A Roadside Sign in Tshwane, Marabastad / Hammanskraal
- Artist: Santu Mofokeng
- Date: c.2008, printed 2011
- Medium: Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
- Dimensions: image: 298 x 450 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
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About this artwork
This is the “A Roadside Sign in Tshwane, Marabastad / Hammanskraal” by Santu Mofokeng. It’s a black‑and‑white gelatin silver print from 2008, printed in 2011 as part of his “Billboards” series. Mofokeng was exploring how the skyline of a township is littered with advertising that promises a better life—promises that in the past might have cost you your freedom, but in the present are found on the side of a road rather than on a prison wall.
In this image the billboard’s bold typography cuts through the everyday street scene, placing the consumerist message in sharp contrast with the people who move around it. It shows the persistence of state‑sponsored slogans and private posters in a post‑apartheid landscape, a visual record of how social and political climates are broadcast to the masses. The print is the first in the main edition of this series, underscoring its importance in Mofokeng’s examination of power, propaganda, and the everyday life of South Africa’s townships.
See it in person
A Roadside Sign in Tshwane, Marabastad / Hammanskraal is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
