A balcony is not like a stoep, open and easily accessible to every passer by. It is more private, more a family affair, and in times gone by, almost a way of life. People would sit on their balconies of an evening to gossip, smoke and watch the passing parade, and District Six had many balconies, especial in Hanover Street. People would keep their pets there, string their washing out to dry, and as a playground, it was safe and near at hand.

Most of the balconies have long since been condemned and demolished, and with it a tradition, known as the 'skel', practiced by women neighbours when they quarrelled. In a wordy battle the woman up on the balcony had a distinct advantage for she could empty the contents of her dirt-bin (or worse) onto her adversary. This was rare though as these exchanges more usually consisted of bawdy comments and quick witted quips. A crowd would gather who listened with the ears of connoisseurs, while children would cheer and clap hands when one or other woman uttered such a riposte to leave her adversary speechless for a while. The saving features of these street-to-balcony skirmishes were that the two opponents were unable to engage in physical violence; rather they provided free entertainment to their neighbours, and they lived to fight another day!

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The Cape Malay fishermen, who mainly lived in District Six, recognised two seasons. There was the season of the small fish, such as harders, which lasted eight months, then came the season of the big fish, particularly snoek. The fishermen never risked their money in banks, rather they wrapped their coins in lappies (little bits of rag) and through them on the roof of the four-poster bed which most of them inherited.

They would often discuss the snoek run during the season. An early season, with fat specimens at the outset, portends a wet winter, but if the fish only began to run in late April or early May, the Cape winter would be dry and brief. A snoek with soft and pinkish flesh is suspect and few will eat it, and if appears slightly luminous when hung in the dark, it must not be eaten even if freshly caught. You have been warned.

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The Cango Caves are located in the foothills of the Swartberg mountains range near the town of Oudtshoorn. The principal cave is one of the country's finest, best known, and most popular tourist caves and attracts many visitors from overseas. Although the extensive system of tunnels and chambers go on for over 4km, only about a quarter of this is open to visitors, who may proceed into the cave only in groups supervised by a guide. Cave paintings and artifacts indicate that the caves were in use throughout prehistory over a long period during the Middle and Later Stone Ages.

The caves were rediscovered in modern times in 1780 by a local farmer named Jacobus Van Zyl. The chamber he first was lowered down into was found to be as long as a football field, and is named Van Zyl Hall in his honor. Further exploration was done and a second chamber discovered in 1792. The caves soon became a popular place to visit.
Mr Johnny van Wassenaer, the cave’s first official guide is purported to have walked 29 hours to find the end of the caves in 1898. When there, he is said to have calculated that he was 25km from the entrance and 275m underground; his route apparently followed an underground river. More and more caves are still being found to support this story.

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St Mark's Anglican Church stands on a hill in District Six. Built of stone in 1867, the church has served Anglicans of that community since then until the present day. Even when under the Apartheid government’s Group Areas Act some 40,000 District Six residents were relocated to the Cape Flats, and their homes demolished, they still travelled to St Mark’s each Sunday, rejecting the government’s offer to rebuild their church locally. Today, people still travel from Kuils River, Bellville, Mitchell’s Plain and Athlone to maintain that undertaking. In St Mark’s the spirit of the District Six community lives on.

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The Gardens Shul, the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation, was established 1841 and is the oldest congregation in South Africa. Built in 1862 the structure may be the oldest synagogue building in the country. Situated in Paddock Avenue in the Gardens area of central Cape Town, the building has the appearance of a temple with a stone frontage comprising a heavy colonnade of Egyptian-style columns which bear an unusual combination of decorative Greek and Egyptian motifs.

Today the building forms the entrance to the Jewish Museum. In 1941 the centenary year of the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation, a society to establish a Jewish Museum and Archives was founded in Cape Town. Its main object was to collect and preserve articles and documents, illustrating the history of the Jewish community in South Africa, but the project made slow progress, and it was not until August 1958 that the museum was opened officially.

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The Lutheran Church in Strand Street in Cape Town is the oldest church building in South Africa, dating back to 1792. It was declared a National Monument in 1949.
It is one of a unique group of eighteenth century buildings, the others being Martin Melck House and Sexton's House. These buildings are of particular historical importance as they symbolise the long drawn-out struggle of the Lutherans for the right to practice their religion.

When the Dutch first settled at the Cape in 1652, the Dutch East India Company limited the colonist's freedom of worship to the Dutch Reformed faith. However, for many years Lutheran worship was held in a hall, erected by a wealthy merchant, Martin Melck. The building was officially described as a warehouse. However, although the colonial administrators were aware of the actual use of the building, they chose to turn a blind eye.

In 1776 the hall was transferred to the congregation by Martin Melck. It already contained an organ, a communion chalice and a lectern in the form of a swan with outstretched wings: the symbol of Lutheranism. Another swan was proudly displayed above the entrance.

In 1779, following a number of petitions from German, Danish and Scandinavian officials in the Cape, the Company relented and decided to grant the Lutherans the right to form their own church. In the following year, Andreas Kolver of Rotterdam became the first Pastor. During the next four years considerable improvements were made to the hall, but it was mainly during the years 1787 to 1792 that the building was transformed and beautified. This was done by the leading Cape sculptor of the time, Anton Anreith. He designed the front elevation, but his main contribution was the decoration of the interior by his excellent wood carvings. The most important of these works were the magnificent pulpit supported by two great male figures and the choir-stalls with a carving of King David in high relief.

In 1818 the church had to be rebuilt to a considerable extent because of the poor condition of the walls and the roof. At this time a spire was built, but unfortunately there were deviations from Anreith's design which robbed the facade and entrance of much of their former beauty. There have been few alterations to the church since. The spire with its belfry rises almost from street level, while the original old railings offer brave resistance to the encroachment of the city. The same slate path which so many churchgoers have used over the years still leads from the gate to the paved entrance porch. Inside, the sense of devotion is enhanced by Anreith's incomparable pulpit, the historic old pews, the lovely copper basins and font. Here the Church Archives and the valuable communion plate are also preserved.

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​The quiet town of Oudtshoorn lies between the majestic mountains of the Klein Karoo. In winter, snow covers the nearby mountain peaks and in summer temperatures sizzle. Its dry, extreme climate has much to do with the town’s success, where once ostrich farmers bathed in brandy and papered their walls in pound notes, when Oudtshoorn became known as the ostrich capital of the world.

It began when ostrich feathers became a major European and British fashion accessory in the mid-1800s. Oudtshoorn farmers were quick to realise that the Karoo environment was ideal to raise ostriches and began ripping up their agricultural fields and domesticating wild birds. Breeding pairs of birds thrived and farmers pocketed up to R200 per kilogram for their feathers, an astonishing amount in 1884.

Although the demand for ostrich feathers has drastically decreased, their skins are now used to produce high-end fashion accessories. Ostrich meat has become a popular alternative to beef or lamb. As a result, Oudtshoorn continues as an active ostrich farming town, boasting the largest number of ostriches in the world.

​​All my works are available as high quality prints on non-archival paper or on stretched canvas.
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