IN THE art world photography remains South Africa’s greatest export. The global travelling photographic show, The Rise and Fall of Apartheid, curated by Nigerian superstar Okwui Enwezor, who is also director of the next Venice Biennale, is proof of the sentient power of the medium.Most commonly perceived as a medium for documentary and as an efficient and economical means to tell a story of struggle, photography has proven to be the uberoptic through which to narrate a nation. But as Enwezor points out, photography can also "defy the language of social documentary and the language of photojournalism".David Goldblatt, for example, is now a global star best known for his dispassionate record of the country’s racist history. Without overt ideological posturing, Goldblatt was able to implicate the viewer in the problem of inequality, while Santu Mofokeng, who has had a major retrospective at the Pompidou in Paris, offers another more subtle and sublime inroad into the South African cond...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.