Hillbrow

Hillbrow in the early 80s. Photographer Glynn Griffiths took his camera into Hillbrow to capture its many-faceted moods for this book. Most pictures have the spontaneity and excitement of the unposed, candid shot; some were taken furtively through a hole cut in his jacket, when to be seen with a camera would have spelled trouble. The result speaks for themselves; in turn amusing, horrific, pathetic, gripping and tragic, Griffiths' photographs are an honest and gripping cross-section of what maybe seen and experience on any Hillbrow street corner, in any night club or cafe, park or bed-sit. Paddi Clay, who came to Hillbrow with initial fear and suspicion, was wooed and won over by the area's sheer interest and complexity and its kaleidoscope of humanity. She tells the insider's story as it should be told - from the inside. Revealing the hopes and fears, the hectic highs and despairing lows behind the blank, private faces thronging the streets, her narrative is a commentary and insight into the picture. Book and jacket show some use and wear, overall a very good, clean and attractive second hand copy.