Sibyl, 2022

HD film

Music composition: Nhlanhla Mahlangu, Kyle Shepherd; video editor: Žana Marović; sound: Gavan Eckhart

William Kentridge Studio, Johannesburg

Costumes and puppets for ‘Waiting for the Sibyl’, 2019–2022

Designed by Greta Goiris

Taken in the Exhibition

‘Waiting for the Sibyl ‘is a chamber opera (an opera to be performed by a small group of musicians rather than a full orchestra) written by Kentridge with music composed by Nhlanhla Mahlangu and Kyle Shepherd. It was commissioned by the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome where it premiered in 2019.

Here, Kentridge, working with the set designer Sabine Theunissen, has specially created the setting for the short film Sibyl, a related but separate work, complete with original props from the stage production, along with puppets and costumes made by Greta Goiris.

This work is based on the myth of the Cumaean Sibyl, a priestess who oversaw the Apollonian oracle at Cumae, near Naples.

In Virgil’s epic poem ‘The Aeneid’ (written between 29 and 19 BCE), the Sibyl presided over the entrance to Hades, the Underworld. At the cave opening people would leave questions about their fate – written on the leaves of trees – for the Sibyl to address.

She would dutifully write her answers on oak leaves and leave them to be collected at the cave entrance. However, the wind would lift the leaves, swirling them around the area in front of the cave, shuffling their order so questioners could not know to whom the answers applied; their fates were at hand, but tantalisingly impossible to locate.

Kentridge has transposed the setting to a twentieth-century office, emphasising the layers and complexities of state bureaucracy as means to categorise and control people as well as to thwart their ambitions, a key feature of apartheid. He also alludes to the modern-day Sibyl, the ubiquitous algorithm that knows more about what an individual wants or will do next than they do themselves.

[Royal Academy]

William Kentridge

(September — December 2022)

The largest exhibition of the artist’s work in the UK to date, ‘William Kentridge’ leads the visitor on an experiential voyage through the last 40 years of his extraordinary career.

William Kentridge was born in Johannesburg in 1955. After graduating in Political Science and African Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in 1976, he spent two years studying at the Johannesburg Art Foundation before going to Paris in 1981 to study mime and theatre at the L’Ecole internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq.

Returning to Johannesburg, he continued to work in theatre but also began to concentrate on his art, which included suites of etchings and linocuts, large-scale charcoal drawings and short films.

By the late 1980s his work was gaining recognition outside South Africa, a process accelerated by the end of apartheid and the reopening of the country, which had long been internationally regarded as a pariah state. Since the 1990s, his art and work for stage has been seen in museums, galleries, theatres and opera houses across the world.

While always regarding drawing as his primary practice, Kentridge continues to make prints, sculptures, tapestries and films, and to work on theatrical projects and lectures. His work in theatre has expanded to include both directing operas and creating new operatic pieces in collaboration with composers and performers.

[Royal Academy]

Wits Digital Arts postgrad, Nathan Destro, testing the "Un-useless Inventiont" that he designed in a Masters workshop led by visiting NY interactive artist, Laura Nova. Entitled the "Personal Space Protector" it was tested late morning 18 Sept in the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Wits Digital Arts postgrad, Nathan Destro, testing the "Un-useless Invention" that he designed in a Masters workshop led by visiting NY interactive artist, Laura Nova. Entitled the "Personal Space Protector" it was tested late morning 18 Sept in the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Morris Sutton, a researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand, gives this group of palaeoanthropology boffins a tour of the site

Mandela and his family lived in this house in Vilakazi St, Orlando West, Soweto, from 1948 until he was imprisoned in 1964. Desmond Tutu also lived in Vilakazi St. Dr B W Vilakazi (1906-1946) was a member of staff of Witwatersrand University.

