1998 he enrolled at the University of Cape Town, where he continued with his law degree until 2000, when he dropped out of the law school at third year level to write his first novel titled Dog Eat Dog. The novel is an evocative account based on his experience as a young South African of the post-apartheid generation.

He considers his role as a young South African writer to ‘reflect on the changes, whether good or bad, that are taking place around me today. The end of apartheid and our ten years of democracy have posed new challenges, and given us the opportunity as new generation of writers to explore new things. Our contributions to literature today should be to write about issues that are directly facing the youth. We have the responsibility to explore topics such as, HIV/AIDS virus, unemployment, poverty, xenophobia, homosexuality, etc. These are the present issues that most South Africans will identify with, and our writings can help strengthen our democracy and to build a better future.

Curated by Indra Wussow, jozi art:lab