Après l'Apartheid

If these three South African photographers have anything in common, it's their use of photography as a painterly medium and rejection of engaged socio-realist themes for a form of escapism. Vivian Van Boech's colourful, tongue-in-cheek scenes are full of references to art history and mythology using animals to create miniature worlds that veer between the fantastical and apocalyptic. Jennifer Lund's colourscapes with their references to the elements take the image towards abstraction while Tracy Gander plays with light in South African landscapes taken from a moving car.

Southern Decadence Celebration

What can be more fun, more vulgar and more colourful than Mardi Gras? The gay-oriented Southern Decadence festival, a six-day bacchanal that marks the end of summer on the Labor Day weekend. Centred around the gay bars on Bourbon Street, the party's events include the Underwear Bar Run on September 4 and non-stop club events. The signature event is the Annual Southern Decadence Parade on September 3, complete with glittering grand marshals, bands and all manner of celebrations of decadence - leave the kids at home.