Said ∣ Unsaid – A story of youth, art and Johannesburg.

There is something about being young in the city, the way everything feels possible, unfinished and full of meaning.

Said ∣ Unsaid by Vishanthi Arumugam is a story poem that returns to that moment in time. Set in the late 1900s and the early 2000s, it reflects on what it meant to be a young, aspiring artist in Johannesburg, shaped by the places we moved through, the music we held onto and the people who quietly influenced how we came to understand art, love and belonging.

At is center is a first-love story. But like the city itself, that love does not remain untouched. It shifts, unravels and is redefined as hope and imagination meet the layered realities of post-1994 South Africa.

The poem does not follow a straight line. Instead, it moves like memory, fragmented, emotional and deeply personal. It is also a work that took nearly 20 years to find it’s final form, settling into words only when they were ready ton carry it’s full weight.

Now, in collaboration with Pulp Paperworks, Said ∣ Unsaid has been transformed into a tactile art book, something to be held, revisited and experienced beyond the page. Each detail is intentional, turning the poem into a collectible object that carries quiet moments of magic within it.

This is more than a story.

This is a reflection of a generation, a city, and the spaces between what was fekt and what was never said.

Join us at Pulp Paperworks in 44 Stanley, on the 26th of March 2026, for the book launch of Said ∣ Unsaid by Vishanthi Arumugam.

See you then!!!

RSVP:https://partiful.com/e/rtmjJOE9FuZt8wUoOmqa?c=GaGyAwtk