City forest and other landscapes

Johannesburg is not famous for its beauty. It’s better known for its extremes – violence, inequality, and the kind of grit that doesn’t make it into travel brochures. But it’s also the largest man-made forest in the world, or so we fondly insist.

This series is shaped by the city I grew up in and still live in. Old Johannesburg, with its improbably English gardens and century-old trees planted by settlers who came not just for gold, but to stay. Jacarandas, plane trees, date palms, roses. A forest stitched into rocky bushveld, behind high walls and electric fences.

I especially love Jacaranda time in my city – Joburg puts her spring frock on in October, and the city streets become purple tunnels, resplendent in lilac, periwinkle blue and violet.

But I’ve been other places too – just one or two other landscapes made the grade, and more to come . . .