Preview of Spring 2020 issue of ZEKE magazine. Special Africa issue.

ZEKE
THE MAGAZINE OF GLOBAL DOCUMENTARY
SPRING 2020 VOL.6/NO.1 $12 US
PREVIEW: The Africa Issue
Published by Social Documentary Network

SPRING 2020 VOL.6/NO.1
$12 US
The Africa Issue
Amilton Neves
Amina Kadous
M’hammed Kilito
2 | GODMOTHERS OF WAR
Photographs by Amilton Neves, Mozambique
10 | CITY ENTRAPPED
Photographs by Amina Kadous, Egypt
18 | AMONG YOU
Photographs by M’hammed Kilito, Morocco
26 | UN/SETTLED
Photographs by Sydelle Willlow Smith, South Africa
32 | OTHER WORLDS
Photographs by Moussa Kalapo, Mali
40 | SOWETO PUNK
Photographs by Miora Rajaonary, South Africa
50 | NATION FORGOTTEN
Photographs by Omoregie Osakpolor, Nigeria
56 | #BlackDragMagic
Photographs by Lee-Ann Olwage, South Africa
On the Cover
Photo by Lee-Ann Olwage
Belinda Qaqamba Ka-Fassie, a drag
artist and activist, from Elands Bay,
South Africa. The art form of drag has
been westernized and South African
drag queens have often assimilated to
these western standards often seen as
“elevation”. There is therefore a need to
celebrate and embrace African drag as
an art that tells stories about Africans in
Africa, the African way.
Omoregie Osakpolor
Sydelle Willow Smith
46 | Documenting Freedom and Struggle
by Kolodi Senong
64 | Africa’s Visual Vernacular
by Uche Opka-Iroha
70 | View from the Diaspora: panAFRICAproject
Lou Jones
72 | Interview with Joana Choumali
by Caterina Clerici
74 | Book Reviews
78 | Contributors
Miora Rajaonary

ZEKE
THE
MAGAZINE OF
GLOBAL DOCUMENTARY
Published by Social Documentary Network
Dear ZEKE Readers:
When Glenn proposed the idea of this issue dedicated to documentary
photography in Africa, the idea of the Continent being perceived in
singular by many immediately came to mind. I questioned if I am the one
to begin to unpack Africa as an idea in the context of photography.
Being Head of one of the leading critical schools for photography
learning and teaching in Africa has exposed me to some significant
realities of the photographic practice in our part of the world. South
Africa, with its institutions of higher learning together with smaller private
photography training, allowed South Africa to produce large numbers of
highly skilled photographers for both media and commercial industries.
Elsewhere in Africa, the practice thrived according to the local and
regional needs of those societies. Platforms such as the Rencontres
de Bamako in Mali, LagosPhoto in Nigeria, Lubumbashi Biennial in
DR Congo, and Addis Foto Fest in Ethiopia increased the visibility of
practitioners throughout the Continent.
When the opportunity came about to invite submissions from
throughout the Continent, there were reservations on what the intentions
of the call was and ultimately who benefits. The selection process also
required a deeper understanding and response to how ZEKE frames
documentary photography in relation to the bodies of work submitted.
Again, some of the works, even though strong and compelling, do not
necessarily fall within ZEKE’s definition of documentary photography.
All of these works reflect social dynamics relating to identity, politics of
history, and belonging. The past two decades of youth uprisings in North
Africa and other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa have had an impact on a
freer practice resulting in the emergence of photography as a creative
and expressive medium to confront, engage, critique, and influence
perceptions both within and outside of the Continent.
The works of M’hammed Kilito and Lee-Ann Olwage, both collaborating
with youths in their communities, document a continuing act of defiance
and resistance against repressive systems of political governance. Their
visual stories are of a generation of individuals and communities that
expose and enforce their self-identities and realities as a way for us to think
and imagine a future on an openly accepting Continent.
The unusual beauty expressed by these images engages existing
notions of a diverse and dynamic aesthetics of culture and tradition in
the de-colonial Africa. The bodies of work begin to look at culture from
the perspectives of the local documentary photography practice. They
thus become authors of their existence and creators of an imagined future
through visual storytelling.
Lekgetho Makola, Guest Editor
Head, Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg, South Africa
This special issue of ZEKE was conceived and
executed months before there was any hint of the
coronavirus pandemic. Today the world, including
the African continent, is consumed by this deadly
virus and much of us are under lockdown.
With the internet still intact, we were fortunate to be
able to complete ZEKE magazine and deliver to our
subscribers since printing and mail are considered
essential services here in the US.
I cannot express my gratitude enough to the
many writers and photographers who have made
this special Africa issue of ZEKE possible, especially
Lekgetho Makola, guest editor, from Johannesburg.
Now that this issue is complete, I have only
become more aware of the nearly impossible
task we have set out to do—encapsulate African
documentary photography in this one 80-page
issue of ZEKE. What is really needed of course
is no less than 800 pages, but I am very proud
of what we have accomplished here with
photographers spanning the Continent from
Morocco to South Africa and representing four
nations in between including Egypt, Nigeria, Mali,
and Mozambique.
With a continent defined in modern history by
centuries of colonialism, Lekgetho rightly questions
in his adjacent letter, “what [are] the intentions of
the call and ultimately who benefits.” This question
becomes more to the fore with each issue of ZEKE
as we grapple with who has the right to create
narratives about a people.
We arduously work to continue to address this
challenge by approaching our subjects with respect
and dignity and seeking representative partners
as editors, writers, and photographers whose
intentions are unobstructed by the colonial gaze.
I wish everyone well as we all continue to
grapple with this universal threat to the foundation
of our global community. I can assure you that the
virus and its fallout will figure prominently in the
next issue of ZEKE due out in September.
Glenn Ruga, Executive Editor
ZEKE SPRING 2020/ 1

