Apartheid was a era of racial segregation that existed in South Africa. With the power of photography, this harsh system came to an end in 1990s.
Walking into the International Center of Photography (ICP), I witnessed for the first time the consequences of Apartheid. Walking down the row of photos was like travelling back and forward through time. In the timeline of photographs, earlier photographers captured the most brutal part of the segregation, whereas newer photographers captured the changing culture that was a result of Apartheid. From public protests to speeches, South Africans openly protested against the cruel laws that the government imposed. This exhibition thoroughly portrays the progress of the movement with a variety of photographs from different owners. Through this variety, ICP offered a wide range of perspectives of the same movement.
One photo that stood out to me was Nanny and Child taken by Peter Magubane in 1950s. What stood out to me the most were words on the chair: Europeans Only. These simple, yet powerful, words on the chair are able to keep one race away from another. In this photo, the African nanny is looking over the white little girl. Automatically placed in a lower social class because of her race, the African nanny is forced to sit on the other side of the bench. The little girl on her face also has a confused expression on her face. This photo portrays how children were trained at a young age to understand the laws of Apartheid. Even though she seems confused, she knows to sit on her designated side. This photo revealed how Apartheid segregated the two races, no matter their age.
However, in another photo, a photographer offered a different perspective. In the photo The Black Sash, an anti-apartheid women’s group, also taken in the 1950s, is a portrayal of unison within segregation. Jurgen Schadeberg’s photo reveals how women from various races assembled to fight this movement. In this image, a large group of both colored and white women stood together in front of the Parliament and government offices holding a burning candle and wearing a black sash. This was a symbol of unity between races—one that the government had fought hard to separate.
By placing Schadeberg’s photo across from Magubane’s, ICP has effectively separated the two impacts that Apartheid had on society during the time. Although both photos were taken around the same time, these photographers offered contrasting views of how Apartheid impacted people. On one level, white children learned about these segregation laws at a young age. On another level, women from different races were able to unite and fight these brutal laws together. The structure of ICP exhibit played a role in separating the two ideas and organizing the photos in a way that revealed this important theme.
The exhibit was chronological, too. So they there near each other because they both reflected the same moment in the history of Apartheid.