If Joburg had a beach, who would go? is a new solo exhibition by Unathi Mkonto at Goodman Gallery Johannesburg.

The exhibition begins with a simple but thought-provoking question: what would Johannesburg feel like if it had a beach?

Rather than offering a literal answer, Mkonto uses sculpture and installation to imagine an alternative version of the city, one shaped as much by emotion, memory, and movement as by roads, buildings, and geography. The result is an immersive environment that invites visitors to reconsider Johannesburg not as a fixed place, but as a living and evolving experience.

Working primarily with fine-grained beechwood, Mkonto creates a series of carefully repeated forms that sit somewhere between sculpture and architecture. Cylinders, sloping planes, and circular structures appear throughout the gallery, creating a visual rhythm that encourages visitors to move through the space rather than simply observe it from a distance.

Many of these forms echo elements of Johannesburg’s skyline, but they feel transformed. Removed from their familiar urban context and placed within an imagined coastal landscape, they become less about buildings and more about the energies, histories, and relationships that shape the city itself.

What makes the exhibition particularly engaging is its balance between simplicity and possibility. Mkonto reduces architecture to its most essential forms, using repetition and variation to create a language of shapes that feels both familiar and open-ended. Circular motifs recur throughout the installation, suggesting ideas of growth, movement, connection, and renewal.

As visitors move through the exhibition, the sculptures begin to function less as individual objects and more as parts of a larger environment. Space becomes something that is experienced physically rather than simply viewed, encouraging reflection on how cities are shaped by memory, imagination, and the people who inhabit them.

The exhibition also marks an important moment in Mkonto’s career. Developed through Goodman Gallery’s [Working Title] programme, it forms part of a larger body of work that will continue at Frieze London 2026, where the artist will present a solo project as part of the Artist-to-Artist initiative selected by Yinka Shonibare.

For those interested in contemporary South African sculpture, architecture, and urban space, If Joburg had a beach, who would go? offers a thoughtful and visually compelling exploration of how we imagine the cities we call home.