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Making the invisible visible

South African photos focus on a changing society's margins
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By Tony Ozuna
For The Prague Post
July 16th, 2008 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Past and present meet in the Xhosa tribe's coming-of-age rites.
Documentary photography with a mission best describes the works presented by students and graduates of the Market Photo Workshop–Johannesburg, showing at Langhans Galerie until Aug. 17.
Titled “I Am Not Afraid,” this exhibition was first held in Graz, Austria, in autumn 2007. It was organized by the magazine Camera Austria to celebrate its 100th issue, a single-topic special devoted to works from, and essays about, the Market Photo Workshop. For the Prague exhibition, a Czech insert (with texts of the articles in Czech translation) has been added to copies of the commemorative issue, which serves as the show’s catalog.
The Market Photo Workshop was founded in a neglected section of the west end of Johannesburg by photojournalist David Goldblatt at the end of the 1980s, when South Africa was still under apartheid. In defiance of apartheid laws, the project accepted students regardless of race, with a mission to provide vocational training and to produce a high standard of documentary photography that doesn’t shy away from offering political opinions and social commentary.
After the downfall of apartheid, the Market Photo Workshop’s focus shifted to capturing the conditions of the country in its rough transition to democracy. The photos in this exhibit are from the 1980s and 1990s, made by individuals (students or graduates of the workshop) and by groups working in collaboration with international organizations.
The first room features works by Nontsikelelo Veleko from her series “Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder” (2003–04). These are color portraits of hip young South Africans who seem determined to look good against all odds. As walking fashion statements, they all stand tall.
Beside these are a series by Zanele Muholi titled “Faces & Phases” (2007), black-and-white portraits of an invisible community in the country — black lesbians. Up until 1994, this group was excluded (by white gay activists) from participating in the creation of a queer movement. Muholi portrays black lesbians in positively elegant imagery; the artist says her work is a form of visual activism. Muholi’s photos are accompanied by a video about her and her work.
Upstairs, the more artistic work of Bonile Bam from the series “Initiation of the Mind” captures a ritual of the Xhosa tribe of South Africa: an initiation ceremony for teenage boys about to enter adulthood that involves 12 weeks of seclusion in a lodge, smearing their nude bodies in white clay and finally undergoing a ritual circumcision.
Nearby, there are photos by Jodi Bieber that are the most surprising and perhaps the most successful at portraying another invisible sector of society in South Africa. The people she photographs are poor whites who are friends with blacks; they tend to be uneducated and living on the margins of society.
The group projects were done in cooperation with a variety of organizations. “Back & Forth” (2006), for instance, was funded by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). This project uses images to tell the story of small-scale traders working the borders of Zimbabwe and Botswana, mostly women with children.
The “Ikageng Outreach Project” (2004–05) was coordinated by Veleko. Women of all ages and education levels, primarily from Ikageng (in the northwest of South Africa), were trained to use cameras and then assigned a project on the theme “What Makes a Woman.” The photographs show all spheres of society — from well-off to dirt-poor — partying, loitering and working, hanging out on the street and at home.
The “Mpilonhle Mpilonde” (Good Life, Long Life) project (2006) portrays the squalor in a shantytown district known as Denver in the center of Johannesburg. Though 30,000 people live in the area, it is unrecognized by the government, which means it lacks such basic services as electricity, water, postal delivery and police protection. Residents were given cameras to document their lives and overcome their invisibility. Ironically, most of the photos show Denver’s inhabitants with smiles on their faces.
At their best, the works from the Market Photo Workshop show South Africans, both white and black, portraying their own lives in their own way. Despite the difficulties they face, most of them ultimately like (or love) if not what, then at least who they see in their community.

Tony Ozuna can be reached at features@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (16/07/2008):

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