Earlier this year the art world gained new insights into the life and times of LS Lowry, the Manchester painter famous for depicting the industrial cityscapes of northern England. Populated by his distinctive “matchstick” people, Lowry’s panoramic scenes convey the colour and the bleakness of working-class Britain in the decades either side of World War 2.
Lowry was a reclusive figure, even after he achieved success as an artist, and shared little about his rather sad and tortured domestic life. But between 1972 and his death in 1976, he granted a series of interviews to a fan of his work, Angela Barratt — the recordings of which surfaced only when Barratt herself died in 2022. A few months ago the BBC released a film based on these “unheard tapes”, combining documentary-style treatment of the material with surprisingly convincing lip-synched re-enactments of the interviews featuring Ian McKellan as Lowry and Annabel Smith as Barratt.
In one memorable exchange, Barratt elicits Lowry’s views on the more “beautiful” (southern) parts of England compared to the north. “I don’t like the south of England,” insists Lowry. “It’s harmless. No guts in it. Dull. Horrible place. Dead alive.” This affirmation of the gritty dynamism of northern towns and cities like Manchester is echoed by a fellow Mancunian, the writer Jeanette Winterson, who describes Lowry’s paintings as conveying “the exuberance, the vibrance, the energy, the irrepressibility of the Manchester spirit…. It’s a special place. Its grandeur and its griminess sit together.”
I’ve been recalling these words recently and wondering if they may be applied to a comparable South African north-south contest from a proud Joburger’s perspective. Substitute Gauteng for Greater Manchester and the Western Cape for the south of England; the shoes seem to fit, don’t they?
Of course, Manchester itself has changed significantly from the place that Lowry knew. The factories and the exploitative work conditions and the pollution are gone. Lowry’s paintings, now worth millions, are exhibited in an enormous arts centre in the Salford Quays precinct, where swanky apartments and a digital media hub have replaced the derelict old docks.
Johannesburg (to extend the Manchester analogy) has its own combination of “grandeur and griminess”. It’s hard to see the city being turned around quite as dramatically — but there is plenty of private money and public will to make a start if the politicians and bureaucrats would just get on board.
Johannesburg (to extend the Manchester analogy) has its own combination of “grandeur and griminess”. It’s hard to see the city being turned around quite as dramatically — but there is plenty of private money and public will to make a start if the politicians and bureaucrats would just get on board.
Joburg’s art scene has traded on the rough-and-ready, makeshift-renewal-amid-decay vibe. But the fact is that artists need patrons and a commercial infrastructure; they need swanky more than they need derelict. So it’s always a source of excitement in the sector when high-profile events such as the RMB Latitudes Art Fair roll around.
Latitudes returns to Shepstone Gardens on May 22-24, with a theme inspired by the venue — a “carefully tended pocket of green within an urban context”, as fair curator Denzo Nyathi describes it. That theme is “Oasis”, encouraging artists, gallerists and attendees to “reflect on the improbability of creative flourishing in unlikely places” and to affirm “Johannesburg’s spirit of resilience and renewal”.
For Latitudes director and co-founder Lucy McGarry, the aim is to create an immersive experience at Shepstone Gardens that remains inclusive and accessible: “Our priority is, and always has been, to put artists first — centring their voices, supporting their long-term visibility and building pathways for sustainable practice.”
Happily, these are not just nice words. Latitudes has already had a significant impact on artists and arts economies across Africa.
In 2026, the fair’s Index programme has been expanded through a partnership between Rand Merchant Bank and the National Arts Council. Index is a platform allowing artists who are not represented by a gallery to have their work exhibited at Latitudes and be part of the industry networking that it facilitates.
This year the fair also features a special focus on Nigerian art. Through a collaboration with Yenwa Gallery in Lagos, Latitudes will stage a Nigeria Pavilion, bringing more than 30 artists to Johannesburg. The importance of such transcontinental initiatives in economic, social and political terms hardly needs emphasising in a city still trying to figure out its identity as an African metropolis — grandeur and griminess and all.
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