Gqeberha social media page explores the ‘shitty’ side of the Friendly City

Gqeberha has been called many names. Some of them nice, others not so nice.

And a local social media page that is slowly gaining traction with its audience believes that whether you know it as the Friendly City, or the notorious “armpit of South Africa”, you may be right on both accounts.

ShittyCityPE is an Instagram page that showcases Gqeberha in a way very few people have ever thought of, and the founder, photographer and curator of the page believes it depicts the true identity of “a city with the heart of the dorpie”.

“When people look up Gqeberha, they always see the landmarks, the leafy suburbs, the beachfront. And while we are those things, we are also a blue-collar city, with the majority of people living in areas that are not pretty and far more gritty than the images that are shown to the rest of the world.”

The founder of the page, who wishes to remain anonymous, explained that she started ShittyCityPE three years ago as part of her own journey of rediscovery after spending the better part of two decades away.

Born and raised in the less picturesque inner city of Gqeberha, she lived and worked in Cape Town for 17 years, facing constant criticism for being from “such a shit place”.

“Capetonians are very critical of other places, and whenever people heard I was from Gqeberha they would tell me how shit it is. I took that very personally, and their comments invoked a deep sense of pride in me.

“People from Gqeberha have a very self-deprecating culture, and we know our city’s faults. It’s almost like having a troublesome sibling – nobody except close family is allowed to call it shit,” she laughed.

During her time in Cape Town she would still regularly visit her family in Nelson Mandela Bay, but it was only when she moved back, a little over three years ago, that her journey of rediscovery started, and with it ShittyCityPE.

She noticed that while there was much urban decay, there were also parts of the city – particularly the poorer to middle-class neighbourhoods – that acted as a time capsule of decades long passed.

She started walking the streets of places like Sydenham, Sidwell, Central, Korsten and North End, capturing images of lesser known landmarks, and what she calls “colloquial architecture, street art, culture and vibes”.

“These areas are the gritty, quintessential heart of blue-collar Gqeberha, and my subjects are places that these residents attach a deeper nostalgic and cultural meaning to. These are not well-known or picturesque landmarks, but places that give context to the real people that live there.

“Of course, some of these places show a lot of neglect and decay, but there is also a quaint sense of identity of a little cottage, a corner shop or a piece of graffiti.”

Scrolling through the pictures on the Instagram profile, it would be easy to critique the photographer’s style, composition and editing – or lack thereof. However, the “shitty” nature of the pictures are all by design.

Working in the creative industry, where images are often finely curated and heavily edited, the ShittyCityPE’s founder said she wanted a platform where she could “unlearn” what the industry had become, and post raw pictures that better captured reality.

“That is partially also why I keep this page anonymous and separate from my professional work. I want the images to be as raw as possible with as little influence as possible from myself and my background. It has to be an archive about the subject, and not about me and my work.

“Some people may take offence with the name or my work, but I don’t choose anonymity to avoid controversy or criticism, because I don’t feel that any of the areas, people or themes that I cover are problematic. I choose anonymity to remove myself from the conversation, so that the images can speak for themselves and people can form their own ideas and opinions around them.”

Asked what her goals were for ShittyCityPE, now and in the future, she said that the aim was purely to document the city as it existed. And while she currently snaps individual buildings and scenes, she hopes to later document whole streets.

“I am working on a website that I hope can serve as a living archive of the city, capturing every house on every street, particularly in these lesser visited neighbourhoods. And one day, maybe in the near future, I can look at doing a coffee table book.”

She said there had been a lot of interest from other artists in the area to collaborate with her, however ShittyCityPE was not open to anyone else.

“I would be happy to collaborate with the right people if the project is something that speaks to me, but as far as this page goes and what I hope to achieve with it, that will remain with me,” she said. DM