Godmothers of War
Photos by Amilton Neves
Mozambique
“
Godmothers of War” is a project telling
the story of the Mozambican
women who took part in the National
Women’s Movement from 1961-1974.
These women were sponsored by the
Portuguese government to provide moral
support to the soldiers fighting on the frontlines
during the Mozambican War of Independence.
Many of these women were rewarded with influential
positions in society and some were even
given houses by the Portuguese government.
In 1974, when the war of independence
ended with a ceasefire agreement between
the Mozambican FRELIMO forces and the
Portuguese government, the National Women’s
Movement officially ended. However, these
women were ostracized from society for their
role in supporting the colonial forces. The
Godmothers of War project reflects on this very
important – but often forgotten – piece of history
in Mozambique by visiting the homes of the
Madrinhas de Guerra who still live in Maputo
today and embody the opulent past experienced
during the support of the Portuguese government
and the subsequent marginalization felt after
independence.
Based in Maputo, Mozambique and Tampa,
Florida, Amilton Neves is a professional
photographer who examines contemporary
societal issues using storytelling and documentary
techniques. His projects focus on
narratives of empowerment of individuals who
often find themselves at the margins of society
while preserving often forgotten aspects of
modern history. Neves completed a residency
at the Pacific Felt Factory in San Francisco and
has been prominently featured at the Franco
Moçambicano Cultural Center in Maputo,
Mozambique as well as galleries in Ghana,
Portugal, Brazil, Ethiopia, and Canada.
2 / ZEKE APRIL SPRING 2015 2020

Marta is wearing a wedding dress in
the room of her Portuguese home in
Maputo surrounded by the clothing of
her grandson. Like many Madrinhas
de Guerra, she met her Portuguese
husband through the letter writing
campaign of the National Women’s
Movement. She eventually married her
penpal, with whom she had children.
Unfortunately, before the end of the
Independence War her husband was
killed in the fighting leaving her behind
to raise her children alone. Marta
now runs a local store selling candies,
cigarettes and other small items.
ZEKE ZEKE SPRING APRIL 2015/ 2020/ 3

