Exhibition: ‘Apartheid and After’ at Huis Marseille – Museum for Photography, Amsterdam

Exhibition dates: 15th March – 8th June 2014

Curators: Els Barents, David Goldblatt

Artists: David Goldblatt met Paul Alberts, Pieter Hugo, Santu Mofokeng, Sabelo Mlangeni, Zanele Muholi, Jo Ractliffe, Michael Subotzky, Guy Tillim, Graeme Williams and others, and the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg

 

 

Santu Mofokeng (1956 Soweto) 'Sunflowers harvest, Vaalrand farm, Bloemhof' 1988

 

Santu Mofokeng (South African, 1956-2020)
Sunflowers harvest, Vaalrand farm, Bloemhof
1988
From the Bloemhof Series, 1988-1989, 1994

 

 

A raft of exhibitions finishing on the 8th June 2014 means a lot of postings over the next few days. This posting continues my fascination with African photography. The two excellent photographs by David Goldblatt are the stand out here, along with the portrait by Mikhael Subotzky.

Marcus

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Many thankx to Huis Marseille for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

 

Santu Mofokeng (1956 Soweto) 'Windmill, Vaalrand' 1988

 

Santu Mofokeng (South African, 1956-2020)
Windmill, Vaalrand
1988
From the Bloemhof Series, 1988-1989, 1994

 

Jo Ractliffe (1961 Cape Town) 'Military watchtower in a domestic garden, Riemvasmaak' 2013

 

Jo Ractliffe (South African, b. 1961 Cape Town)
Military watchtower in a domestic garden, Riemvasmaak
2013
From The Borderlands (2011-2013)

 

Jo Ractliffe (1961 Cape Town) 'Playing soccer with marbles, Platfontein' 2012

 

Jo Ractliffe (South African, b. 1961 Cape Town)
Playing soccer with marbles, Platfontein
2012
From The Borderlands (2011-2013)

 

Graeme Williams (1958 Johannesburg) 'Kempton Park' Nd

 

Graeme Williams (South African, b. 1958 Johannesburg)
Kempton Park
Nd
From Previously Important Places series 1990s -2013

 

 

The Emperors Palace Casino and Chariots Entertainment World was build on the site [ in… add please date and place… ]? were the negotiations leading up to the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) took place. Now, at the very same place  a statue of the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus greets visitors at the entrance of the afore mentioned  entertainment centre.

 

Pieter Hugo (1976 Johannesburg) 'In Sipho Ntsibande's Home, Soweto' 2013

 

Pieter Hugo (South African, b. 1976 Johannesburg)
In Sipho Ntsibande’s Home, Soweto
2013
from the series Kin, 2013

 

Guy Tillim (1962 Johannesburg) 'Neri James, Petros Village, Malawi' 2006

 

Guy Tillim (South African, b. 1962 Johannesburg)
Neri James, Petros Village, Malawi
2006
from the series Petros Village, 2006

 

 

“The scars left in South Africa’s collective memory by its apartheid regime were also inscribed visually on its collective retina. There is less consensus, however, on the period of ‘truth and reconciliation’ after political apartheid came to an end in South Africa in 1990. The exhibition Apartheid and After addresses the question: where did photographers whose earlier work had opposed the apartheid regime point their cameras after 1980?

They include David Goldblatt, for instance, now an éminence grise of South African photography whose exhibition Cross Sections hung in Huis Marseille and others. Has South African democracy been given a face? Where is the real development happening? And where are the scars? Has South African national identity got stuck on a runaway merry-go-round, as the South African visual artist William Kentridge has suggested? One thing is clear: after apartheid, most South African photographers continued to make their own country their work domain, and in doing so they have gained a considerable international reputation.”

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“It is astonishing to think that until the beginning of the 1990s, merely two decades ago, modern and contemporary African photography was largely in the shadows.”

Okwui Enwezor in Events of the Self: Portraiture and Social Identity: Contemporary African Photography from the Walther Collection, Steidl, 2013, p. 23.

 

David Goldblatt (1930 Randfontein) 'Child minder, Joubert Park, Johannesburg, 1975 (no.11)' 1975

 

David Goldblatt (South African, 1930-2018)
Child minder, Joubert Park, Johannesburg, 1975 (no.11)
1975
From the series Particulars, 2003 (publishing date)

 

David Goldblatt (1930 Randfontein) 'Man on a beach, Joubert Park, Johannesburg, 1975 (no. 2)' 1975

 

David Goldblatt (South African, 1930-2018)
Man on a beach, Joubert Park, Johannesburg, 1975 (no. 2)
1975
From the series Particulars, 2003 (publishing date)

 

Sabelo Mlangeni (1980 Driefontein) 'Coming to Johannesburg I, January, 2011' 2011

 

Sabelo Mlangeni (South African, b. 1980 Driefontein)
Coming to Johannesburg I, January, 2011
2011

 

Sabelo Mlangeni (1980 Driefontein) 'Coming to Johannesburg I, January, 2011' 2011

 

Sabelo Mlangeni (South African, b. 1980 Driefontein)
Coming to Johannesburg I, January, 2011
2011

 

Daniel Naudé (1984 Cape Town) 'Africanis 23. Richmond, Northern Cape, 298 January 2009' 2009

 

Daniel Naudé (South African, b. 1984 Cape Town)
Africanis 23. Richmond, Northern Cape, 298 January 2009
2009

 

Mikhael Subotzky (1981 Cape Town) 'Joseph Dlamini (Eye test), Matsho Tsmombeni squatter camp' 2012

 

Mikhael Subotzky (South African, b. 1981 Cape Town)
Joseph Dlamini (Eye test), Matsho Tsmombeni squatter camp
2012
From the series Retinal Shift

 

Graeme Williams (1958 Johannesburg) 'Nelson Mandela speaks at CODESA, 199..?' Nd

 

Graeme Williams (South African, b. 1958 Johannesburg)
Nelson Mandela speaks at CODESA, 199..?
Nd
From Previously Important Places series 1990s-2013

 

Zanele Muholi (1972 Umlazi, Durban) 'Being (T)here (Amsterdam)' 2009

Zanele Muholi (1972 Umlazi, Durban) 'Being (T)here (Amsterdam)' 2009

Zanele Muholi (1972 Umlazi, Durban) 'Being (T)here (Amsterdam)' 2009

 

Zanele Muholi (South African, b. 1972 Umlazi, Durban)
Being (T)here (Amsterdam)
2009

 

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Paul Alberts 'The portraits of the applicants' 1994

Paul Alberts 'The portraits of the applicants' 1994

Paul Alberts 'The portraits of the applicants' 1994

Paul Alberts 'The portraits of the applicants' 1994

 

Paul Alberts (South African, 1946-2010)
The portraits of the applicants
1994

 

 

As the 1994 election approached in South-Africa many blacks living in small towns and rural areas had never been officially identified. In order to speed up these otherwise slow procedures, Charmaine and Paul Alberts set up an official, but temporary office and studio to process applications. The portraits of the applicants were taken before a paper back drop in the community hall of Majwemasweu. Each person held a slate with a number that corresponded to the number of the film and exposure, plus their name and place where they lived.

 

 

Huis Marseille – Museum for Photography
Keizersgracht 401
1016 EK Amsterdam

Opening hours:
Daily 10am – 6pm
Thursday 10am – 9pm

Huis Marseille – Museum for Photography website

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