A Dazzling Totem Pole of Tires in One of Cape Town's Most Dangerous Slums

The neighborhood of Lavender Hill in Cape Town is not known for getting good press, being so overrun with violent narco-gangs that its central green space is called the "killing fields." So it's nice to see a feel-good story about community art coming out of the place, even if it's a drop in the bucket toward addressing the neighborhood's enduring social woes.

ABOVE is an anonymous 30s-something street artist from California who's known for his upward-pointing arrows and humorous phrases. He was recently painting in Lavender Hill – known by some as "apartheid's dumping ground" because its original residents were forced from central Cape Town by the ruling whites – when he found that he had time for a side project. Although the neighborhood doesn't have lots of money or opportunity, it is surprisingly rich in abandoned tires. ABOVE picked up on that fact and decided to use the old rubber to construct a towering totem pole in the middle of town.