I (hopefully) have boiled down my ideas a bit and I think this proposal makes more sense. I would hugely appreciate any response, especially reaction to points you find potentially problematic. Or just comments on areas that don’t come across clearly. This particular project was conceived in response to a brief from University and has to be finished by December, but it is also the first step in my long term South Africa Project.
Posted: October 19th, 2009 / Categories: Archives / 8 Comments
This is the first set of photographs I had scanned from the national archives. I loved them straight away, for the clothes and for the confidence of the subjects. They almost feel like fashion photographs, check out Waterboer Jnr’s (below right) posture and tilted brim! The difference between these and the other photographs of ‘natives’ that I’ve been trawling through is massive. After a bit of research I’ve worked out the following. Here are 3 different leaders of 3 different people: the Griqua (Waterboer), the Bathlaping (Mankuroane) and the Barolong (Molema). All had territory claims in the Griqualand area (clearly the Griqua’s did!) and all were missionary educated Anglophiles who were courting the British in an attempt to gain protection from the looming Boer Republics. Unfortunately for them, Britain’s reputed even handed and benevolent approach to ‘native’ people within the colonies only lasted as long as it suited Britain. In 1866 Diamonds were discovered at Kimberley, from that moment Britain’s agenda in the area would change. I haven’t worked out exactly what the meeting these photographs document was about, but I’m on it!
I also tried to do a bit of research into the photographers, the Gray Brothers, and found only one reference. But it’s a tantalising one: In 1977 curator/collector Sam J Wagstaff put together a huge photography show from his personal collection. Included in the show was a photograph of a Kimberley mine taken in 1875 by the Gray Brothers. So that leads me to believe the clearly talented Gray Brothers must have created a body of work in Griqualand/South Africa around 1874/5 (maybe longer). I would love to find this, so if anyone has any information on the Gray Brothers (even if it’s just the image from the Sam Wagstaff show, which I haven’t seen) please get in touch.
Waterboer & his sons - The Gray Brothers, Griqualand West, 1874
Posted: October 16th, 2009 / Categories: Uncategorized / Leave a comment
Below is the first draft of my project proposal, written in response to a brief that asked us to “Consider aspects of power, control and visual spectacle in human society”. My ideas are pretty convoluted at the moment, and 250 words doesn’t leave much room for rambling, but hopefully I can boil it down over the next week after more thought and some feedback. So please leave a comment if you have any thoughts, positive or negative, as long as it’s constructive! Ive got another post planned for later, going into more detail about the archive images.
Molema, Barolong Chief - The Gray Brothers, Griqualand West, 1874
Posted: October 13th, 2009 / Categories: My photographs / Leave a comment
I’ve been back from Basque Spain for about a week now, unfortunately various events meant I didn’t get to work on a road trip/portrait project as I had intended. But being back at school will force me to be photographic and will mean the beginning of the real progress on this project. i.e. much more regular updates here! I have received the first brief of the year and I’m quite excited about the possibilities it presents, will have the statement for my first mini-project up here by Thursday. My photographs from the National archives came through and I’ll be basing my first project around some of them, I’ll also be doing blog posts around them throughout the next week. Having only managed to shoot 2 rolls of film during my trip (and without any purpose/direction), I haven’t got much to show. But in the spirit of getting things flowing I’ve chucked it up here anyway:
British tourists hungry for sun, ferry from Plymouth to Santander, September 2009
