A Joburg of many moods and people

• Thabang Lehobye paints pictures of migrant lives and city streets at the Lizamore Gallery’s exhibition space at the Fire Station in Rosebank

Last week, on what is now fixed in my mind as The Day Before Omicron™ my wife and I joined two friends for a visit to Dlala Nje’s 51st-storey bar at the top of Ponte City.

We had envisaged sundowners. As the day wore on it became evident that there would be no sunset, but we stuck to our plan, even when the clouds loomed over the city, turning dark grey and then black.

It started to rain heavily as we drove into downtown Johannesburg, big dramatic drops pelting the car from above as the wind buffeted it from all sides. Lightning forked down, reaching below the level of the bright red Vodacom sign that sits atop Ponte.

We felt like those storm hunters who chase tornadoes in the US — that is, we felt stupid, but we wouldn’t turn back.

In the end, there was no danger; the tempest calmed into a gentle drizzle. We ascended Ponte and peeped cautiously into the circular abyss at its core, before retreating to gaze with relief at the view outside. The rooftops of the surrounding high-rise buildings were dwarfed by the iconic structure, and though visibility wasn’t great, we could still pay homage to the Hillbrow Tower.

A Black Label quart washing down dried mopane worms never tasted so good. Damn, I thought, I love this city.

I guess everything makes sense, everything is beautiful, when you look at it from 160m above ground. But Jozi had one more climatological trick up her sleeve.

A thick mist set in, turning a surreal pink as the Vodacom sign cast its neon glow through the vapour. We suddenly had to admit: we see nothing, we know nothing. Johannesburg has little patience for sentimentality or for those claiming epistemic certainty.

A few days later I had the opportunity to appreciate the city through someone else’s eyes. Thabang Lehobye’s Portals of Migration, the latest installation at Lizamore Gallery’s exhibition space at the Fire and Station ... walk in Rosebank, the streets is”a . series of acrylic paintings in which the artist “aims to challenge the viewer to step into the work

Here the “portals” in the title could refer to the paintings as windows into migrant life in Johannesburg (where, it is understood, everyone is a migrant in one way or another).

It could also refer to the streets that the paintings depict, spaces where migration takes many forms: isolated figures walking between buildings or under bridges; cars and minibus taxis navigating the gridiron of one-way roads; or even, more generally, the sense that this is a restless city — a place constantly in motion.

Lehobye’s exquisite choice of colour palettes for each scene presents a Johannesburg of many moods, and a contrast between movement and stillness. In Quiet Walk, the city seems empty of people, occupied by long lines of parked vehicles, as if caught forever on a sunny late Sunday afternoon.

In other works, such as Small Street Pace, the traffic creates a peripheral blur while the focal point of the image is a pure white sky duplicated on the shimmering tar. The viewer/painter is all alone at the centre of the bustle.

If Lehobye’s impressionistic style makes the most of a wet road — muddy puddles turned into beautifully reflective pools — it also takes advantage of Johannesburg’s shifting light. The passing of a day is documented in a cycle of scenes at dawn, noon, dusk and night.

And what of the few individuals who share these quiet moments with the artist?

They are fire walkers and waste reclaimers, people finding a living and making a life in this city that neither welcomes nor rejects its migrants but is simply indifferent to them. Somehow, this collection of steel and brick and concrete slabs has its own poetry.

The details in these paintings are deftly conveyed with what seem to be casual daubs of paint. Viewed up close, as is often the case with impressionism, the picture is a chaotic swirl. As the viewer steps back, however, the scene falls into place, bringing coherence — if for a moment.

Portals of Migration is at the Fire Station (16 Baker Street, Rosebank) until January 22 2022.