Brixton Light Festival: A Night of Magic

If you ever have the chance to visit the Brixton Light Festival in Johannesburg, don’t miss it. The Brixton Community Festival takes place once a year and is put on by the community to support the different activities and celebrate Brixton as a whole.

The festival takes place in Kingston Frost Park, but the most unique part is the parade. This isn’t just any parade where spectators line the streets and watch. Instead, everyone is part of the festival and the parade.

The mechanical functions of the light festival are reminiscent of Burning Man, where giant, incredible sculptures are created. It was absolutely amazing.

Okay, I haven’t been to Burning Man, but what’s the need when we have the Brixton Light Festival?

Is this blog an excuse to post 100 pictures of the festival, yes. But here you are, so you might as well scroll to the end. I’ve typically only been to Brixton to visit one of my favorite cafes, Breezeblock (it’s on my best cafes in Joburg post), so this festival was a great excuse to get to know the community better.

This year, we followed a giant, lit-up Sacred Ibis (YES, you read that right) around the neighborhood starting at 6pm. The group stopped at different exhibits throughout the community, including dancing, live artist performances, and ship sculptures.

LED Jump Rope

One of my favorites was the LED light jump rope. It was amazing! Photos can’t even capture what it was like.

This was put on by the group, HyperJump!

Look at them go!

Community Homes

The festival also had some unique elements in people’s homes. For example, there was a jazz player inside the courtyard of someone’s house. Another person’s garage had some fun music and dance performances going on, and one house had Portuguese music playing.

Everyone was dressed up, which added to the festivities. I felt severely underdressed simply because I didn’t have a single light-up feature in my outfit. Next time, I’ll definitely do better.

Ship Performance

The very first performance of the parade blew me away. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this, I can tell you that. In the middle of the street, there was a ship creator busy assembling ships. Around him, these ships came to life as they floated either on the heads of performers or perched on their shoulders.

It felt as if I had stepped into the creator’s imagination. The eerie blue lighting and music intensified this sensation. This performance was orchestrated by Well Worn Theater.

Kids Choir Serende

Later we were serenaded by the local children’s choir.

Brixton Pawn Shop Concert

On our tour, we all stopped outside the Brixton Pawn Shop for an incredible performance. This could have easily been a 2-hour concert I’d stand for any day!

Afro-punk Church Experience

Near the end of the parade, there was live music by an Afro-punk band at the base of the Brixton Kerk Church. The contrast was striking!

Getting to the Brixton Light Festival

This is a family-friendly event for all members of the community. The environment is completely blocked off, with two police officers on every street (that I noticed).

If you plan to visit in the future, be sure to Uber and then walk to Kingston Frost Park. I walked alone and felt perfectly fine as I was dropped off by one of the security barriers two blocks from the park. I didn’t need to take out my phone because I just followed the crowd to the park.

The festival started at 4pm and ended around 8:30pm. However, there was still live music and activities going on after that. I arrived at 5:30pm and had time to walk around Kingston Frost Park before joining the parade at 6:15pm.

I’m very pleased with my little ibis photoshoot thanks to my friend, Liza!

Kingston Frost Park Vibe

There are also food stalls and some small shops to support the local community.

Cool shirt design provided by local artist The Thinking Hand, Thorsten.

This is one of the most unique activities you can do in Johannesburg. It’s such a pleasure to be engaged with a community that is actively working together and celebrating its diversity.

There were SO many elements of the Brixton Light Festival that firstly, I just didn’t manage to get a good picture and secondly, the event is a feeling you can’t put into words or pictures.

Want more Brixton info?

The festival is organized by local artist Tamzyn Botha, director at Shade Brixton. You can read her My Joburg Bio from my favorite publication in the city, Joburg in Your Pocket.

Local blogger extraordinaire 2Summers has great pictures from the festival this year (and from 2022) with all the info on the artists and much better pictures.

The best way to find out the dates of the next Brixton Light Festival is to follow the Shade Brixton Insta page.