Mikhael Subotzky and British artist Patrick Waterhouse met while on residency together in Italy. They started collaborating in mid-2008 on a project that is geographically located in Berea’s Ponte City building. This icon of the Johannesburg’s skyline has long been a symbol for the city itself, and the crucible of its citizen’s imaginations. Since its inception in 1976, the best and the worst of Johannesburg have been projected onto the building, and built into its mythology.

Combining photography, historical archives, found objects, and interviews, the work spans the pre-history of the building, its spectacular decline, and recent attempts at its transformation. The building is cast as the central character in a tangled narrative which reflects Johannesburg’s magnetic pull on the social and mythical lives of those who come to this place from all over the country and all over the continent.

Mikhael Subotzky’s work has been widely exhibited and collected. He was included in New Photography 2008: Josephine Meckseper and Mikhael Subotzky at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and his first monograph, Beaufort West, was published the same year. He received the 2009 Oskar Barnack Award, the 2008 W. Eugene Smith Memorial Grant, and the 2008 ICP Infinity Award (Young Photographer). This is his fifth solo exhibition with Goodman Gallery.