18 / ZEKE APRIL SPRING 2015 2020

Among You
Photos by M’hammed Kilito
Morocco
This project is a reflection on the choice of
a personal identity for Moroccan youth
based on a selection of portraits of young
people who take their destinies into their
own hands. These individuals have the
courage to choose their own realities, often
pushing the limits of society further. Whether
through their creative activities, their appearance,
or their sexuality, they convey the image of
a young Morocco — alert, changing, claiming
the right to be different, and celebrating diversity.
These young people have minds that embody
the resistance of a palm tree, a tree adapted to
the harshest Moroccan climatic conditions. They
defy the conservative and traditional norms of
Moroccan society on a daily basis. They cultivate
their private oasis despite the obstacles they
encounter in a country that is not progressing at
the same pace as they are, and they are inspiring
others along the way.
M’hammed Kilito is a photographer who grew
up in Morocco. Focusing on issues relating to
youth, identity, migration, and social determinism,
his work begins with a long period of meticulous
academic research and field investigations
on sociopolitical concepts in the Moroccan
context. He holds a Master of Arts in Political
Science from Ottawa University and Bachelor
of Arts in Political Science from the University of
Montreal. Based in Morocco, his work has been
presented in various festivals and museums as
well as published in World Press Photo, The Wall
Street Journal, The Washington Post and others.
Left: Tilila has hyperpigmentation of the skin. She
suffered a lot from harassment at school and on
the streets when she was younger. When you
meet her, you quickly realize that she is a bright,
determined and very confident young woman.
The feedback she has had on her photos on
Instagram has made her realize that her skin spots
are a “perfect imperfection” and, in a way, her
own signature. As a result, many Moroccan and
foreign fashion designers and photographers
work with her today because of her unique look.
ZEKE ZEKE SPRING APRIL 2015/ 2020/ 19

26 / ZEKE APRIL SPRING 2015 2020

Un/Settled
Photos by
Sydelle Willow Smith
South Africa
Un/Settled is a project that explores
white South African histories, privileges,
and reflections on identity. Every
nation has a past and must confront it
in order to see the present clearly, and
to imagine a different future. I grew up
just as apartheid came to an end. Ever since
starting primary school, I have been told that
I am a child of the rainbow nation. The end
of apartheid was signaled by a great gesture
of forgiveness and hope, one that must have
seemed at the time, to transcend the decades
of violent oppression. Many white people
seem to have taken the release of Nelson
Mandela, and the platforms for redemption
and healing under the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, as absolution. It was not absolution.
As South Africa struggles to come to terms
with persistent social and racial inequality, this
project seeks to urge participants and audiences
to examine their historical and future
roles within a landscape marked by deep
social scars.
Sydelle Willow Smith is a photographer &
video director working across Africa focusing
on memory, migration and identity. Her work
reflects what she is most drawn to — empathy
and resilience, especially of people exercising
their agency and seeking grassroots solutions
to problems they face. Born in Johannesburg
and now based in Cape Town, her education
included studying at the Market Photo
Workshop, an Honours Degree in Visual
Anthropology at The University of Cape
Town, and a Masters of Social Science in
African Studies from The University of Oxford.
Sydelle has exhibited in Rotterdam, Maputo,
Johannesburg, and Lagos Photo Festival, and
was nominated for a Magnum Foundation
grant in 2017 and World Press Joop
Masterclass in 2019.
Left: Antique store, Hermanus,
December 2017
ZEKE ZEKE SPRING APRIL 2015/ 2020/ 27

Nation Forgottten
Photos by Omoregie
Osakpolor
Nigeria
Nation Forgotten is an ongoing multimedia
documentary project that tells the story of
the neglect of Nigeria’s senior citizens left
to fend for themselves by the government.
It looks at the negative impacts of corruption
including low productivity of public
service and the youths’ reluctance to seek employment
within that sector. This project is inspired by
Omoregie’s father who retired from public service in
2007 and up till now has only received about 70%
of his pension. And between 2011 and 2013 he
did not receive his monthly allowance of N32, 000
Nigerian Naira ($89 USD).
Omoregie Osakpolor is an emerging documentary
photographer who believes that the craft can be
a source of societal change. Based in Benin City
and Lagos, Nigeria, Osakpolor received his BA in
English and Literature from the University of Benin.
He was nominated for the Edwin George Prize
for Photography at The Future Africa Awards in
2017 and has been referenced on CNN Africa.
Osakpolor’s work primarily focuses on culture
and social justice and he hopes to engage his
audiences in cultural interactions. He has shown
his works in both solo and group exhibitions in
Lagos, Abuja, Benin City, North Carolina, Fotohof,
Salzburg, Bournemouth University, the UK and at
the 12th Bamako Biennale (2019). Osakpolor’s
short film; “Grey” — which was partly inspired by
Ed Kashi’s “Aging in America” — won the Fashola
Photography Foundation Prize in 2019.
Right: 72-year-old Richard Ekuase served in the
Nigeria Customs Service for 33 years. In 2007, the
Federal Government forced him and some colleagues
to retire, and it wasn’t until 2010 that he started
receiving his monthly pension allowance of 32, 000
Naira ($89). About 60% of his gratuity is yet to be
fully paid since retiring in 2007. His wish is that the
government pays him his money, so he would be able
to complete the building of his house. Lagos, 2019.
50 / ZEKE APRIL SPRING 2015 2020

