| |
|
Mr. Mkhize's Portait and Other Stories from the New South Africa
Again I tout the wares at the Photographers Gallery.
This one, however is a collection that I find tremendously striking. It's not so much the quality of the photography, which whilst good doesn't really push any boundaries, but about the choice and portrayal of the subject matter.
Originally commissioned by the South African Government to record the stories of those taking their cases the new Constitutional Court (everyone has a constitutionally protected right to take their case to the highest court in the land), they ended up with an essay on a lesser state of the nation. One that is not outlined in government documents and statistics and official statements. What you will see here is a rather clear and troubling view of the most basic and underlying social effects of an era of state mandated discrimination and marginalisation.
While it is a decade since the first fully open elections in South Africa, what can easily be determined from some of the photographs is that the affects of Apartheid and social repression still continue and it will be easily another decade. Not only this but, now that the lines of division have been removed, the affects are permeating every segment and level of society.
It's not all doom and gloom though. There is an interspersal of images and stories that give testament to the endurance of the human spirit it's capacity to make good under duress. |
|
|
