The carefully selected and curated photographs in the exhibit of Rise and Fall of Apartheid: Photography and the Bureaucracy of Everyday Life at the International Center of Photography (ICP) show the remnants and everlasting struggles of apartheid, the segregation in South Africa more than sixty years ago. Curated by Okwui Enwezor and Rory Bester, the exhibition proposes the power of the photography and journalism, and honors the exceptional achievement of South African journalists and photographers.
The exhibition examines the apartheid system and how it affected every aspect of South Africa. Through photographs, films, books, magazines, and newspapers, the exhibit showed how apartheid interfered with all of social aspects, ranging from housing, public amenities, and transportation to education, social events, tourism, religion and businesses. A big part of South African history is documented and on display right here in the center of the Big Apple at ICP.
There were photographs of people living behind gates and barbed wires. It shows how much resemblance there is between that and a prison. Alcan aluminum window frames were also on display in the lower level of the museum to represent the business aspect in South Africa. There plentiful portraits of important figures, such as Nelson Mandela. One particularly famous one is the one with Nelson Mandela dressed in traditional beads and a bed spread, as he was hiding out from the police during his period as the “black pimpernel” in 1961. There were also numerous accounts of protests – crowds of people with the same idea holding up posters and signs expressing their powerful thoughts of justice.
Out of the hundreds of media presented at the museum, two really stood out to me. I apologize ahead of time for the lack of the photographs I am about to describe, because the museum did not allow photos to be taken of the exhibit.
One was a photograph of a police interference with innocent villagers even after such incident. The photograph’s caption was: “After a funeral of a three-year old child shot in the head by a policeman’s rubber bullet, angry mourners clash with police near the family’s home.” It’s troubling to hear about such misery apartheid could bring to an innocent family, and many other families across South Africa as well.
My second photograph was a picture capturing African Americans in a fashion show and having a party. This picture, I thought, not only shows happiness, but strength in the people of South Africa. The strength they held within them throughout the period of apartheid. Without that strength, they would not been able to endure the hardships and put an end to apartheid.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Imagine 500 pictures. How powerful is that?