ZEKE ZEKE SPRING APRIL 2015/ 2020/ 51

Africa’s Visual Vernacular
.......................................................
By Uche Opka-Iroha
The practice of photography in
Africa is as old as its introduction
to the world by Francois
Arago in 1839 in France. Today
it has become the ‘go-to’ technology
through which the world
seeks to narrate and explain
events irrespective of the context.
Photography, then, in its infancy was
regarded with a fair dose of suspicion
with skeptics questioning its role and
motives.
As photography was being unveiled
in France, purveyors and colonists were
already on their way to the Continent
in search of ‘treasure.’ Inevitably the
camera became part of the lingua franca
and Africa, a stage where every other
form of expression that was antithetical
to its existence (be it cultural, economic,
political or social) was experimented.
The Continent had little or no say in
molding her image or visual narrative
during the colonial era. This narrative
has persisted for over 150 years and
has become embedded in the modern
psyche of western countries. It supports
the portrayal of the Continent as a land
in perpetual struggle. However this narrative
has in recent years been questioned
by African artists who in the mid-20 th
century emerged as proponents of subversion
to challenge the age-old western
accounts and its consequential parochial
representations of the Continent.
Modern and contemporary history
has often seen western writers present
Africa in a poor light and the context
skewed so as to titillate or entrench
already held misconceptions of the
Continent by the home audience.
Often topics relating to the Continent’s
political, social or cultural essence, are
highlighted with the usual stereotypical
reference to poverty, diseases or political
64 / ZEKE SPRING 2020
instability, thereby relegating innovative
agendas and policies by African states
from the mainstream of international
discourse. For decades, this image of
Africa has been held as the official narrative
that is accepted, especially in the
west. Despite the gains and successes
of the 54 countries that constitute this
richly endowed continent, a Euro-centric
vernacular has continuously coalesced
into clichés, representations and myths
often known as the ‘master’ narrative.
This essay is not aimed at highlighting
western parochialism towards Africa but
hopes to analyze the diverse narratives
of the Continent in relation to photography
and the role of the medium in
present day Africa.
Ideological Influence of
Colonialism
From the onset, African practitioners
have been keen observers of their
environment despite the unquestionable
influence of Europeans who
introduced photography at the same
time as colonialism. In as much as it
was a given that the colonists —comprising
of missionaries, merchants and
adventurers—profited from the creation
of these images, little or no questions
were asked if they reflected the reality
on the ground. From early to mid-19th
century, African photographers began to
collaborate with their European counterparts
in creating images that reflected
their vernacular. No doubt, most of them
were apprentices or worked directly to
the dictates of the colonial administrators
and missionaries. And despite the
ideological influence of colonialism and
its excessive control, the early African
photographers began to gradually
redefine the Continent’s new image
from a domestic perspective. I am of
the opinion that colonial tutelage and
its effect on early African practitioners
played a significant role in shaping the
visual myths that are perceptible today.
The focus during the 19th century fell
within the boundaries of anthropology
and ethnography — the earliest noticeable
language of photography in Africa
at the time.
In West Africa in the mid to the late
19th century, a group of young and
enterprising photographers led the
movement and produced some relevant
and outstanding works. Notable photographers
such as the African American
Augustus Washington, who was disenchanted
by black subjugation in America
in the 1850s, moved to Liberia and later
established studios in Sierra Leone, the
Gambia, and Senegal. 1 There was also
the very itinerant Francis Wilberforce
Joaque, who was educated in the
Grammar School in Freetown run by the
Church Missionary Society (CMS). 2 In the
1860s, he moved to Fernando Po (present
day Equatorial Guinea) where he
pioneered and practiced photography. 3
As the 19 th century drew to a close,
photography had already become an
important visual form of expression in
Africa. More entrepreneurs came into
the field in the central and the southern
parts of the Continent. New visual
dialects and provincialism began to
emanate from the defined borders of
anthropology and ethnography away
from the influence of the European perspective
which was still relevant in the
context of African photography at that
time. There were conscientious photographers
who also photographed events
independently in their regions. Today,
the works of Jonathan Adagogo Green

