Everyday Gabz
Capital of Botswana, the city of Gaborone ("Gabs," as it is affectionately known to locals) lies at the edge of the Kalahari Desert and the South African border. Planned in the 1960s as a Garden City, despite its semi-arid climate, it is primarily a town of low-rise and single-family dwellings accessed by broad thoroughfares and roundabouts.
In the spirit of Denise Scott Brown (herself raised in southern Africa), this ongoing photo documentary is a practice of learning from Gaborone by focusing on the ordinary and vernacular elements of its built environment. As recorded from the vantage of the automobile, Gaborone’s urbanism is defined as much by the ad hoc structures of the informal economy as by the edifices of its public sector. Visually, the city is animated by the personal use of parasols, a fashion statement and portable architecture for shelter from the sun. ■
Displaying only selected and most recent images of some four hundred photographs and counting. See the whole series on Instagram @everyday_gabz