Wits Digital Arts postgrad, Nathan Destro, testing the "Un-useless Invention" that he designed in a Masters workshop led by visiting NY interactive artist, Laura Nova. Entitled the "Personal Space Protector" it was tested late morning 18 Sept in the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Lady Aiko at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg

Wits Alumni Reunion, Maseru, Lesotho, 12 April 2013

Scenes from the WSOA Physical Theatre production, Woman of the Snow, directed by Jenni-lee Crewe at the Wits Theatre, Johannesburg, September 2009. The dance play, based upon Masaki Kobayashi, 1965 classic film The Woman of the Snow is tells an old Japanese ghost story of forbidden love.

Scenes from the WSOA Physical Theatre production, Woman of the Snow, directed by Jenni-lee Crewe at the Wits Theatre, Johannesburg, September 2009. The dance play, based upon Masaki Kobayashi, 1965 classic film The Woman of the Snow is tells an old Japanese ghost story of forbidden love.

Wits Digital Arts postgrad, Nathan Destro, testing the "Un-useless Inventiont" that he designed in a Masters workshop led by visiting NY interactive artist, Laura Nova. Entitled the "Personal Space Protector" it was tested late morning 18 Sept in the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Scenes from the WSOA Physical Theatre production, Woman of the Snow, directed by Jenni-lee Crewe at the Wits Theatre, Johannesburg, September 2009. The dance play, based upon Masaki Kobayashi, 1965 classic film The Woman of the Snow is tells an old Japanese ghost story of forbidden love.

Scenes from the WSOA Physical Theatre production, Woman of the Snow, directed by Jenni-lee Crewe at the Wits Theatre, Johannesburg, September 2009. The dance play, based upon Masaki Kobayashi, 1965 classic film The Woman of the Snow is tells an old Japanese ghost story of forbidden love.

Scenes from the WSOA Physical Theatre production, Woman of the Snow, directed by Jenni-lee Crewe at the Wits Theatre, Johannesburg, September 2009. The dance play, based upon Masaki Kobayashi, 1965 classic film The Woman of the Snow is tells an old Japanese ghost story of forbidden love.

Wits Digital Arts postgrad, Nathan Destro, testing the "Un-useless Inventiont" that he designed in a Masters workshop led by visiting NY interactive artist, Laura Nova. Entitled the "Personal Space Protector" it was tested late morning 18 Sept in the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Wits Digital Arts postgrad, Nathan Destro, testing the "Un-useless Invention" that he designed in a Masters workshop led by visiting NY interactive artist, Laura Nova. Entitled the "Personal Space Protector" it was tested late morning 18 Sept in the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Sarah Gourlie is the Marketing and Communications Manager for Entelect Solutions. Sarah grew up in Johannesburg and studied Bcom (hons) Marketing at the University of Witwatersrand. She has worked in marketing and communications for 7 years. She currently runs the marketing and communications at Entelect, a software solutions consultancy. She does Irish dancing and yoga and has recently married to Maj Gourlie. It was through Sarah that the connection to the airforce first began.

Built as C-54B 42-72438 for the USAAF but not delivered until Jan45, it was stored at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, until purchased by Transocean Air Lines in 1946 as N66644. It was sold to Saudi Arabian Airlines in Jun52 as HZ-AAI and on to British Eagle in Feb64 as G-ASPM, then to Invicta International Airlines in Feb65. The fleet only ever wore Invicta on the cabin roof and I photographed it at Southend on 20Sep67. In 1969 Invicta merged with British Midland but Invicta Airways (1969) was formed a month later and ‘SPM was transferred to it. In Sep72 it was sold to Africair as ZS-IRK and then sold on to WENELA (Witwatersrand Native Labour Association) as A2-AAD. It was re-registered 9Q-CWQ in Mar75 and sold to SGA (Societe General d’Alimentation) in 1976. It was withdrawn at N’djili, Zaire, in 1979 and scrapped around 1984.

Photo: Richard John Goring (Transportraits)

Scenes from the WSOA Physical Theatre production, Woman of the Snow, directed by Jenni-lee Crewe at the Wits Theatre, Johannesburg, September 2009. The dance play, based upon Masaki Kobayashi, 1965 classic film The Woman of the Snow is tells an old Japanese ghost story of forbidden love.

