Brave New Old World

There's often attempts to try to ‘prettify’ the urban prison reality. Take for instance, this lamp - which at night time, must look rather attractive, as it shines off the electric fence and sharp steel spikes it’s mounted on.

 

Below.  A South African Idea of Home Sweet Home

This gives an idea of how people are having to barricade and seal themselves off, against the growing anarchy, and chaos, of a violently degenerating society.

What you are looking at, is a 12 - 15 foot-high wall, topped with an electric fence.
Beyond that, is the top of someone’s car port - and beyond that - their ‘home’.

Note the heavily barred windows - the ‘burglar bars’ - on every window, even the second storey windows, sealing them in. Obviously, if there's ever a fire, the occupants will die hard.

It must be rewarding, to have earned enough money to afford a dream home like this, in the new South Africa.

The Barricaded Bed and Breakfast

A picture of a local guest house for travelers.
Well - technically - it's a picture of a 16 foot high wall, topped by an electric fence - and showing the sign for the guest-house within. There’s no way of seeing the guest house itself.
The emphasis is clearly on keeping the guests alive.
Welcome to fortress South Africa..

'You Have To Be This Tall to Ride the Ride'

One of the obvious problems of being in a society  like South Africa has developed, is the disappearance of the ability to see and enjoy much of the urban landscape, scenery, and its features.

If you go walking in Johannesburg, in suburban areas - this is the kind of semi-hidden glimpses you'll get of places of aesthetic interest. Unless you’re right in front of them.)

If you’re in a society where 8 - 15 foot high walls are a norm - then the world is reduced to what you can see down the length of a street - or that which is taller than the surrounding walls.

This is an old church steeple - or at least the top of it - as seen from four house-lengths away.
Note the electric fencing and its warning sign in the foreground.

Sign of the Times

Another charming South African home.
Or at least - what can be seen of it, from the outside.

You’re looking up at a 15 foot high wall, topped by the ever present electric fence - and its bright little yellow sign, warning of this fact.

 

More Spiked Fences, More Armed Guards

Just another view of a suburban street. High fences and security firm signs.
The private security firms offering ‘armed guards’ - do good business in the modern South Africa.

(Mainly because the police force are underpaid, ill-equipped, fairly demotivated and generally overwhelmed by the rising civil unrest. You’d think a Government would want to correct this situation - yet suspiciously - it’s not happening). So 'security firm' signs are everywhere, nailed into walls as warnings to passersby.

Just Another Domestic Facility

Below. This isn’t a view of the back of a house - it’s a front view, as visible when walking by, on the street.)

Imagine the mindset of a home owner, content to show this view of their ‘home’ to the neighborhood.

(The inherent basic symbolism and meaning of ‘a home’ - at least in terms of its relationship to the surrounding area it exists in - has almost all but disappeared, from South African reality.)

This isn’t a house that is ‘part of anything’ - not the neighborhood, the neighbors or any ‘outsiders’ . Forget birthdays, trick-or treating, or even happy family snapshots on the lawn. There's no lawn.
It’s primary visible function would seem to be, to keep people out - and warn anyone else, to keep clear of it.

An attempt has been made to ’soften’ the blatant prison facility atmosphere, by using a bright colored paint. However - note the carefully positioned ‘Armed Guards On Call’ sign - as well as, mounted above the barred window at top of frame - a siren for sounding an alarm, in case of an emergency.

 

“I raise my face in this arid wilderness of steel and stone...”

-Anton LaVey.