THE first ever exhibition of the works of Ernest Cole, the legendary photographer of black life under apartheid, has opened at the National Gallery in Cape Town.
Part of Iziko museums, the National Gallery will host the exhibition until April 30, after which it will move to Port Elizabeth, Durban and Mamelodi.
The exhibition can be viewed free of charge on Sharpeville Day (March 21) and on Freedom Day (April 27).
Cole's photographs were donated to the Hasselblad Foundation after he died in 1990.
"Cole left South Africa in order to publish his book, House of Bondage, which was banned in South Africa immediately on publication in 1967. This major critique of apartheid has hardly been seen in this country.
"After more than 23 years of painful exile, having never returned to South Africa. Cole died in New York," said Riason Naidoo, the gallery's director of art collections.
Naidoo said the Hasselblad Foundation chose South Africa as the first destination for the world tour of Cole's prints, which have never been exhibited internationally. After South Africa the exhibition will go to Sweden and the US.
Included in the exhibition is Cole's famous photo of a row of naked black men, lining up to be recruited for jobs on the mines, and his prints of very young black children lying on the floor in apartheid hospitals without beds.
Speaking at the opening of the exhibition James Matthews, the 81-year-old grandfather of black poetry in South Africa, said Cole was an insider in his photos of the daily confrontations with apartheid that made up black life.
Naidoo also announced the first ever Ernest Cole annual photography award for photographers in Southern Africa.
The winner will get R150000.
To enter the competition, log on to http://ernestcoleaward.org
- Pictures by © The Ernest Cole Family Trust; The Hasselblad Foundation Collection
Images of black pain
THE first ever exhibition of the works of Ernest Cole, the legendary photographer of black life under apartheid, has opened at the National Gallery in Cape Town.
Part of Iziko museums, the National Gallery will host the exhibition until April 30, after which it will move to Port Elizabeth, Durban and Mamelodi.
The exhibition can be viewed free of charge on Sharpeville Day (March 21) and on Freedom Day (April 27).
Cole's photographs were donated to the Hasselblad Foundation after he died in 1990.
"Cole left South Africa in order to publish his book, House of Bondage, which was banned in South Africa immediately on publication in 1967. This major critique of apartheid has hardly been seen in this country.
"After more than 23 years of painful exile, having never returned to South Africa. Cole died in New York," said Riason Naidoo, the gallery's director of art collections.
Naidoo said the Hasselblad Foundation chose South Africa as the first destination for the world tour of Cole's prints, which have never been exhibited internationally. After South Africa the exhibition will go to Sweden and the US.
Included in the exhibition is Cole's famous photo of a row of naked black men, lining up to be recruited for jobs on the mines, and his prints of very young black children lying on the floor in apartheid hospitals without beds.
Speaking at the opening of the exhibition James Matthews, the 81-year-old grandfather of black poetry in South Africa, said Cole was an insider in his photos of the daily confrontations with apartheid that made up black life.
Naidoo also announced the first ever Ernest Cole annual photography award for photographers in Southern Africa.
The winner will get R150000.
To enter the competition, log on to http://ernestcoleaward.org
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