Photographer David Goldblatt dies

ELDER statesman of South African documentary photography‚ David Goldblatt‚ has died.

Born in November 1930‚ he documented oppression from when the National Party came to power in 1948‚ travelling the country to put a human face to political policies.

“A great tree has fallen and we have lost one of our national living treasures. RIP David Goldblatt‚ one of South Africa’s most accomplished social chroniclers‚” art conservator Monique Vajifdar posted on Facebook. Goldblatt was the first South African to be given a one-person exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Other impressive awards include the Hasselblad‚ the Henri Cartier-Bresson and the International Centre for Photography Cornell Capa Lifetime Achievement awards. He was an honorary fellow of The Royal Photographic Society.

Among his memorable projects Goldblatt spent six months photographing in Soweto in 1972 and in 1976-1977 he travelled on a bicycle photographing mainly a forced removal threat faced in the Johannesburg Indian area of Fietas. In 1979 he began working on a project about life in a typical white suburb of the Transvaal‚ which led to the publication of the book In Boksburg.

SA History.org says he participated in a seminal exhibition‚ South Africa the Cordoned Heart (1985)‚ curated by fellow photographer Omar Badsha‚ a founder of Afrapix.

He was asked by Badsha to cover the story of workers who travelled an average of four hours a day by bus between the homelands and cities like Pretoria. —