For more than half a century, the Hong family ran a corner shop at 166 Caroline Street in Brixton, one of Joburg’s oldest residential suburbs. Immigrant-owned corner shops, much like spaza shops, are an iconic part of South African history and culture.
Mrs. Hong retired from running the shop — which was a cross between a convenience store and a general dealer — in 2018, and 166 Caroline Street is now a multi-purpose project space called Shade. For the rest of November, Shade is hosting an exhibition called “Behind that Window”: A collection of photos and artifacts from the Hong family’s 56 years in the shop.
I like this exhibition for several reasons. First it’s in Brixton. Brixton is next to Melville and has always been one of my favorite parts of town — it’s an unofficial border between the city and suburbs and straddles several interesting sectors of Joburg society.
I like the simplicity of the exhibition; it’s a collection of objects that tell the family’s story without a lot of verbal narrative. (This means you spend more time looking and less time reading, which I like.) The fact that the exhibition inhabits the actual space where these items were used makes it feel particularly poignant.
The exhibition is also a great illustration of the often-overlooked role that Chinese immigrants played in the evolution of Johannesburg. I wrote a story about this topic a few months ago for The Culture Trip, which I’m pretty proud of and happy to have an excuse to share here.
Lastly, the Caroline Street exhibition is a really fun thing to do on a summer weekend in Joburg. Art-exhibition-visiting has become one of my favorite socially distanced leisure activities — I missed it so much during the lockdown.
“Behind that Window” is open until 29 November, Wednesday through Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. There are also a few pieces on display at Breezeblock, which is one block up from 166 Caroline Street.
I loved this exhibition and feel more places and people should be honoured in this way.
I agree. It’s so lovely.
I can’t get over the molding on the ceilings. It looks amazing.
I know, that ceiling is a particularly beautiful one. A huge percentage of Joburg houses built in the early decades of the 20th century have pressed steel ceilings – I have them in my house too! I should actually write a blog post about them.
It’s not molding? It’s pressed steel? I don’t even know what that is!
Yeah! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_ceiling
I recall at age about 5 or 6, my architect father taking down the pressed ceilings in or house in Bramley to have them repaired. The workers smashed them up, presuming they were to be replaced with modern masonite. PS – how’s the great African-American love story progressing?
Oh, what a sad pressed ceiling story! The love story has come along a bit but I’m currently stalled for various reasons. I’m going to do it though!
A nice reminder that we live in a multicultural world, in little multicultural societies and corners, and all the stories behind them. xo
Indeed 🙂
Holy Moly…my wife’s sister used to own the store next door or just round the corner…!!!
As a (retired) urban heritage planner I love pressed ceilings too. But am sad to note how little remains of the original store and probably gritty details. Hope to see more comment here about the tough struggle to survive and long unsociable hours worked here…
Wow, that’s amazing! Thanks for the comment.