CHALLENGING SOUTH AFRICA’S PAST – Three Distinctive Viewpoints
Many of us know little about the complexity and challenges of the people of South Africa. The following three differring viewpoints about the diversity, cultures, and the hopes and dreams of the people who live there, will help us to understand through contemporary photographs what South Africa is now. Notice too, how the photographic message can be interpreted/read differently from a political, social, outsider or insider point of view.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
1. BBC News in Pictures – The article starts: “During South Africa’s apartheid era the most common photographs to emerge from the country were of violence, poverty and inequality. But now there is a new breed of photographer flourishing in the formerly segregated nation.”
Click HERE for a glimpse of the show at the V&A Museum, London that ran from April 12 – July 17, 2011 and watch the video with Tamar Garb talking about images of urban sophistication and personal empowerment, poverty, AIDS, homophobia and zenophobia. The exhibition was co-curated by Tamar Garb and Martin Barnes.
2. African Colours - challenges the meaning of the images and how they were created. African Colours is the premier internet space for the promotion of contemporary African art since 2000. With a central office in Nairobi, its work is supported by representatives in Africa, Europe & America. Click HERE to read their viewpoint.
‘Pieter and Maryna Vermeulen with Timana Phosiwa’ (2006) | Pieter Hugo | Courtesy of ‘weblog.liberatormagazine.com’
3. Photographers in South Africa with various allegiances and photographic styles have been telling many of African’s stories from a wide range of vantage points. The British Journal of Photography article gives us an excellent in-depth look at how the photographer, the subject and the viewer are influenced as a result of these multiple viewpoints. The background information in the article creates a base for greater understanding of a changing, complex country that many people know little about. Click HERE for more background.