The Market Photo Workshop and South African Photography After Apartheid
Author | : Kevin Mulhearn |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 0 |
Release | : 2020 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:1376250864 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (64 Downloads) |
Download or read book The Market Photo Workshop and South African Photography After Apartheid written by Kevin Mulhearn and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Founded in 1989 by David Goldblatt and committed to disseminating photographic literacy to underserved communities, the Market Photo Workshop has played a critical role in perpetuating the ideals of the socially-committed photography of the apartheid-era in post-apartheid South Africa, helping to enshrine an older generation's values as guiding principles in contemporary practice. From its beginnings as a small, informally-organized school, the Workshop has grown in scale to become a certificate-granting institution with an attached (and influential) gallery space. Today, the school brings together experienced mentors like Goldblatt with younger practitioners (including such notable alumni as Zanele Muholi, Jodi Bieber and Nontsikelelo 'Lolo' Veleko) in a self-conscious effort to ensure that South African photography remains in some sense a common cultural endeavor geared around social justice and democratic transformation. / / This paper argues that the Workshop has helped preserve a sense of community among South Africa's politically-oriented photographers, one defined by values which are at the heart of the school's own mission and pedagogy. Through a discussion grounded in specific images produced by the Workshop's teachers and students, the paper will consider the school as a force in post-apartheid photography which focuses the efforts of those endeavoring to reorient the medium to changed political circumstances while continuing to probe for ways to picture discrimination, injustice and repression.