TOMATO STORIES
In 2011, observing the omnipresence of tomatoes, in myriads of little red dots, fragile pyramides forming a continuous red line along Rockey-Raleigh street, Wits Architecture and Urban Design Solam Mkhabela requested his students to investigate and tell stories of tomatoes through photographs.
Tomatoes are one of the most common garden fruit in the world and part on nearly any diet and culture in the world – from tomato sauce on Big Macs to spicy curry to raw food and home made gravy. They contain the carotene lycopene, one of the most powerful natural antioxidants. They can be found in food gardens, in cans or fresh in the supermarket or on the street, for example Rockey Street in Yeoville. The story of tomatoes is the story of the people who grow them, sell them, buy them, cook them and eat them. The story of tomatoes is the story of the places where we find them. The story of tomatoes is the story of family dinners and disasters, street trading, vertical farming, last minute spaghetti and urban health. That story is manifold, versatile and personal, it can be delicious, humorous, urban or desperate. The exercise consists of zooming in and zooming out, starting from detail – the tomato - and relating a seemingly secondary or common object, like that little red fruit, to a larger context or issue.
A project facilitated by Solam Mkhabela
Download the Tomato project brief by Solam Mkhabela