...
and Hezekiah Andrew Shanu remain
vital in the study of colonial imperialism
in the Niger Delta and in Boma in the
Congo Free State. It was Green who in
1897 photographed the deposed Oba
Ovonramwen of Benin and his family on
board the ship SS Ivy on his way to exile
in Calabar. Green, who (it is believed)
had been trained in Europe, photographed
the evolving state of colonialism
and societal change in southeastern
Nigeria. His photographs depict native
Bonny aristocracy and their families in
vernacular settings. Shanu had a studio
opened in Boma from where he had
access to the atrocious events in the
Congo Free State. He is credited with
playing an important role in providing
photographic evidence of the atrocities
suffered under King Leopold’s regime in
Congo. 4
A New Generation of
Photographers
The viewpoint on the subcontinent
introduced through colonist ideologies
began to manifest the bi-polar nature of
photography — the real and the myth in
the works of individuals like Jules Leger,
William Ring, Carel Sparemann, William
Walter and John Paul between 1840 and
1855. Their approach was similar to their
contemporaries in West and East Africa.
The photographs covered local sceneries,
colonial officers, and portraits of notables
within the administrative, social and
cultural classes. To the east, the Swahili
shores adjacent to the Indian Ocean
attracted a lot of interest from purveyors
and photographers alike in the early 20 th
century. The topographical richness of the
region and its cultural diversity with people
from Asia, Middle East, Europe and
Africa gave the major cities in Tanzania,
Kenya and Uganda colorful, enchanting
and picturesque credentials. The Omani
empire was at its twilight during this
period (the early 20 th century) but the
appeal of royalty brought its measure of
exoticism with opulent palaces, exquisite
fashion and lush landscapes. This element
was the focus for early 20 th century photographers
like J.B Coutinho, C. Vincenti,
Frank & Frances Carpenter and Eric
Photograph by Zanele Muholi. Somnyama in Lafayette, New York, 2016. © Zanele
Muholi. Courtesy of Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg and Yancey Richardson, NY.
The Prince Claus award recipient and one
of South Africa’s leading photographers,
Zanele Muholi, is as assertive as she is
intriguing. She has exhibited her work in
prominent galleries, museums and festivals
all over the world.
Her portfolio focuses intensely on
marginalized communities (such as the LGBT)
in South Africa and in her travels who often
have limited involvement in mainstream
political, economic, cultural and social
activities due to their conditions, lifestyles or
exclusion.
A common theme in her work is her direct
involvement in interrogating her subject
matter by means of identification through
association, dress codes, and viewpoints.
Matson. The cities of Mombassa, Dar es
Salaam, Nairobi, and Blantyre provided
residence for a group of photographers
who were particular about photographing
commercial activities, Arab architecture,
Muholi’s thought-provoking work Somnyama
Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness takes a
look at the politics of identity and representation
through the gaze of anthropology and
ethnography. Her narrative and classification
of society become apparent in her use
of the terms ‘they’, ‘them’, and ‘other’. The
potency and visual impact of the work is
proved by the deliberate and effective use of
props. And her excessively darkened body
is a platform for resistance and campaign
against prejudice and parochial perceptions.
Muholi’s ebony skin projects a message
of defiance and assertiveness drawing the
viewer into her realm to understand the
message and to decode the meaning for
themselves.
tribal people (considered as exotic) and
the day to day life of the upper class.
The emergence of this new generation
of photographers in the 21 st century can
be attributed to their orientation to local

