David Goldblatt (b. 1930) is one of South Africa’s most highly regarded photographers. As both citizen and photographer, he was witness to apartheid’s infiltration into every aspect of South African life. The Jewish Museum will present an exhibition of approximately 130 photographs by Goldblatt that focus on South Africa’s human landscape in the apartheid and post-apartheid eras. His photos do not look at the large events or the public face of violence; rather they focus on the world of ordinary people and the minutiae of everyday life, illuminating the depth of injustice and the character of the people who impose it and who struggle against it. Goldblatt’s Jewish identity is germane to his work. The anti-Semitism that he frequently experienced made him especially sensitive to the deep humiliation and discrimination suffered by blacks under apartheid, informing his artistic vision as well as his attitude toward his country.
Until the late 1990s, Goldblatt photographed primarily in black and white and the Museum’s presentation will feature over one hundred of these signature images, continuing with a showing of over twenty of his more recent large-format color photographs that document the changes in the country and its people since the end of apartheid. Goldblatt’s work will be accompanied by the very precise captions that the artist created for each photo in order to convey context and critical information about the image.
David Goldblatt
The farmer’s son with his nursemaid, on the farm in Heimweeberg, near Nietverdiend in the Marico Bushveld. Transvaal (North-West Province), 1964
Silver gelatin print