Wits Digital Arts postgrad, Nathan Destro, testing the "Un-useless Inventiont" that he designed in a Masters workshop led by visiting NY interactive artist, Laura Nova. Entitled the "Personal Space Protector" it was tested late morning 18 Sept in the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Scenes from the WSOA Physical Theatre production, Woman of the Snow, directed by Jenni-lee Crewe at the Wits Theatre, Johannesburg, September 2009. The dance play, based upon Masaki Kobayashi, 1965 classic film The Woman of the Snow is tells an old Japanese ghost story of forbidden love.

Wits Digital Arts postgrad, Nathan Destro, testing the "Un-useless Invention" that he designed in a Masters workshop led by visiting NY interactive artist, Laura Nova. Entitled the "Personal Space Protector" it was tested late morning 18 Sept in the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

2020-12-08: Prof. Nellie Mutemeri, School of Mining Engineering, University of Witwatersrand & Mining Practice Director, Mutemeri Consulting; Stephen Karangizi, Director and Chief Executive Officer of the African Legal Support Facility; Fui Tsikata, Senior Partner, Reindorf Chambers; Mr Richard MORGAN, Head of Government Relations Anglo American, Anglo American; Dr. Joseph Atta-Mensah, Principal Policy Adviser-Macroeconomic and Governance Division UN Economic Commission for Africa; Magnus Ericsson, the Adjunct Professor Luleå University of Technology and Fred Kabanda, Divison Manager, Extractives at African Development Bank during the virtual session heald on responses and the impact of the pandemic on the African Continent.

This rock does not have a label, but it's a crack sample of quartz-pebble conglomerate with detrital pyrite grains between the quartz pebbles (click on the photo once or twice to zoom in & see the brassy gold-colored pyrite). Detrital pyrite only occurred at Earth's surface in the early Precambrian, when the atmosphere had little to no free oxygen gas (O2). This rock is also radioactive - it contains uranium (probably detrital uraninite, UO2). Detrital pyrite and uraninite are classic pieces of geologic evidence for the lack of oxygen in early air.

I suspect this sample comes from South Africa's Witwatersrand Group. If so, the rock may also be a gold ore.

Wits Digital Arts postgrad, Nathan Destro, testing the "Un-useless Inventiont" that he designed in a Masters workshop led by visiting NY interactive artist, Laura Nova. Entitled the "Personal Space Protector" it was tested late morning 18 Sept in the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Un braccio “scimmiesco” , ma una mano da ominide, che suggerisce la capacità di lavorare e usare utensili. Questo uno dei motivi per cui gli autori ipotizzano un legame diretto con H. erectus. Accanto all’ipotesi, ugualmente valida al momento, che sediba sia un altro ramo secco dell’evoluzione delle forme intermedie tra australopitechi e ominidi.

L’arto appartiene alla femmina MH2, morta a circa 30 anni di età, ed è simile a quelle degli esseri umani anatomicamente moderni (Picture by: Peter Schmid. Picture courtesy of Lee Berger and the University of Witwatersrand).

Leggi la notizia su Galielo (http://www.galileonet.it/articles/4e69daae72b7ab308400010b)

Wits Digital Arts postgrad, Nathan Destro, testing the "Un-useless Invention" that he designed in a Masters workshop led by visiting NY interactive artist, Laura Nova. Entitled the "Personal Space Protector" it was tested late morning 18 Sept in the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Scenes from the WSOA Physical Theatre production, Woman of the Snow, directed by Jenni-lee Crewe at the Wits Theatre, Johannesburg, September 2009. The dance play, based upon Masaki Kobayashi, 1965 classic film The Woman of the Snow is tells an old Japanese ghost story of forbidden love.