VIEW FROM THE
DIASPORA
The panAFRICAproject
REDEFINING THE MODERN IMAGE OF AFRICA
The panAFRICAproject, founded by Bostonbased
photographer Lou Jones, offers a
broad exploration of contemporary Africa
centering around fine art and documentary
images. For too many years, the western
world has been funneled images that depict
the second largest continent in the world
as one of constant conflict, widespread
poverty, and rampant disease. It is the
mission of the panAFRICAproject to shatter
the stereotypes and highlight contemporary
life in both the urban and rural regions
of the 54 countries. Because, too often,
people have difficulty realizing the diversity
in geography, economy, history, culture,
civics, and daily life of its citizens that
exists throughout the Continent, Jones has
travelled and photographed 14 countries
in Africa, including Morocco to the north,
Mbabane, Swaziland
Namibia to the south, Tanzania to the
east, and Ghana to the west, and many
more. The images are being used by
various magazines, websites and galleries
both locally and in Africa. The website is
updated periodically as new countries are
documented.
Mbabane, Swaziland
70 / ZEKE SPRING 2020

Windhoek, Namibia
Mek’ele, Ethiopia
Windhoek, Namibia
Lalibela, Ethiopia
www.panAFRICAproject.org
ZEKE SPRING 2020/ 71

BOOK
REVIEWS
SANTU MOFOKENG
A Silent Solitude:
Photographs 1982-2011
Essay by Simon Njami
Skira, 2016 | 256 pages | $60
It is with great sadness that while this issue
of ZEKE was being prepared, we learned
of the death of Santu Mofokeng, aged 63,
on January 26, 2020 in Johannesburg,
South Africa. —Ed.
The photography world is awash
with photographers who walk
confidently between photojournalism
and documentary. While many
of the greatest documentary photographers
were drawn to journalism because
it provided a means of support, their
best and most enduring works are too
poetic, too personal, and too ambiguous
to be of much value to photo editors
needing images to help us understand the
daily news cycle. Think Bruce Davidson,
Eugene Richards, Robert Frank, Gilles
Peress, James Natchtwey, or Mary Ellen
Mark. Now think of another photographer
less known to a US/Europeancentric
audience-—Santu Mofokeng from
Johannesburg, South Africa.
Born in 1956 in Soweto, Santu
Mofokeng began his training as a darkroom
technician and eventually worked his
way up as a photojournalist with The New
Nation and as a member of the Afrapix
Collective while covering miner strikes and
the daily deprivations and violence of lateapartheid.
But he eventually gravitated to pure documentary
focusing on his personal work —
a poetic exploration of the visual language
to create works of art that resonated with a
nation suffering under apartheid and continued
to suffer after liberation. Mofokeng
understood that the struggle would take
more than a generation to heal and his
photography gives us a patient documentation
of this tormented journey both for him
and his subjects.
Mofokeng is not a warrior with a
camera—like Susan Meiselas was in
Nicaragua as she documented the war
there in the 1970s, or so many lesserknown
photographers were while documenting
the Euromaidan demonstrations in
Kyiv or the Arab Spring uprisings in Tahrir
Square in Cairo.
Not that Mofokeng didn’t understand
the existential struggle taking place in
South Africa and his own burning need for
liberation. It just was not where he felt most
comfortable with his art.
Renowned critic, curator, and essayist,
Simon Njami, and friend of Mofokeng, says
of him in the book’s introduction, “If photography
could be a weapon, he didn’t feel at
ease with the way the press used it. In the
end, he decided to devote himself to the
documentary form, which seemed to have a
rhythm more suited to his aspirations.”
Mofokeng’s photos are akin to the work
of Robert Frank in their subtle observation
of the visual details of ordinary life that
could be easily overlooked as mundane
but eventually become significant as they
reveal a deeper truth.
His captions leave us little information
about his subjects. On page 59 is a photo
with the caption, “Mrs. Nhlapo, Rockville, c.
1987 (Township)”. We know from other text
in the book that “(Township)” refers to the
series that this photo comes from but nothing
about Mrs. Nhlapo.
This photo is typical of Mofokeng’s work:
deep shadows, people engaging with the
tasks of daily life, often enigmatic elements
as in the young man crouching in the lower
left. What is he doing there? Why is he in
this awkward position? Possibly his mother,
or sister is at the sink cleaning up from a
meal, with soft light from the window illuminating
her youthful face. It is not a family
suffering overt oppression from the apartheid
system (at least not visible in this photo), but
just doing what a family anywhere in the
world might be doing in mid-afternoon.
The cover photo titled “Chief More’s
Funeral, GaMogopa, 1989 (Landscapes)”.
Googling “Chief More” turns up nothing
other than another reference to this same
photo in the collection of the Yale University
Art Gallery. But at least we know it is a
funeral for a “Chief.” But paying attention
to the photo, we see a vast flat plain, a bus
led by a hearse, a group of people in front,
likely mourners. Two women trailing behind,
and a man in partial silhouette in the
foreground approaching the caravan. Who
is this person? Why is he here and not with
the rest of the caravan? We don’t know,
nor will we ever. But it is a subtle composition
with enough durability and questions,
the right light, and the right gestalt, that the
book publisher, Skira, felt deserving to put
on the cover.
In the second of four sections of the
book, titled “Significant Spaces”, Mofokeng
takes us on a journey to concentration and
extermination sites throughout Nazi-held
eastern Europe. He photographs Auschwitz,
Sachsenhausen, Ravensbrück, Theresienstadt,
and other locations where some of the kin
of the early colonial settlers of South Africa
came close to annihilating their Jewish neighbors.
Nothing in A Silent Solitude tells us why
Mofokeng sought out these places, leaving
us to look and to question. Is it that he felt a
kindred spirit to these places of worldly pain?
In these photos, we gain a deeper insight
to the personal torment and to the personal
vision of this Mofokeng.
In the closing of Simon Njami’s
essay, he so eloquently and aptly says of
Mofokeng, “…it is the silent solitude of the
dialogue with his camera that his words,
finally, can take shape.”
—Glenn Ruga
74 / ZEKE SPRING 2020

