Aperture, The Transported of Kwandebele: A South African Odyssey, Photographs by David Goldblatt, pp. 13, 17, 23, 25, 32 for a variant, 41, 43 and 45
Catalogue Essay
David Goldblatt has been relying on photography to depict the social and cultural inequalities in his home country of South Africa since the 1960s. Following his debut series, On The Mines, Goldblatt began The Transported of KwaNdebele in the 1980s, in which he followed black workers from their hometown of KwaNdebele to the nearest center of commerce, Pretoria. For many of the workers the journey began as early as 2:45am and lasted as long five hours, quietly acting as a metaphor for the lengthy struggle experienced by South Africa’s black population. Goldblatt’s images are insistently unsentimental, focusing on recording rather than provoking, allowing viewers to study them objectively and accordingly form a reaction. Created shortly before the abolition of the nefarious apartheid era in the early 1990s, the series provides a solemn and deeply moving reminder of the racial segregation that typified South Africa for generations. David Goldblatt’s work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; the South African National Gallery, Cape Town;and the New Museum, New York, among others. Goldblatt is the recipient of the Hasselblad Award in 2006, and the Henri Cartier- Bresson Award in 2009. The following year Goldblatt was named the Lucie Award Lifetime Achievement Honoree.
Selected Images from The Transported of KwaNdebele
1983-1984 Eight gelatin silver prints. Each approximately 7 5/8 x 11 3/8 in. (19.4 x 28.9 cm) Each signed, dated in pencil and two with credit stamps on the verso.