Scenes from the WSOA Physical Theatre production, Woman of the Snow, directed by Jenni-lee Crewe at the Wits Theatre, Johannesburg, September 2009. The dance play, based upon Masaki Kobayashi, 1965 classic film The Woman of the Snow is tells an old Japanese ghost story of forbidden love.

Scenes from the WSOA Physical Theatre production, Woman of the Snow, directed by Jenni-lee Crewe at the Wits Theatre, Johannesburg, September 2009. The dance play, based upon Masaki Kobayashi, 1965 classic film The Woman of the Snow is tells an old Japanese ghost story of forbidden love.

Built as C-54B 42-72438 for the USAAF but not delivered until Jan45, it was stored at Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, until purchased by Transocean Air Lines in 1946 as N66644. It was sold to Saudi Arabian Airlines in Jun52 as HZ-AAI and on to British Eagle in Feb64 as G-ASPM, then to Invicta International Airlines in Feb65. The fleet only ever wore Invicta on the cabin roof and I photographed it at Southend on 20Sep67.

In 1969 Invicta merged with British Midland but Invicta Airways (1969) was formed a month later and ‘SPM was transferred to it. In Sep72 it was sold to Africair as ZS-IRK and then sold on to WENELA (Witwatersrand Native Labour Association) as A2-AAD. It was re-registered 9Q-CWQ in Mar75 and sold to SGA (Societe General d’Alimentation) in 1976. It was withdrawn at N’djili, Zaire, in 1979 and scrapped around 1984.

Photo: Richard John Goring (Transportraits)

Three channel HD film installation

Choreography and dancer: Dada Masilo; music composition and arrangement: Philip Miller; additional music composition: Johannes Serekeho, music performed by First St John Brass Band; video editing and construction: Žana Marovič, Janus Fouché; sound mix: Gavan Eckhart; costume design: Greta Goiris

William Kentridge Studio

by William Kentridge

Taken in the Exhibition

In China, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao Zedong took place between 1966 and 1976. Its aim was to accelerate development and to abandon bourgeois values while imposing Maoist thought.

The brutal government-led campaign, involving the enforced relocation of people and the violent suppression of free thought, echoed strategies pursued in South Africa during apartheid. Mao’s ‘Little Red Book’, which contained directives and inspirational thoughts, disregarded the harsh reality confronting those living ordinary lives.

‘Yangbanxi’ (Model Operas), eight of which were created by Mao’s wife Jiang Qing and performed as ballets as well as being adapted as films, were the only officially sanctioned state music permitted during the Cultural Revolution.

With strong nationalist themes and highly charged musical scores, ballets like ‘The Red Detachment of Women’ transformed peasants and soldiers into heroes of the revolution.

Kentridge’s work refers tangentially to the current expansion of Chinese state interests, a form of economic colonialism, across Africa. In the film, the graceful ballerina dressed as a soldier and dancing with a rifle, transposed by Kentridge to South Africa, is an incongruous image.

Similarly, the Chinese campaign to eradicate the four ‘pests’ (mosquito, rat, fly and sparrow) during the Great Leap Forward (1958–62), is rendered tragically absurd in the film – millions of birds were killed in an orchestrated campaign, leaving the grain fields at the mercy of locusts and resulting in the Great Chinese Famine (1959–61), and the eventual reimportation of sparrows from the Soviet Union.

[Royal Academy]

William Kentridge

(September — December 2022)

The largest exhibition of the artist’s work in the UK to date, ‘William Kentridge’ leads the visitor on an experiential voyage through the last 40 years of his extraordinary career.

William Kentridge was born in Johannesburg in 1955. After graduating in Political Science and African Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in 1976, he spent two years studying at the Johannesburg Art Foundation before going to Paris in 1981 to study mime and theatre at the L’Ecole internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq.

Returning to Johannesburg, he continued to work in theatre but also began to concentrate on his art, which included suites of etchings and linocuts, large-scale charcoal drawings and short films.

By the late 1980s his work was gaining recognition outside South Africa, a process accelerated by the end of apartheid and the reopening of the country, which had long been internationally regarded as a pariah state. Since the 1990s, his art and work for stage has been seen in museums, galleries, theatres and opera houses across the world.

