Apartheid was a time of terrible inequality in South Africa filled with violence and passion. The ICP exhibit on Apartheid captured that passion and struggle through a variety of different pictures. The photographers of the time such as Peter Magubane and Ken Oosterbroek risked everything and snapped the emotional pictures that filled the halls of the exhibit.
Credits to http://lostfoundremembered.com/2012/09/29/international-center-of-photography/
When you first walk into the exhibition, it seems like a normal museum. There are plain hallways lined with photos and magazines to look at and not touch. Taking photographs of the pictures was prohibited. But as you walk further down the hall, the story develops chronologically, in a well-organized display of the struggle of Apartheid. The themes in each room are evident and clearly brought out, with helpful descriptions on the walls. The writing adds context and gives the information that the vivid pictures could not provide. The photos surrounding you are graphic, and when you see up-close and personal the terrors that were Apartheid, you empathize with the struggle no matter what race you are.
Some of the pictures like Peter Magubane’s “Sharpeville Funeral” just leave you with a sense of despair and sorrow. The black and white image of a row of coffins, casualties of Apartheid, and all the sad faces just display the emotions people had during the time. It emphasizes the theme of violence, but at the same time shows the determination that the Africans had to gain their liberties. No amount of illegal handcuffing and searching (as seen in many photos of the exhibit) would deter these people, even when they could trust no one. The police, as seen in Magubane’s “The Notorious Green Police Car” would shoot at innocent passersby. But a dangerous and cold environment where even the police couldn’t be trusted would not stop the struggle for equality.
Sharpeville Funeral
Credits to Peter Magubane
Numerous photos depict the dead bodies covered by newspapers and the segregation that plagued the area. In photos of the Soweto Uprising, you can see how people used anything from rocks and garbage can lids to protect themselves from the violence. Graphic images capture the crying faces of people carrying dead bodies through the streets. A main focus of the exhibit was Steve Biko’s funeral. Many pictures show the crowds of people that attended his funeral. He was a hero to them. He stood up for rights but was beaten and tortured to death by police. Black and white images of his body fill a section of a wall on the upper floor, leaving you with the image of his face as you walk down the stairs. There were even some virtual photo albums about the funeral in this section displayed on the available iPads. These iPads had themed albums and added a creative technological touch to the exhibit.
But while documenting the graphic violence of the time period, some photographs also displayed the theme of life going on. Jürgen Schoenberg’s “Township Shuffle” was in the section showing that despite all the violence, people carried on their culture. This was one of many photos that showed dancing, jazz and fashion during the period of Apartheid. There were Drum magazines in cases that showed uplifting and new fashion and models, keeping up hope. Through the struggle, the Africans persevered with the knowledge that life continues and they must go with it – a powerful and uplifting idea in a time of chaos.
Credits to http://lostfoundremembered.com/2012/09/29/international-center-of-photography/
The exhibit was very well organized, going chronologically and showing the rise and fall of Apartheid. But although the walk-through is chronological, actual rooms had different themes that sometimes did not flow from one to another. It was challenging to follow what the curator wanted me to see. Descriptions on the wall of each time period were very helpful in determining the themes of each room. However, the labels of each photo were hard to follow since it was done as a group, not individually by photo. But the exhibit left me thinking about the graphic images of Apartheid and with the well-crafted theme that throughout the struggle, life goes on.
