Hop on, hop off, see Jozi’s art

There’s a sign inside Museum Afrika in Newtown that says, “I’m a remarkable piece of art, adore me”. It could well apply to the delightful Thabo Modise, aka Thabo the Tourist. He’s unmistakable, a head and shoulders above the rest of us, and has the funkiest hairstyle.

Modise is an “art concierge” who takes guided tours all over Johannesburg and Soweto. “I’m using tours to sell art,” he says. To date, his company Toura Travel Therapy has facilitated more than 300 art tours “for the culturally curious”.

We meet outside the Circa Gallery in Rosebank, home to the famous Keyes Art Precinct, which links a series of contemporary and established galleries in the street and surrounding ’hood.

This is the starting point of one of Modise’s tour offerings, a hop-on, hop-off experience that uses the daily tourist Red Bus to take his clients around the Keyes Art Precinct as well as the Melrose Gallery and Transwerke Studios, a creative hub near Constitution Hill. Along the way, Modise provides insight into the artworks, exhibitions and cultural context that makes Jozi such a dynamic creative capital.

Toura Travel Therapy offers a variety of curated half- or full-day art tours that range from gallery hopping to intimate studio visits, from mural art and graffiti tours to the increasingly popular Soweto Art Tour. Some of the inner-city studios that feature in his tours include Ellis House in Bertrams and August House in New Doornfontein, whose walls feature a mural of an upside-down throne.

The Soweto tour is taking off really well with both international and local visitors, says Modise. “It’s a chance to discover the rich and nuanced art ­landscape of Soweto. It goes beyond conventional sightseeing, providing exclusive access to artist ­studios, galleries and significant heritage locations.

The tour includes a visit to the deliciously colourful studio of Lerato Motau, who does textile works using fabric, embroidery and mixed media, as well as the historic Mofolo Arts Centre, which was a cultural and artistic hub in the ’70s and ’80s. Famous artists like Jabulani Sam Nhlengethwa, Durant Sihlali and Ezrom Legae studied there before the place was pretty much abandoned and fell into disrepair in the ’90s.

Mofolo Art Centre is being revived and now has studios, workshops and a gallery space. Artist Bra Kenny Nkosi’s studio is like stepping onto another planet. He uses old plastic and waste to create incredibly intricate sculptures – powerful art that depicts the horror of war, the madness of life, the beauty of music.

The Soweto Art Tour also takes in the Eyethu Heritage Hall. Once the iconic Eyethu Theatre, the first black-owned cinema in Soweto, it has been restored and transformed into a funky contemporary venue space. Outside are big, bold murals by contemporary artist SenzArt911. Inside it’s a museum whose walls are lined with old posters and cinema memorabilia – movie tickets, newspaper cuttings, record covers. The famous actors and actresses of Soweto, the musicians, the movies of the ’60s and ’70s.

Modise was born in Zeerust and raised in Dobsonville and honed his entrepreneurial career on one of South Africa’s most prominent tourist destinations, Soweto’s Vilakazi Street. He has cleverly carved a name for himself with artists and galleries, and also with tour operators, travel agents and the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association.

Last year, he attended the country’s premier travel trade fair in Durban, Africa’s Travel Indaba, for the first time, along with Jozi My Jozi, the inner-city revitalisation project, determined to spread the message of Jozi’s amazing artworld. DM

Check out www.touratraveltherapy.com

Bridget Hilton-Barber is a freelance writer who writes for Jozi My Jozi.

This story first appeared in our weekly DM168 newspaper, available countrywide for R35.