Festival
London 2012 : Steve Bloom
"Man at home, Clanwilliam, 1975. Clanwilliam is a small town, 250km northwest of Cape Town. Doom, a popular insecticide, on the ledge, adds a visual element of dark prophecy in a country at the crossroads of its history." 'Beneath the surface' - an exhibition of photographs by Steve Bloom of South Africa in the seventies Photography by Steve Bloom Presented by the London Festival of Photography © Steve Bloom/stevebloomphoto.com
"Farm worker's child, Karoo, 1976. Apartheid was designed to extract the maximum labour at the cheapest price from workers, who received the barest subsistence wage. Farm workers' homes had almost no furniture, and the children suffered poor education or none at all. Extreme abuse of workers by their white employers was tolerated by the authorities, and workers had little or no legal defence. 'Beneath the surface' - an exhibition of photographs by Steve Bloom of South Africa in the seventies Photography by Steve Bloom Presented by the London Festival of Photography © Steve Bloom/stevebloomphoto.com
"Grand Parade, Cape Town, 1976. Open air markets were held in Cape Town’s Grand Parade. When Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, he was driven straight to the City Hall from where he addressed a crowd of 50,000 assembled on the Grand Parade. " 'Beneath the surface' - an exhibition of photographs by Steve Bloom of South Africa in the seventies Photography by Steve Bloom Presented by the London Festival of Photography © Steve Bloom/stevebloomphoto.com
"Green Point, Cape Town 1977. Green Point is a residential suburb close to the city centre. The effect of apartheid was to engender feelings of indifference across the colour line." 'Beneath the surface' - an exhibition of photographs by Steve Bloom of South Africa in the seventies Photography by Steve Bloom Presented by the London Festival of Photography © Steve Bloom/stevebloomphoto.com
"Policeman chasing man, Cape Town 1976. A policeman jumps out of his car and chases a black man picked at random on the streets of Cape Town. Unrest spread to the cities after black schoolchildren protested at a new ruling which stipulated that they had to have their lessons in Afrikaans, seen as the language of the oppressor. The crackdown by the authorities was relentless. 'Beneath the surface' - an exhibition of photographs by Steve Bloom of South Africa in the seventies Photography by Steve Bloom Presented by the London Festival of Photography © Steve Bloom/stevebloomphoto.com
"Cape Town, 1976" 'Beneath the surface' - an exhibition of photographs by Steve Bloom of South Africa in the seventies Photography by Steve Bloom Presented by the London Festival of Photography © Steve Bloom/stevebloomphoto.com
"Cape Town, 1976. An Idi Amin lookalike takes part in a parade, covered with fake medals. Idi Amin, brutal Ugandan dictator at the time, was often cited by South Africans as a justification for white rule." 'Beneath the surface' - an exhibition of photographs by Steve Bloom of South Africa in the seventies Photography by Steve Bloom Presented by the London Festival of Photography © Steve Bloom/stevebloomphoto.com
"Woman at home, Western Cape, 1976" 'Beneath the surface' - an exhibition of photographs by Steve Bloom of South Africa in the seventies Photography by Steve Bloom Presented by the London Festival of Photography © Steve Bloom/stevebloomphoto.com
"Sea Point, Cape Town, 1976. People watching a parade from a designated dog toilet. " 'Beneath the surface' - an exhibition of photographs by Steve Bloom of South Africa in the seventies Photography by Steve Bloom Presented by the London Festival of Photography © Steve Bloom/stevebloomphoto.com
"Bergie, Cape Town 1976. Homeless people, often addicted to methylated spirits, were known as ‘bergies’, derived from the Afrikaans word ‘mountain’, because they originally found shelter wherever they could on the slopes of Table Mountain." 'Beneath the surface' - an exhibition of photographs by Steve Bloom of South Africa in the seventies Photography by Steve Bloom Presented by the London Festival of Photography © Steve Bloom/stevebloomphoto.com
"Man at home, Clanwilliam, 1975. Clanwilliam is a small town, 250km northwest of Cape Town. Doom, a popular insecticide, on the ledge, adds a visual element of dark prophecy in a country at the crossroads of its history." 'Beneath the surface' - an exhibition of photographs by Steve Bloom of South Africa in the seventies Photography by Steve Bloom Presented by the London Festival of Photography © Steve Bloom/stevebloomphoto.com
Beneath The Surface is Steve Bloom’s first exhibition of photographs he took in the mid-1970s in South Africa, during apartheid. “This body of work is a reflection of South Africa at the point where unstoppable dissent was just beginning, and it culminated in South Africa’s first ever democratic election years later,” Steve Bloom tells La Lettre.
“As somebody who grew up in apartheid South Africa, I have seen the devastating consequences of institutionalised racism and believe it is essential that we remain vigilant and guard against the re-emergence of such a system. I hope that these pictures, with the stories behind them, serve as a reminder,” he says.
The International Defense and Aid Fund for South Africa first published some of Bloom’s pictures in 1977. As a result, the photographer was banned from South Africa, forced to live in London. Thirteen years passed before Bloom was allowed back in his native country.
“On a personal level, seeing the pictures exhibited again after decades of being stored in boxes, has transported me back to a time in my life more than thirty-five years ago. It has also been a pleasure to see grainy prints made from those old Tri-X black and white negatives; a poignant reminder of what we are losing forever in a world that has adopted the convenience of digital over the emotion of film.”
EXHIBITION
Beneath the Surface by Steve Bloom
June 01 to June 28, 2012
Guardian Gallery, Kings Place
90 Work Way
London N1 9GU
Links
Contributors
Olivier Laurent
Olivier Laurent