In the Shadow of the Springs I Saw - Paperback

by Barbara Adair (Author)

In the Shadows of the Springs I Saw is a masterclass in multimedia and a testimony to the enduring spaces that bear the burden of history.

Thirty miles east of Johannesburg, the town of Springs, South Africa boasts the second largest collection of Art Deco buildings in the world. From a prosperous gold mining era in the 1920s and '30s, through the forced removals of entire communities during Apartheid, and now in a time of revival--these buildings stood sentinel over it all.

In a series of photo essays, fictional monologues, and poems, Barbara Adair reimagines the architectural monograph to explore a city in liminal space, where legacies of decay and restoration, somber remembrance and celebration, violent exclusion and vibrant integration can be felt on every street corner.

Author Biography

Barbara Adair is an award winning writer. Her novel, In Tangier we Killed the Blue Parrot was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Award in 2004. Her novel End was shortlisted for Africa Regional Commonwealth Prize. She contributed to Queer Africa and Queer Africa 2, and her writing, particularly her travel writing, has been widely published in literary magazines and anthologies. In 2022 she received a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Pretoria.