Photo Essay: Joburg in all its ugly-beauty

Street art amongst unkempt pavements in Yeoville. Pictures: Dr Norman Cahi

Street art amongst unkempt pavements in Yeoville. Pictures: Dr Norman Cahi

Published Jan 25, 2024

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Dr Norman Cahi shares some of Joburg’s beauty, and the not-so-beautiful parts too.

“I was always taught by my extraordinary late parents that ‘travel is the university of life’ and over the past 60 years, I have had the privilege and pleasure of travelling widely. But not all travel is smooth sailing. Attitude is the difference between an ‘ordeal’ and an ‘adventure’. Here are some of the best images I have from my morning walks in my hometown Johannesburg,” says Dr Norman Cahi.

Despite the decay and debris, I still see the beauty of the street art and innovation of shop owners' marketing.
This was once the epicentre of student life at Wits Dental School in Braamfontein where I studied in the 1980s. I love to return often just to reminisce.
The stunning beauty of a stained glass window in the chapel of Shepstone Gardens wedding venue, Hope Street.
The shocking, sad state of an Alexandra township street.
Since the pandemic pressed ‘pause’ on the pulse of the planet, our previous flagship premier hotel, The Michelangelo Hotel, has been mothballed.
What a bygone beauty this quaint thatch-roofed home is in Athol, one of our city’s most beautiful leafy suburbs.
A proud homeowner’s paved driveway in Bertrams.
A Bez Valley hair ‘salon’.
I loved this wall in Lorentzville.

Saturday Star