While always regarding drawing as his primary practice, Kentridge continues to make prints, sculptures, tapestries and films, and to work on theatrical projects and lectures. His work in theatre has expanded to include both directing operas and creating new operatic pieces in collaboration with composers and performers.

[Royal Academy]

Wits Digital Arts postgrad, Nathan Destro, testing the "Un-useless Inventiont" that he designed in a Masters workshop led by visiting NY interactive artist, Laura Nova. Entitled the "Personal Space Protector" it was tested late morning 18 Sept in the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Three channel HD film installation

Choreography and dancer: Dada Masilo; music composition and arrangement: Philip Miller; additional music composition: Johannes Serekeho, music performed by First St John Brass Band; video editing and construction: Žana Marovič, Janus Fouché; sound mix: Gavan Eckhart; costume design: Greta Goiris

William Kentridge Studio

by William Kentridge

Taken in the Exhibition

In China, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao Zedong took place between 1966 and 1976. Its aim was to accelerate development and to abandon bourgeois values while imposing Maoist thought.

The brutal government-led campaign, involving the enforced relocation of people and the violent suppression of free thought, echoed strategies pursued in South Africa during apartheid. Mao’s ‘Little Red Book’, which contained directives and inspirational thoughts, disregarded the harsh reality confronting those living ordinary lives.

‘Yangbanxi’ (Model Operas), eight of which were created by Mao’s wife Jiang Qing and performed as ballets as well as being adapted as films, were the only officially sanctioned state music permitted during the Cultural Revolution.

With strong nationalist themes and highly charged musical scores, ballets like ‘The Red Detachment of Women’ transformed peasants and soldiers into heroes of the revolution.

Kentridge’s work refers tangentially to the current expansion of Chinese state interests, a form of economic colonialism, across Africa. In the film, the graceful ballerina dressed as a soldier and dancing with a rifle, transposed by Kentridge to South Africa, is an incongruous image.

Similarly, the Chinese campaign to eradicate the four ‘pests’ (mosquito, rat, fly and sparrow) during the Great Leap Forward (1958–62), is rendered tragically absurd in the film – millions of birds were killed in an orchestrated campaign, leaving the grain fields at the mercy of locusts and resulting in the Great Chinese Famine (1959–61), and the eventual reimportation of sparrows from the Soviet Union.

[Royal Academy]

William Kentridge

(September — December 2022)

The largest exhibition of the artist’s work in the UK to date, ‘William Kentridge’ leads the visitor on an experiential voyage through the last 40 years of his extraordinary career.

William Kentridge was born in Johannesburg in 1955. After graduating in Political Science and African Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in 1976, he spent two years studying at the Johannesburg Art Foundation before going to Paris in 1981 to study mime and theatre at the L’Ecole internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq.

Returning to Johannesburg, he continued to work in theatre but also began to concentrate on his art, which included suites of etchings and linocuts, large-scale charcoal drawings and short films.

By the late 1980s his work was gaining recognition outside South Africa, a process accelerated by the end of apartheid and the reopening of the country, which had long been internationally regarded as a pariah state. Since the 1990s, his art and work for stage has been seen in museums, galleries, theatres and opera houses across the world.

While always regarding drawing as his primary practice, Kentridge continues to make prints, sculptures, tapestries and films, and to work on theatrical projects and lectures. His work in theatre has expanded to include both directing operas and creating new operatic pieces in collaboration with composers and performers.

[Royal Academy]

Wits Digital Arts postgrad, Nathan Destro, testing the "Un-useless Invention" that he designed in a Masters workshop led by visiting NY interactive artist, Laura Nova. Entitled the "Personal Space Protector" it was tested late morning 18 Sept in the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Scenes from the WSOA Physical Theatre production, Woman of the Snow, directed by Jenni-lee Crewe at the Wits Theatre, Johannesburg, September 2009. The dance play, based upon Masaki Kobayashi, 1965 classic film The Woman of the Snow is tells an old Japanese ghost story of forbidden love.

