Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
Jo Buitendach

Creator

Jo Buitendach

Journalist Jo Buitendach is a Joburg Inner City specialist. She writes about design, art, trends, pop culture and heritage.

Jan Glazewski, the author of Blood and Silver

Jan Glazewski’s Blood and Silver: A life well lived

Blood and Silver is a memoir about surviving HIV and searching for a family treasure

Out of sight: Many of those who live in the ‘dark’ buildings in the Johannesburg city centre described in Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon’s book The Blinded City are blind. Photo: Luca Sola/AFP

Opening eyes to Jozi’s inner city

Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon’s new book explores the abandoned buildings of Johannesburg and their inhabitants

Writing romance online, one predictable ending at a time

Through a free online platform for users around the world, Jo Buitendach doesn’t only read romance novels, she writes them – anonymously

Nostalgia and spooky action reign supreme in season 4 of the hit series

One Show, Two Takes: Stranger Things

Nostalgia and spooky action reign supreme in season 4 of the hit series

Discovery: One of the writer’s ancestors died in an Anglo-Boer War concentration camp. Photo: Getty Images

Getting to the roots of family

In Heritage Month, we show you how to research your ancestry in South Africa — it’s not always an easy task

At 101 years old, Iris Apfel is the original gangster of dopamine dressing. (Noam Gali/Getty Images)

Dopamine dressing — Looking and feeling fabulous in the colours of happiness

Can going over the top with the colours you wear improve your mood? Jo Buitendach tried out the latest sartorial trend

Concrete jungle: The Johannesburg inner city provides a great canvas for graffiti artists to do their work. Photos: Paul Botes

The writing is on the walls in Joburg’s inner city

Take a deep dive into Johannesburg’s graffiti scene, which, love it or hate it, is flourishing

Laid bare: ‘Good luck to you, Leo Grande’ explores issues around sex and age.

One movie, two takes: Good luck to you, Leo Grande

Brave, entertaining and hopeful, this British sex comedy-drama delivers 97 very well-spent minutes

A work of art by Dbongz. (Jo Buitendach The Playground)

Braamfontein, an artist’s playground

Braamfontein is awash with colour and activity and it’s impossible not to be inspired by the young artists leaving their mark on the city.

Repurposed: The Ellis House Art Building (above) in Bertrams, Johannesburg, was previously a textile factory and houses galleries, studios, a coffee shop and curated spaces

Open Studios Joburg: Art for inner-city explorers

In the past few decades the Johannesburg inner city, like many urban centres worldwide, has become home to painters, photographers, printers and their imaginative brethren. In…