Goldblatt retrospective on show in Joburg

STAFF REPORTER

Pictured: One of the moving photographs by David Goldblatt on exhibition at the Standard Bank Gallery – a Transkei family in their shelter, KTC squatter camp. The framework was made of strips of Port Jackson bush. For privacy black plastic sheets were used around the lower part of the shelter. For light, translucent plastic was used on the dome. Cape Town, September 1984.

Curator Neil Dundas of the Goodman Gallery has taken the opportunity “to examine how Goldblatt’s life’s work has explored and expressed the values of South Africa and its people”.

The exhibition includes photographs from Goldblatt’s twin projects, “South Africa – The Structure of Things Then” and “Structures of Dominion and Democracy”, as well as a number of images that have not previously been exhibited or published. 

Goldblatt has been described as one of South Africa’s most widely admired photographers and (although he dislikes being described this way), one of the country’s most influential artists. He combines documentary photojournalism, socio-political commentary, narrative and historiography, in creating iconic portraits, vivid landscapes and gritty cityscapes.

During the past seven decades, Goldblatt has been paying fastidious attention to South Africans: their individual stories and collective histories, their homes, their journeys, their workplaces.

While he never shied away from the grim realities of apartheid – on the contrary, he captured these on film so that they could become more widely known – he also sought and found moments of redemption, sympathy and even humour.

Over the last 20 years his camera has been trained on the paradoxes of development and decay, liberty and instability, opportunity and chaos in post-apartheid (or, as some have described it, “neo-apartheid”) South Africa.

Goldblatt does not consider himself a political activist, but has been active in politics nonetheless – whether as a critic of exploitative labour practices, a powerful documenter of systemic poverty and structural inequality, or, more recently, a protester against censorship and limitations on freedom of speech.

Born in Randfontein in 1930, he is the third son of Eli and Olga Goldblatt. He worked at his father’s clothing store, while studying for a B Com degree at Wits and also developed his interest in photography.

After his father died, Goldblatt sold the business to pursue his dream of becoming a photographer.

He has been highly recognised nationally and internationally and has received numerous awards including the Jewish Achievers (Jewish Report) Art, Sport, Science and Culture Award in 2013.

He has many other prizes and awards to his credit; his work is housed in public collections; he features is select publications and he has had solo exhibitions in South Africa, Europe and the US.