Upon my entrance to the photography exhibit, I quickly realized a certain things. The first had to do with the setup. The order in which the works were set up was interesting and made a lot of sense to me. The International Center of Photography takes an unique approach in the presentation of their photos and by having the audience start and end in specific places. The exhibit was more a brief journey to parallel the longer journey that those faced during apartheid. Whereas other galleries at other institutions keep the floor open so that people have freedom to walk around, at ICP, the work essentially provides a method of interpretation of the work. This was a great plan as it gives the visitor and audience an aim and a goal to reach and ensures that you leave with new understandings whereas the wandering visitor may not leave with much.
The entrance results in the transition to the first section of the exhibit. The viewer is provided with an increasing amount of background information and sets the mood for the journey to begin. It was like a time traveling machine that primed us and gave us knowledge of what life was like before any conflict became apparent. Major events were listed on a poster with dates and provided a timeline of some sort. There was an old movie that constantly played back on a small screen that showed the natives of South Africa as animals with great exaggeration on their primitive and wild ways. This section presented the differences between the two groups and how their lives were. The natives would live happily with peace and pride in their background, while the whites would usually prefer to stay apart from the blacks.
The exhibit continues by moving onto works that show a new era filled with prosperity. We are presented with minimal occurrences in which the two races would come together and work together. The period of economic prosperity in South Africa may be one reason as to why the people did not argue as much to the the mixture of races. We see the emergence of the various arts and increase in the value of creative thinking in this South African society. What was really surprising to me was the inclusion of many native figures in the new arts.
But this section lead to work that covered the prevalence of violence in their society. The photographs in the section would often involve heavy scenes of blood and gore to bring a sense of empathy from the audience. The purpose of the exhibit seems to be geared to those looking at the photographs to understand the pain these natives were facing during the time that is Apartheid.
The lower level was very different and had a whole new approach when it is compared to the upper level. It is a great way to end the exhibit because now that you have been filled in and been on the journey, the freedom to explore lies at the end.
The exhibit at the International Center of Photography was a great learning experience which really helped me understand and in some ways experience the hardship that revolved around the Apartheid in South Africa.
Credits to ICP