SOME AFRIKANERS
PHOTOGRAPHED
by David Goldblatt
Essays by Ivor Powell and Antjie Krog
Steidl, 2019 | 238 pages | $65
The seemingly simple title says a
great deal—about what this book is
and what it isn’t. Some Afrikaners
Photographed is a collection of
images about individuals from a certain
place at a certain time. It is not a treatise,
nor a summary of a way of life. It does
not add up to a portrait of a people or a
country. The photographer’s forward, written
in 1975 for the first edition of the book,
speaks to his intentions: “So I came to photograph
Afrikaners…For a while, I thought
of photographing the Afrikaner People. It
took time to understand that for me such a
project would be grossly pretentious and
probably impossible to achieve in any
meaningful sense—in any case it is not what
I wanted. I did not have the encyclopaedic
vision that might enable me to achieve an
acceptably ‘balanced’ picture of a people.
I was concerned with a few minutiae of
Afrikaner life, with a few people.”
The photographs, rich in tone and
grain, were shot on film between 1962
and 1971. Beautifully composed and
printed, they center squarely on working
class Afrikaners. Many of the images
are portraits: The subject looks intently at
Goldblattt and is situated within the frame
with some intentionality. Other, less formal,
images show people in the context of work
(clearing land, waiting for a bus during the
evening commute), or at play (dancing at
a wedding, singing outside on Christmas
day). Many photographs are of families
within the context of their daily lives. Still
others offer a view of the exterior of simple
whitewashed homes, of sparsely furnished
interiors, of barren landscapes, and of
desolate streets.
In keeping with the humility evoked
by the title, the images are presented in
the simplest possible way: One photograph
per double-page spread. There is
no clear attempt at assembling coherent
narratives, nor is there an obvious thread
to the sequencing. The same individuals
and events appear almost haphazardly
throughout the book. The result is a strong
Flip du Toit on the step of his farm workshop at Abjaterskop. Marico Bushveld, Transvaal (North-West Province),
1964. Photo by David Goldblatt.
sense that every image—every lived
moment captured—stands alone and is
worthy of doing so.
Goldblatt’s captions, though spare of
language, add volumes to the story the
images tell. Journalistic in tone, their subject
matter is the minutiae of the everyday:
“A corner of a plot-holder’s voorkamer.
From left to right and top to bottom: the
then South African flag; portrait of a
deceased brother-in-law; certificate from
the National Party in recognition of fundraising
achievements; nail clippers and a
party-line telephone.” On the one hand
simply a list of the items in this corner of
a family’s home, the caption tells a larger
story, most notably by its mention of the
certificate from the National Party.
The strength of the images lies in this
fact that, though they are indeed of quiet
moments and humble events, it is impossible
to miss the larger stories they tell
(though subtly) of poverty, of class divisions,
and of apartheid. Farm laborers,
servants and nursemaids appear in some
of the photographs with their employers;
there are not many other images in which
black and white adults inhabit the same
frame. Two other photographs each show
a family of three returning from church:
Father, mother, daughter. The background
behind the white family suggests, perhaps,
a marginally wealthier community than
that behind the black family. What is more
striking is simply the fact that these images
exist as two separate, nonintersecting
worlds.
Goldblatt shares in his afterward that a
selection of the photographs from the project
was first published in the Swiss photo
journal Camera in 1969. The reaction in
the Afrikaner press was strong: A headline
read: “Bloed sal kook!” (“Blood will boil!”)
The subtlety of the images notwithstanding,
messages came across that were uncomfortable
for the ruling class.
In 1975, Goldblatt released a first edition
of Some Afrikaners Photographed. It
did not sell well. Ivor Powell, South African
art critic and journalist, notes in his essay in
the book that “on one hand there was resistance
from the Afrikaner elite. On the other,
Goldblatt’s approach was…too nuanced…
to slot easily into the antiapartheid struggle—the
other South African interest market
of the day—especially as played to an
international audience.”
Yet Powell also writes of his own
exploration of Goldblatt’s work at that
time, remembering that, for all its subtlety
and nuance, “it was all but incandescent
with tension and revelation, with a sense
of souls held up to scrutiny, of skins being
peeled away.”
—Jenna Mulhall-Brereton
ZEKE SPRING 2020/ 75

