Exhibition & Discussion at JAG in Feb 2010
In celebration of the Market Photo Workshop’s 20th anniversary, the acclaimed photography exhibition, I am not afraid. The Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg, will be opening at the Johannesburg Art Gallery on Sunday 7 February 2010. The opening will be preceded by a panel discussion on the day at 2pm also to be hosted at the Johannesburg Art Gallery. The discussion will look at the role of documentary photography within the museum environment, and the impact of redefining documentary works as art objects. In December 2007, the prominent photography journal Camera Austria dedicated its entire 100th edition to the work of the Market Photo Workshop. I am not afraid, was first shown in December 2007 at the Kunsthaus Graz, Austria, before moving to the Langhans Gallery in Prague, Czech Republic, in June 2008. The exhibition was then exhibited at the Aspekte Galerie at the Münchner Volkshochschule in Munich, Germany in March 2009. The exhibition was curated by Christine Frisinghelli the editor of Camera Austria, and Walter Seidl. Camera Austria’s Introduction to the Exhibition and the 100th edition “With this project we are celebrating the publication of Camera Austria No.100. Since our establishment back in 1980, we can now look back on thirty years of continuous work in which we have used our magazine - along with our exhibitions and symposia - to engage in an artistic, theoretical and journalistic exploration of photography within the context of contemporary art, and on discourses in which we have interfered and in which we will continue to participate. The 100th issue of Camera Austria picks up one of our magazine's main programmatic threads: to reflect on the social uses of photography, directly to support artistic production, and to offer a platform particularly for the youngest movements in contemporary photography and media art. ‘I am not afraid. The Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg’ In our anniversary issue of Camera Austria No.100, we intentionally wanted to refrain from looking back on past decades, i.e. our own history, and decided to look to the future instead. We dedicated this issue - that accompanies the exhibition of the same name - to the Market Photo Workshop, founded by David Goldblatt in Johannesburg at the end of the 1980s. This exhibition presents works of graduates of this school of photography located in Johannesburg. As an institution, the Market Photo Workshop has not only brought forth outstanding artistic projects but also offered and offers young people their first real opportunity of training. The exhibition and publication focus on situations of life in South Africa after the end of Apartheid, asking questions about the profound social transformations that have taken place in this country. The aim was to collect positions from the different generations of graduates from this school, that have emerged from the tradition of committed documentary photography and that tackle such issues as violence, different sexual politics, and economic niche work head-on. The individual presentations of documentary photographers - Jodi Bieber, Bonile Bam, Zanele Muholi, Nontsikelelo Veleko, and others - are supplemented by themed projects that - often over an extended period of time and in collaboration with people actually affected - explore such topics as migration, homelessness or health policy, but also questions of representation, memory and identity in a complex multi-ethnic society. The commitment of the Market Photo Workshop in the sense of political education aimed generally to combat visual illiteracy is of particularly interest: In ‘outreach projects’ students and graduates of the Workshop are employed as tutors for temporary workshops in order to make work with photography as a way of describing one's own environment accessible to different sections of the population, and thus to increase awareness of the way in which media images work. Camera Austria No.100 Camera Austria No.100 acts as an accompanying catalogue. In addition to the above-mentioned positions and project documentations, a number of authors provide insights into artistic and socio-political analysis with / of photography in South Africa: David Goldblatt and critic Joyce Ozynski (both from the generation of Workshop founders) provide an introduction to the historical context of its foundation and describe the hopes and intentions that were attached to the Workshop from today's standpoint. Historian Patricia Hayes relates contemporary documentary practice in South Africa to the committed activism of the anti-Apartheid movement, explaining how substantially photography contributed to social reformation in this country. Photographer John Fleetwood, current head of the Market Photo Workshop, reports on the possibilities and functioning of an independent education centre in modern South Africa. Art historian Rory Bester introduces us to the documentary practices of contemporary photography in South Africa and to the published works showcased at the exhibition. In a conversation between photo artist Jo Ractliffe, photojournalist Peter McKenzie and critic Sean O'Toole, we learn about the different artistic attitudes and common ethical principles in the battle against state violence and discrimination.” About the Panel Discussion The panel discussion will be moderated by Jo Ractliffe. Jo Ractliffe is a photographer and lecturer in photography at the University of the Witwatersrand. She is also a member of the advisory board of the Market Photo Workshop. Christine Frisinghelli is the editor of Camera Austria, and curated the exhibition I am not afraid. The Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg with Walter Seidl. John Fleetwood is the Head of the Market Photo Workshop. Khwezi Gule is the Contemporary Collections Curator at the Johannesburg Art Gallery. Zanele Muholi is a photographer and alumnus of the Market Photo Workshop. Her work is included in the exhibition. The panel discussion will address the role of documentary photography in a museum context, and also discuss the impact of documentary works re-contextualised as art objects. More information For more information regarding the exhibition, or for press images, please contact either: Antoinette Murdoch (Johannesburg Art Gallery) 011 725 3130, antoinettem@joburg.org.za or To arrange an interview with the curator, or to arrange for a press pack at the opening please Please also visit The Exhibition has been made possible by generous sponsorship from the Austrian Embassy, |
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