Wits Digital Arts postgrad, Nathan Destro, testing the "Un-useless Invention" that he designed in a Masters workshop led by visiting NY interactive artist, Laura Nova. Entitled the "Personal Space Protector" it was tested late morning 18 Sept in the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Scenes from the WSOA Physical Theatre production, Woman of the Snow, directed by Jenni-lee Crewe at the Wits Theatre, Johannesburg, September 2009. The dance play, based upon Masaki Kobayashi, 1965 classic film The Woman of the Snow is tells an old Japanese ghost story of forbidden love.

Scenes from the WSOA Physical Theatre production, Woman of the Snow, directed by Jenni-lee Crewe at the Wits Theatre, Johannesburg, September 2009. The dance play, based upon Masaki Kobayashi, 1965 classic film The Woman of the Snow is tells an old Japanese ghost story of forbidden love.

Wits Digital Arts postgrad, Nathan Destro, testing the "Un-useless Invention" that he designed in a Masters workshop led by visiting NY interactive artist, Laura Nova. Entitled the "Personal Space Protector" it was tested late morning 18 Sept in the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Wits Digital Arts postgrad, Nathan Destro, testing the "Un-useless Invention" that he designed in a Masters workshop led by visiting NY interactive artist, Laura Nova. Entitled the "Personal Space Protector" it was tested late morning 18 Sept in the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

Wits Digital Arts postgrad, Nathan Destro, testing the "Un-useless Inventiont" that he designed in a Masters workshop led by visiting NY interactive artist, Laura Nova. Entitled the "Personal Space Protector" it was tested late morning 18 Sept in the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

De rand is de munteenheid van Zuid-Afrika. De naam is afgeleid van de goudader in Witwatersrand. De munt werd ingevoerd in 1961, toen Zuid-Afrika een republiek werd, en verving het Zuid-Afrikaanse pond als wettelijke munteenheid. Er zijn vijf bankbiljetten (van 10, 20, 50, 100 en 200 rand) en negen munten (van 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 en 50 cent alsmede 1, 2 en 5 rand). Sinds april 2002 worden de munten van 1 en 2 cent niet meer geslagen.

De eerste bankbiljetten beeldden Jan van Riebeeck af, de eerste Nederlandse gouverneur van de Kaapkolonie. In de jaren tachtig werden nieuwe bankbiljetten ontworpen. Op de nieuwe bankbiljetten staan grote dieren zoals neushoorns, leeuwen, luipaarden, buffels en olifanten afgebeeld (de Grote Vijf).

In september 2001 verloor de rand veel waarde ten opzichte van andere grote munteenheden. In december 2001 was de koers van de rand ZAR 13,85 tegen één Amerikaanse dollar, het laagste punt ooit. Sindsdien heeft de rand het waardeverlies weer deels goedgemaakt, tot ZAR 7,50 per dollar (2008).

In augustus 2004 werd een nieuwe munt van 5 rand ingevoerd. Deze bestaat net als de 1- en 2-euromunten uit twee verschillende metalen.

Sedert 1967 wordt er een gouden rand geslagen, voornamelijk bestemd voor beleggers en in mindere mate voor muntverzamelaars. Deze munt heet de Krugerrand.

The settlement at Benoni in Gauteng Province, South Africa was declared a municipality in 1906 and renamed as the Township of Benoni. This badge which depicts the old Benoni coat-of-arms, was issued in 1956 as part of the golden jubilee commemorations of that event.

