New shopping malls are shooting up in the suburbs of Johannesburg like mushrooms. Large tracts of nature have to give way for constructions of concrete and steel. These offer residents of the neighbourhood access to a choice selection of consumer goods. At the same time they are deprived of their access to their familiar natural surroundings. Of necessity social life now plays itself out against the background of the malls, with their neon lights, Muzak and glittering advertising signs. Graeme Williams (b. 1941) photographed in them off the cuff, in order to reflect the capricious and unnatural character of these modern shopping malls, exemplars of progress.

Photos: courtesy South Photos