Title: n.8,Politics (Included in Stories a box with 21 publications)
Photographer(s): Santu Mofokeng
Writer(s): Santu Mofokeng
Designer(s): Santu Mofokeng, Lunetta Bartz, Joshua Chuang (also book concept) and Gerhard Steidl
Publisher(s): Steidl, Göttingen, Germany
Year: 2019
Print run:
Language(s): English
Pages: 26
Size: 24 x 32 cm
Binding: Softcover with staples
Edition:
Print:
Nation(s) and year(s) of Protest: SouthAfrica, 1976 - 1998
ISBN: 978-3-95829-515-5
The South African photographer Santu Mofokeng knows that the photos you don’t see can matter just as much as the ones that dominate the historical narrative. He began as a teenaged street photographer during the early 1970’s in Soweto, working as an itinerant portrait photographer. He found work as a darkroom assistant and freelance photojournalist but soon grew disenchanted with what he saw as the agenda-driven orientation of some colleagues. Most news stories only covered the era’s violence and brutality. But Mr. Mofokeng was determined to also show his subjects as dignified people who, despite the repressive regime, were resilient, and whom he featured in photo stories filled with hazy black-and-white images that were surreal, haunting and spiritual.
By Fayemi ShakurJul. 13, 2016