South African Photography during the Era of Apartheid

May 27, 2003 11:17 PM

South African Photography during the Era of Apartheid. A good collections of photos of men, women and children.
Related :- Inside Africa: Soweto uprising remembered - the famous photo of Hector Peterson; Sam Nzimi, Photographer of the Apartheid Era; Peter Magubane.
posted by plep (1 comment total)

Thanks plep! What a important collection of links to document those terrible times.

I recall seeing that photo of the Peterson child, but had no idea of the power it came to have. Some photos become almost iconic of an era.

I enjoyed reading about Peter Magubane - how brave he was:

"On occasion I hid my camera in a hollowed-out Bible, firing with a cable release in my pocket. At another time, at a trial in Zeerust from which the press were banned, I hid my Leica 3G in a hollowed-out loaf of bread and pretended to eat while I was actually shooting pictures; when the bread went down, I bought milk and hid the camera in the carton. And I got away with it. You had to think fast and be fast to survive in those days.”

While he outwitted the police on those occasions, he nevertheless consistently fell foul of the authorities. He was banned for five years, spent 586 days in solitary confinement, and another 123 days in normal jail; additionally, his nose was fractured and he was shot 14 times below the waist with buckshot. Despite the indignities and suffering incurred, Peter bears no grudges as regards the past."
posted by madamjujujive at 10:50 PM on May 28, 2003