Take a photographer, a writer and an artist; add a whole lot of walking and a thirty-day time frame. The end result of this collaborative effort is Along the Way – a surprisingly intimate book of portraits and stories.
In December 2007 a call went out to Durban's creative community inviting proposals for an upcoming art festival, Cascoland. Under the theme of 'mobility', the festival took place along a specified route which stretched from Cato Manor on the outskirts of the city, down Berea Road and through the transit area of Warwick Triangle, traversing the city centre and finally coming to an end at the harbour, near the Bat Centre – a microcosm of Durban life taking in township, suburb and inner city.
Photographer Roger Jardine, writer Niall McNulty and artist Tamlyn Young began collectively to explore the route, seeking opportunities for meaningful artistic interventions. As they walked the city it became apparent that the route was less about the buildings, walls and roads – the traditional infrastructure of the city – and more about the people they met along the way. They decided to focus on these people, to celebrate their lives in some small way.
With only a few short weeks to complete this project, they immersed themselves in the community – walking the streets and talking to anyone and everyone. People with fascinating stories, that they were happy to share, inhabited the route. The key to this wealth of insight was simply a smile and a friendly "hello".
As the project took shape it began to form a narrative map of the walk that embodied the original theme of mobility. Each of their subjects was enmeshed in this idea of travel – whether it was the tourists Milton hoped to attract to Cato Manor, Guru's pilgrimage to Israel, the skins that journeyed from the farm to Alpheus' house or the plants and patients that made their way to Ma Dlamini in Warwick Triangle. Although stationary points on the map, each person was also a node of mobility.
The notion of mobility suggests something fleeting and personal; a journey is only ever a series of fragmented moments, of sights, smells and sensations. Likewise, this little book is nothing more than a subjective snapshot – a glimpse into just ten of the three and a half million interwoven worlds that make up our city.
Website: www.alongtheway.co.za
