Life after apartheid: images from the new South Africa
Thabiso Sekgala’s solo show features work by the late South African photographer that offers nuanced, alternative narratives about life in contemporary South Africa. His work focused on the idea of home and the personal, political or economic conditions that determine our relationship to it
-
Samuel or Thulani Msiza, Loding, former KwaNdebele (2009)
Thabiso Sekgala’s series Homeland consists of images taken in what used to be known as Bophuthatswana and KwaNdebele, territories that were established by the apartheid government to house black South Africans forced to leave urban areas.*Here is Elsewhere is at the Hayward Gallery from 28 August to 6 October. -
Ndebele art with new South African flag, Siyabuswa, former KwaNdebele (2011)
-
Love your South Africa, 2009 election campaign, Kgabalatsane, former Bophuthatswana (2010)
-
Thembi Mathebulaor Nzimande, Siyabuswa, former KwaNdebele (2009)
-
-
Road divide Gauteng and North West Province, Hamaskraal, former Bophuthatswana (2011)
-
Johanna Mthombeni (2009)
This portrait of a teenage girl was one of the photographs that focused on the ‘born free’ generation, children who grew up after South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994. Read more about this photograph -
House to let, Semotlhase, former Bophuthatswana (2009)
-
Mawilli Thubane, Loding, former KwaNdebele (2009)
-
-
Tiger (2012)
Sekgala’s Second Transition series depicts the economic imbalance of contemporary South Africa. The photographs were taken around the mining town of Rustenburg, in the North West Province of South Africa, one of the biggest platinum-producing areas in the world, where most people work in the mines in extremely poor conditions. To tackle the inequality caused by apartheid, the ANC has described the new initiative to address these ongoing economic imbalances in the country as the ‘Second Transition’ -
Pankop, Passage dividing primary and high school, former KwaNdebele (2009)
-
Last march (2012)
Mining companies own most of the land around these towns. Sekgala was interested in the perception that black people in South Africa believe that the first transition in 1994 was a betrayal, with more people than ever still living in abject poverty -
Second Transition 6, (2012)
In a town called Marikana in August 2012 the police killed 34 miners who were protesting for better living conditions. ‘It was a reminder of the cruel system that continues to imprison poor people in the cycle of poverty,’ said Sekgala. ‘What happened during apartheid happens even now.’ -
-
Exercise, Wehdat, Amman (2013)
A third series to feature in the London show, Running Amman, was photographed in a city built around an old Palestinian refugee camp in the Jordanian capital. Sekgala took these photos during a time when the US was threatening to attack Syria. The photographer was left thinking if that were to happen while he was in Jordan ‘will I have a place to run to?’
