Museum Africa
Museum Africa is Johannesburg’s social and cultural history museum. It is located in what was once the city’s fruit and vegetable market, with a block-long facade, towering pillars and huge interior space.
Its long-term exhibitions of social history include Cartoons in context, curated by Linda Chernis. Through accompanying text and images, the cartoons are contextualised to take viewers on an unusual journey through South African history.
Museum Africa, Newtown. Photo courtesy Gauteng Tourism Authority
By no means meant to be a comprehensive history of the country, the cartoons show small slices of the past, giving an insight into the political and social situations of the times.
The exhibition draws from Museum Africa’s vast collection of original political cartoons. Dating back to the late 1700s, and running through the 2000s, the exhibition shows how political cartoons can be used both as a means of oppression and as a means of protest and change.
Moving from the historical cartoons, viewers are invited to engage with the more contemporary cartoons of Sowetan cartoonist Sifiso Yalo. Yalo’s work is an integral part of the exhibition, from 2003 to the present.
Another long-term exhibition that continues to draw visitors to Museum Africa is Gandhi’s Johannesburg: The birthplace of Satyagraha.
The Gandhi exhibition shows the buildings and places associated with Mahatma Gandhi and his struggle against discrimination, and encourages visitors to go to the sites described in the museum. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948), often known as Mahatma Gandhi, was a leading political and spiritual figure in the Indian independence movement. He pioneered satyagraha – resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience. In 1893, after studying in London, he came to South Africa to work as a lawyer, and from 1904 to 1913 he lived in Johannesburg.
Johannesburg tracks: Mapping sexuality in the city follows the routes of eight gay, lesbian and transgender people through Johannesburg. It tells the story of the city from a different perspective, and shows the way that “the gay experiences” is part of the very fabric of Johannesburg.
Each of the eight participants in this exhibition is represented by a different colour. The panels along the walls introduce you to them and tell you about their individual journeys.
The Bensusan Photography exhibition within the museum. Photo courtesy Gauteng Tourism Authority
Where are the boundaries between South African cultural groups and how do you fit in? The exhibition, My Culture?, will help you explore and understand cultural groups: what they are, how they change over time, what their significance may be, and how they can be used and abused. You are asked to question your cultural links, what choices you have and how valuable your culture is to you.
Almost 500 South Africa cultural groups – well-known and less so, from Afrikaner through Chopi and Khoekhoen to Xhosa – have been identified.
People form groups around shared cultural elements such as language, place, race, gender, customs, beliefs, ceremonies, histories ... These are reflected in their clothing, utensils, tools, adornments, games, or pictures, photographs and documents about them.
Expect to see a wide variety in the museum’s collections – perhaps they will have cultural significance for you.
‘Museums within a museum’
The Geology Museum displays South Africa’s fascinating geological heritage, which includes remnants of an ancient continent; one of the oldest and largest meteorite impact craters in the world, important fossils; the largest deposit of gold worldwide; and the largest diamond ever found.
The Geology Museum has more than 15 000 examples of rocks, gems and minerals, and is one of the best geological collections in South Africa.
The Bensusan Museum of Photography shows not only photographs, but also photographic inventions and technical improvements up to the digital photography of today. The permanent displays of this unusual museum include rare items from the beginnings of photography in the early 19th century, when polished silver plates and silver chemicals on paper competed for popularity.
Exhibitions within the museum. Photo courtesy Gauteng Tourism Authority
Hands-on displays illustrate aspects of photographic processes. Attached to the Bensusan Museum is a library of books and magazines covering the work of photographers, photographic equipment, processes and techniques.
The Workers Museum is managed as a branch of Museum Africa (its entrance is on Newtown Park, in the Newtown Cultural Precinct). It tells the story of migrants who came to Johannesburg from across Southern Africa, leaving behind their homes and families. Centrally located in the Newtown Cultural Precinct, the original dormitories, concrete bunks, and punishment room at the old compound building reveal the workers’ hardships under the migrant labour system. This was a cornerstone of the economy from the early 1900s to the 1970s, when at last the system of job reservation began to break down.
Admission
Free
Visiting hours
Tuesday to Sunday from 09h00 to 17h00