South African Tourism Brings its Stylish Art to NYC

PHOTO: Imani Shanklin Roberts and Esther Mahlangu. (photo courtesy of South African Tourism)

South African Tourism partnered with Citi Bike to bring a peek at South African art and culture to New York City via Citi Bike’s 30 docking stations in New York.

The centerpiece of the promotional partnership is a mural painted by Imani Shanklin Roberts, a New York-based African American artist.

Roberts created the street mural in a style emulating South African artist Esther Mahlangu, who has made world-famous the style of her Ndebele people of Mpumalanga Province in South Africa.  

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The new mural was unveiled this week at the Citi Bike station in Tribeca near the subway entrance at the juncture of Varick Street and West Broadway. Both Roberts and Mahlangu were present at the unveiling.

According to Bangu Masisi, president of South African Tourism North America, South African Tourism approached Citi Bikes because the company’s clientele is comprised largely of young executives, whom SAT sees as a good target market for travel to South Africa.

“The people who use Citi Bikes around the city are actually young executives who travel in their jobs,” said Masisi. “The message we are expressing to them is that South Africa has never been more affordable than today, and you can experience a great adventure in South Africa on a bike.”

South African Airways Vacations put together a special vacation package to honor the unveiling of the mural. It includes a tour of the township of Soweto—the former home of both Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu—by bicycle, along with two nights on safari at Kwa Maritane Bush Lodge in the Pilanesberg National Park.

South African Tourism is holding a block party on Saturday, September 16, at the site of the mural at the corner of Varick Street and West Broadway in Tribeca from 12 noon to 3 p.m.

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