6 February 2020
One of the (mostly) beneficial aspects of these interminable lockdowns has been the enforced periods of reflection. Lots of time to spend looking at old photographs and sometimes even making new ones.
In December 2019, back when we had no idea what was ahead of us, I moved into a house in South Dublin, just a few streets away from the Grand Canal.
This 128km long waterway became an outdoor lifeline as Covid-19 changed our world. I would walk and run the banks as our world shrunk, the length of my canal shrinking down to less than 10km. All the while I would take photographs, not documenting so much as reassuring, finding some stability in a world turned upside down.
Read MoreI think Sabelo Mlangeni is probably the best young(ish) photographer in South Africa. If you don’t know his work go and look at his projects, Country Girls, At Home/Ghost Towns (links included at the end of this post) and even his first project, Invisible Women, made when he was still studying at the Market Photo Workshop. It is very hard to think of anyone else who has so consistently produced nuanced, thoughtful images that actually expand our understanding of modern day South Africa. This image, Shuanny Hifive, No 20 Freeda Road, is one that underlines this class.
Read MoreThe weekend saw some wonderfully Irish weather roll in. I’m honestly mystified how this island hasn’t been washed away by the amount of rain that it gets.
Then again, after years of drought in Cape Town and facing the existential threat of running out of water, it becomes quite hard not to enjoy the rain.
Read MoreWhat this work taught me is immeasurable. It showed me the monumental loss that apartheid forced onto the world. It showed me that so much that we accept as truth is actually quite far from it.
Most importantly though, it taught me that it while it is important to report a known truth, there is nothing more subversive than undermining an accepted lie.
Read MoreSimon Schama, the very erudite British historian, is responsible for one of my favourite quotes,
"...landscape is the work of the mind. Its scenery is built up as much from strata of memory as from layers of rock".
For me, this also applies to the built environment us city dwellers live in. The way we build and shape our cities is entirely influenced by our culture and beliefs. I would even go so far as to argue that the dominant ideologies of the day design a city’s buildings as much as the architect who actually draws the plans. This isn’t a new theory with many photographers, such as David Goldblatt from South Africa and Paul Seawright from Northern Ireland, exploring different aspects of this process.
Read MoreThis idea of visual languages is otherwise known as the study of semiotics. This branch of visual studies was championed by academics such as Roland Barthes and Umberto Eco who proposed, ‘that every cultural phenomenon may be studied as communication’. Essentially meaning that anything contained with the frame of a photograph can be a sign that holds further meanings whether intended or not. In this case something as arbitrary as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich can be regarded as a cultural phenomenon.
Read MoreI recently got my hands on a copy of Murphy’s book, The Republic, a lyrical photographic depiction of his home, the rapidly changing Ireland. What immediately stood out for me is the lack of any contextualising information. While there is a short quote by James Joyce to introduce the images there are no captions to accompany them and an all too short (in my opinion) afterword by Murphy.
So what does this mean? Everything and nothing. It is a powerful and fascinating depiction of an old, conservative country becoming a young, liberal country. It is full of humour and life. It is a very accomplished collection of images. I just wonder if it gets as under the skin of Ireland as it could if it had explanatory captions?
Read MoreThis begs the question, 'What does it mean to visually understand a place?' J.B. Jackson, a prolific writer on landscape theory, speaks of a sense of place. In his book, 'A Sense of Place, A Sense of Time' he mentions a number of ways one can think about this term.
Read MoreJo Ractliffe has long been one of my favourite photographers. Her more recent photographic projects like As Terras do Fim do Mundo and The Borderlands were hugely inspirational projects for me with their stark explorations of the landscape and the memories they hide. Yet, there is something about this image from Nadir, one of her very first artistic projects, that catches my imagination and refuses to let it go.
Read More" "In April 1996 an extraordinary process began in South Africa. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, under its chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu, held its first public hearings to investigate over thirty years of human rights violations under apartheid. The Commission had been founded in the belief that truth was the only means by which the people of South Africa could come to a common understanding of their past, and that this understanding was necessary if the country was to forge a new national identity in the future. In the first two years more than 20,000 victims made statements to the commissioners and, encouraged by the possibility of amnesty, some 7,000 perpetrators came forward to confess their crimes." "
Read MoreThere is a fascinating conflict being played out at the moment. Thankfully, this conflict does not involve fear, death or the might of the industrial war machine. Instead, it's being fought by two works of art and is being fought on the plains of context, history and the present.
Read MorePeople tell stories. That is something we have grown up to accept and believe wholeheartedly, and it is true, people do tell stories. For a long period of my photographic career I was told that I needed to photograph people to tell stories that would interest viewers. I believed it. As a documentary photographer what else can one do? Lots! While people do tell stories, both actively and passively, it is often the space around them, frequently so subconsciously created, that can tell a much deeper and more nuanced story.
Read MoreIn Cape Town's Company Gardens hidden in a shaded corner is a small bamboo grove. On the other end of the Company Gardens is Gardens Commercial High School. For the young pupils of this school this bamboo grove has become a traditional space to affirm your existence and proclaim your social relationships.
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