Abstract
This article focuses on representations of crime, the anxiety it generates and the technologies of security and surveillance employed to keep it at bay in Ivan Vladislavić's Portrait with Keys: Joburg and What-what (2006). Portrait with Keys is a hybrid work, showing the influence of French documenters of the quotidian such as De Certeau, Perec and Lefèbvre. It is an experiment with genre that combines biography, autobiography, historical writing and the essay to explore the everyday life of Johannesburg, the city in which its author lives and works. In this article, I consider Vladislavić's project and reflect on the way in which his depictions of crime, insecurity and security measures are connected to it. I distinguish his treatment of this topic from other attempts to engage with it. Finally, I identify and comment on Vladislavić's ethical and political concerns.