THE LONG WAIT, Johannesburg, 2012

The Long Wait is a series of artworks by Faith47, created on the streets of Joburg as the first installment of her 2012 exhibition, Fragments of a Burnt History.

The images, of groups of men in various postures of waiting, reference photographs from Alexia Webster’s photographic series, Waiting for Work.

The works imply different kinds of waiting particular to a contemporary South African context.

Faith47 says, “Miners are waiting for justice. Workers are waiting for a living wage. People are waiting for service delivery. Refugees are waiting for assistance. Men are waiting for jobs. We are all waiting for an honest politician. So many people are waiting for others to do things first. To take the blame. To do things for them. To take the fall. To build the country. To admit defeat. There has been so much waiting in this country that much time has been lost.”