African Design Magazine October 2014 | Page 70

clinking and clanking. we play with them in hopes that they will play with him. he who sits around in the afternoon after waiting long hours in the unemployment line. we whisper out their windows in hopes that they will whisper in their ears. whisper to them: messages of hope instead of fear. we know well that safety thrives in bright pink and danger dwells in muddy browns and faded greys. hot pink laughs. dark brown frowns. hot pink dances. grey merely moves. 70 africandesignmagazine.com together, we dress fear in pink in hopes that she will smile a little and join us in reinventing much. After getting this translated, it was clear that they are a little troubled by the landlords, land owners and politicians who seem to have forgotten that there are buildings that need a bit of TLC. A voice for the overlooked, a cry for the voiceless. If #BEWAREOFCOLOUR did not paint them pink, who would? I get their frustration, I really do. Johannesburg is in desperate need of change. Her streets are filthy, overturned bins spew their trash from the pavements and into the streets. Derelict, colourless buildings are left to the rats and those desperate enough who dare risk enter them. But one gets the sense that their frustrations are a little misguided. They describe their pink explosion as an urban experiment. I have seen urban experiments and they have transformed neighbourhoods, not defaced them. I have seen art and graffiti used to send