Social dynamics of a resistance photographer in the 1980s in Cape Town

Abstract

This study seeks to contribute to the field of documentary photography by looking at a resistance photographer who documented events during the liberation struggle against Apartheid in the 1980s in Cape Town, South Africa. The research explores the richness, depth and complexity of the reflective knowledge of the phenomenon and develops a sense of understanding of the meanings of the circumstances and social context of the researcher. It considers the thoughts, observations as well as reflections regarding the meanings and interpretations of experience as a photographer in the 1980s. The perspective of the research is to understand through the photographer’s memory the phenomenon of interest in the exhibition Martyrs, Saints & Sell-Outs and in so doing argue for a consideration of the lives of those who not only lived during Apartheid but continue to do so after its demise. In addition to thinking about questions of photographic representation, the study also addresses ideas of space, and unarticulated injuries and trauma. The photograph is well suited as a medium through which one may think about these difficult questions, for in its very inception, the medium is one of simultaneous absence and presence. The study concludes with recommendations for future investigation in the documentary photography narrative in Cape Town, South Africa.