What did you come to steal? An emerging artist’s provocative portrait of Joburg

Johannesburg, notorious for its sky-high crime rates, is famed for taking from its residents. But emerging artist Cameron-Lee Olivier is forcing audiences to question what they’ve come to steal from the city, in turn.

In her temporary studio, vibrant colours and sketches come to life, spilling off the pages onto the walls themselves. Olivier’s Gold Thief City, an exhibition that opened on 6 November at the 223 Jan Smuts Creative Hub, is an ongoing artwork that fuses iconic sketches of roller coasters, highways and mining shafts to create a surreal and playful vision that captures the chaotic energy of Johannesburg.

The exhibition takes its title from the iconic theme park Gold Reef City, which functions as a site of joy and remembrance. Right next door is the Apartheid Museum, and the park itself bases its theme on the mine shafts that led to the birth of Johannesburg.

The word “thief” appears at first to be a cheeky nod to the city’s reputation for crime. But Olivier explains that it’s a comment on the relationship that those who are not originally from Joburg have towards the city.

“A lot of us come to the city expecting something from it or to take something from it, you know, whether it’s, like, chance, opportunity, money, love, whatever it is,” she explains.

Join the heist

In the middle of the room is a long table where audience members are invited to participate in the heist. Here they sit, take one of the black and white sketches emblazoned with the words “Gold Thief City”, and colour it in with kokis and pencils in the same bright colours that Olivier uses in her art.

In the process, they reinterpret Johannesburg scenes and take a part of the city home. On the far wall is an A2 page titled Gold Thief City Playlist, which asks audience members to suggest songs that the exhibition reminds them of.

“Sometimes white walls can feel so intimidating and also so strong, and it really isolates the work, and I feel like that’s not how this work kind of wants to live,” says Olivier.

The 24-year-old University of Johannesburg Honours student is an emerging artist whose career to date has been defined by colouring outside the lines. In February, she participated in a similar interactive project titled Concrete Memory at the Keyes Art Mile in Rosebank, Johannesburg, where audience members were invited to colour in the mural she created.

“It was interesting because a lot of people came through after work, and people are in suits and ties, but they’re there drawing butterflies and flowers … and everybody kind of also started to respond to other people’s things, which was interesting, because it started to feel like a dialogue almost with someone you don’t even know,” she says.

For her first solo exhibition, she turned her sights to the city. Olivier, who calls Polokwane her home, moved to Doornfontein to begin her studies at UJ four years ago. The decision raised eyebrows of those more familiar with the city’s realities. But the area’s chaotic, vibrant character provided fertile ground for artistic inspiration.

“Like, crazy stuff would happen at all times of the day, and you’d meet the most random people that almost don’t feel real, and I found it very interesting and inspirational. And so whenever I would speak about it, people were like, ‘Come on, Cameron, it’s like very naive of you to feel this way about this place’, and very often it came from people who had never even been there before.”

Blending community building with sharp critique, the exhibition forces an active dialogue between the artist and the audience. This collaborative process is designed to make every participant examine the city’s contradictions and reckon with their personal stakes.

Breaking barriers in art

Olivier is the latest resident of the Creatory, a studio residency programme created to break the barriers to entry in the art world. The Creatory is the brainchild of the gallery owner Candice Berman.

Studios are integral to the artistic process, providing artists with the space to develop their work undisturbed. But they aren’t cheap. In Johannesburg, they can rent for upwards of R3,000 a month, which few emerging artists can afford.

“Studio space is incredibly inaccessible… A very small portion of artists have access to their own dedicated studio space,” explained Delara Crouse, the manager of the gallery’s Creatory programme.

She told Daily Maverick that the Creatory began in early 2024 as a way of nurturing emerging artistic talent and bringing attention to the process behind the art.

“Regardless of what medium it is, just to see an artist and their process reminds us and grounds us again in what it actually takes to get these works on the wall. And not just the physical action of pencil to paper or paint to canvas, but the emotional, intimate process behind that.”

Each residency lasts between two and three months and provides the artist’s vital flexibility. In Olivier’s case, the programme allows her to tailor her own schedule so she is able to complete her Honours programme.

To date, it has hosted 10 artists working across different mediums, from paint to crochet to digital art. More than half of them went on to make their first commercial sales from the programme.

Crouse identified Olivier’s work from her submission to their annual New Vanguard exhibition, which showcases work from emerging artists. She was taken by Olivier’s transformative use of space, and the gallery is always on the lookout for unconventional work.

Previous residencies have featured sculptors, crocheters, and mixed media artists, to name a few. One of their success stories, Megan Shapiro, used a 3D plastic drawing pen to layer thin, intricate lines of plastic over one another, resulting in three-dimensional sculptural work. She sold nearly 40 pieces during her residency.

“I think nurturing our clients and young collectors towards emerging artists as well, that’s a big role of galleries. That’s a responsibility galleries hold. If we are not exhibiting and making space for emerging artists and young artists, then who is?” said Crouse.

The gallery self-funds its emerging artists programmes, but it has ambitions of expanding these programmes through registering as a public benefit organisation (PBO). This would allow it to fundraise and expand the scope of its programmes to include mentorships and support for artists. The gallery is also fostering long-term partnerships with its artists to ensure continued support beyond the residency.

“The arts industry is so cut-throat, and because art is a deeply emotional thing, a deeply intimate thing, no matter if you are the one making the art, selling the art, exhibiting the art, it is an emotional industry, as it should be. But we sometimes lose our humanity in that, and it’s a huge thing Candice has taught me in collaboration, not competition. We can find a way to collaborate with anyone, and we should,” said Crouse. DM

Applications for The Creatory Residency are open. Interested artists should submit a CV and proposal to marketing@candiceberman.co.za.