Benoni and its environs were first settled in the first half 19th century by the Voortrekkers (Boers) and the first farmlands there were granted by the Transvaal Government in 1862. By the 1870, the lands at Benoni has been sold off and divided into four farmlands. Unfortunately for the Boers, it was later discovered that their farms were rich in gold and coal deposits. The first gold was accidently discovered there in 1887, which led to the Witwatersrand Goldrush and a sudden influx of prospectors (Uitlanders) hoping to make their fortunes. For most did not strike it rich and eventually only the large industrial gold mining complexes that developed could make sufficient profits. Extracting the low concentrations of gold from the rock required deep-mining, which was a complex and capital intensive process that was not affordable to the small scale prospectors. The spread of railways throughout South Africa during the 1890’s and the building of dams for a reliable water supply also helped open up Benoni and make it more habitable. Extensive coal deposits were also discovered at Benoin and the first coal mine was opened there in 1897.

By 1900, the settlement at Benoni already had its taverns, post office, stores and by 1906 there were already 200 houses with around 600 inhabitants. As coal and gold mining declined in importance, the town came to rely more on light industry and services. In 1981 Benoin was declared a City and has around 160,000 inhabitants (2011 Census: 158,777 – 38.1% white & 45.2% black). English is the main language spoken in the region.

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References:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benoni,_Gauteng

benonicitytimes.co.za/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2013/10... (A more detailed early history for the Township of Benoni).

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The Benoini coat-of-arms

The Benoni coat of arms, commissioned in 1937 was drawn up by the College of Heralds in England and registered with South African Bureau of Heraldry in Pretoria in 1966.

The Motto ‘Auspicium Melioris Aevi” means “A pledge for better times.”

The ‘Four Farms’ or fonteins, (Rietfontein, Vlakfontein, Modderfontein and Kleinfontein) are immortalized by the four silver and blue roundels (or bezants in heraldic terms with the colours denoting fountains in heraldry) in the border of the shield whilst the four bezants of gold symbolize the gold-mining industry. •

The triple castle in the centre is derived from the arms of the town of Bedford in England of Sir George Farrar’s’ origins whilst the triple escallops occur in the Duke of Bedford’s arms.

The arm wielding a hammer represents industry and the rising sun behind it expresses hope for the ascending destiny of the municipality.

The two South African Springbok wear triple bezants in their collars, also representing the gold mining industry.

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Enamels: 5 (blue, yellow, brown, red & black).

Finish: Chrome plated.

Material: Brass.

Fixer: Pin.

Size: 1 3/16” diameter (30mm).

Process: Die stamped.

Imprint: METAL ART. BOX 1483. PRETORIA.

Scenes from the WSOA Physical Theatre production, Woman of the Snow, directed by Jenni-lee Crewe at the Wits Theatre, Johannesburg, September 2009. The dance play, based upon Masaki Kobayashi, 1965 classic film The Woman of the Snow is tells an old Japanese ghost story of forbidden love.

Der Ort wurde 1890 als Goldgräberdorf gegründet und wurde zur "Ghost Town", nachdem bereits kurz danach Gold am Witwatersrand (heute Johannesburg) gefunden wurde.

Wits Digital Arts postgrad, Nathan Destro, testing the "Un-useless Invention" that he designed in a Masters workshop led by visiting NY interactive artist, Laura Nova. Entitled the "Personal Space Protector" it was tested late morning 18 Sept in the streets of Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

The ultimate price of coal. Families have always worried about husbands, sons, siblings toiling underground to extract coal; always feared that its price would be demanded from the unforgiving seams . No one expected however, the terrible price that was exacted on that morning of 21 October 1966 when the Pantglas School was suddenly and terribly engulfed by a wall of liquid slurry from a collapsed slag heap. Tragically, the children were filing out from morning assembly; had the collapse occurred several minutes later, the loss of life would have been significantly reduced since they would have been dispersed to their classrooms which did not bear the full brunt. One hundred and forty four persons lost their lives, one hundred and sixteen of them primary school children.

This section of Aberfan Cemetery is dedicated to these victims of coal, with marble arches and their graves, many subsequently added to by family members over the years. By 2007, stones had begun to deteriorate, and funding to refurbish the area was provided by the Aberfan Memorial Charity, work being completed in 2009.

A contribution by the Witwatersrand Cambrian Society.