CITY ART: Joburg breathes new life into the history on its streets

{JSON.stringify(article.attachments[0], null, 2)} --> A jazz legend whose shoe is regularly kept polished by a mysterious admirer, giant steel pigeons honouring Johannesburg’s Asian community and the story of Pickhandle Mary are among the pieces of Joburg’s history being brought back to life on its streets.

Across a city better known these days for crumbling infrastructure, Joburg has been restoring another kind of infrastructure — the artworks, monuments, plaques and storyboards that tell the tales of the people who built, challenged and changed the city.

Four prominent public artworks have recently been restored by the Johannesburg Development Agency, 15 blue heritage plaques have been replaced or refurbished, and new historical storyboards and signage are being installed.

Joburg has several hundred public artworks, including murals, mosaics, sculptures, monuments, memorials and street art, according to the City.

Its blue heritage plaque programme alone has grown to more than 230 markers spread across the city over the past 20 years.

Eric Itzkin, who retired in August 2026 as the City’s Head of Heritage, said the latest work was not a once-off rescue operation, but part of a longstanding programme of the Directorate: Arts, Culture and Heritage, for maintaining and enhancing the city’s public heritage.

“It’s kind of a long-term programme. Year by year we repair, refurbish and upgrade artworks, and that’s been going for the last several years really,” he said.

Previous work included restoration in the Vilakazi Street precinct and a major revamp of the courtyard exhibition at the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum.

There, the names of victims of the June 16 uprising had previously been displayed on small panels on the ground where people could walk over them.

“It really didn’t have much dignity or visual kind of power to it,” Itzkin said.

They were replaced with impressive upright granite panels bearing the names of 593 victims of the June 16 1976 Student Uprising.

This year’s work has concentrated particularly on the Newtown Cultural Precinct and surrounding historic areas.

The Repairs and Enhancement of Public Art Programme was commissioned by the City’s Directorate of Arts, Culture and Heritage and implemented by the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA).

Work on the ground was led by specialist team Sticky Situations, in consultation with the original artists.