At first glance it looks like an ordinary street parade, with marching minstrels, baton-twirling majorettes, painted faces and glittering costumes careering down a battered, rundown Johannesburg street.
A small boy in a torn T-shirt takes in the sunny scene, eyes wide open and fists on his hips. He was one of several children following the parade, unsupervised and fascinated by the festivities in the gritty neighbourhood.
But unlike the traditional minstrel parades in South Africa, this procession was joined by some of the poorest of the poor – the “recyclers” who rummage through garbage in hopes of finding something that will earn a few pennies.
The display, titled “No Man’s Land”, was a creation of “The Centre for the Less Good Ideas”, co-founded by William Kentridge, a South African artist famous for his drawings and animated films.
The bushy-browed 68-year-old is present, wearing his customary white shirt and Panama hat, amusedly observing the hustle and bustle, the whistles and shouts.
It was choreographer and dancer Sello Pesa who came up with the idea of the carnival procession to celebrate the tenth season for the centre, whose headquarters are in the Maboneng district – the depressed centre of South Africa’s economic capital.
