February 1 - March 16, 2002
Held in celebration of Black History Month, the exhibition documents the
period of upheavals that began with the student-led Soweto Uprising of 1976
and culminated in the collapse of the Apartheid regime and the introduction
of democratic elections in 1994.
The exhibition includes 65 images from 24 leading South African
photographers. It begins with Sam Nzima's famous 1976 photograph of the
corpse of Hector Petersen carried in the arms of a friend, after being shot
by police. It tracks the most repressive phase of the Apartheid regime in the
mid-1980s, when resistance gained momentum although South Africa was placed
under virtual martial law, and many of the images on exhibition were
outlawed. The photographic journey ends with the final paroxysms of violence
when political parties jostled for power in the period between the release of
Mandela in 1990 and the historic elections in 1994, which finally introduced
democracy.
Prints are available for sale individually or as a complete archive. The
exhibition is also available for travel within the United States, where South
Africa's historical struggle for civil rights resonates with American
history.
Photographers included:
Omar Badsha, Gille De Vlieg, Paul Grendon, Louise Gubb, Themba Hadebe, Steve
Hilton-Barber, Alf Kumalo, TJ Lemon, John Liebenberg, Peter Magubane,
Motlhalefi Mahlabe, Greg Marinovich, Gideon Mendel, Santu Mofokeng, Nkosi
Nkosini, Sam Nzima, Ken Oosterbroek, Jürgen Schadeberg, Joao Silva, Brent
Stirton, Guy Tillim, Paul Velasco, Paul Weinberg, Graeme Williams
Click on the thumbnails to view the full image, price and details.
Holland Cotter, New York Times, Sunday, February 17, 2002:
"A horrowing exhibition of photographs of the race wars in apartheid-era
South Africa provides a crucial supplement to the watered-down representation
of these events at P.S. 1," where MoMA is hosting the exhibition "The Short
Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945-1994," curated
by Okwui Enwezor.