ZEKE
Spring
THE MAGAZINE OF GLOBAL DOCUMENTARY
Published by Social Documentary Network
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2020 Vol. 6/No. 1
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ZEKE is published by Social Documentary Network (SDN),
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themes. Started as a website in 2008, today SDN works with
thousands of photographers around the world to tell important
stories through the visual medium of photography and multimedia.
Since 2008, SDN has featured more than 3,000 exhibits
on its website and has had gallery exhibitions in major cities
around the world. All the work featured in ZEKE first appeared
on the SDN website, www.socialdocumentary.net.
ZEKE
Executive Editor: Glenn Ruga
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Editor: Barbara Ayotte
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Network
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80 / ZEKE SPRING 2020

ABOUT THE COVER
South African photographer
Lee-Ann Olwage nominated
by World Press Photo for
#BlackDragMagic
No exuberant wig, no over-the-top
makeup. On the cover of this issue
of ZEKE, Belinda Qaqamba
Ka-Fassie, a South African drag
artist and queer rights activist, stands in
the middle of a community space where
women sell and cook meat on barbeques,
and people gather to eat and listen to musical
performances. Wrapped in a dress she
designed and made herself from colorful
African fabric, Ka-Fassie stares right into the
camera, defiant, as other people stare at her
and wonder what she’s doing, and why.
The subjects of South African photographer
Lee-Ann Olwage’s portrait series
#BlackDragMagic look nothing like the
queens you see competing in RuPaul’s Drag
Race on TV— and that’s exactly their message:
they’re queer, they’re drag artists, they’re
African, and they want to celebrate all these
sides of their identity without giving into
Western aesthetic canons. They exist in these
communities and spaces every day, and now
want to be seen.
The first time Olwage started working
on photographic projects involving the
LGBTQ+ community in South Africa was
in 2018, covering the drag beauty pageants
scene in Cape Town. She was interested in
spaces where people are celebrated for who
they actually are, not just where they feel
safe to express themselves.
That’s how she met many of the subjects
of her long-term photo projects, including
Ka-Fassie, an activist who started drag as an
escape from the oppression she felt being
black, Xhosa, poor, queer and effeminate.
A few months later, Olwage put out a
call for collaborations and Ka-Fassie, then
entering Miss Drag South Africa, reached
out with a drag project with a purpose:
#BlackDragMagic was born.
The aim was to celebrate black drag
queens, still marginalized even within the
Cape Town drag scene, and to promote the
idea of reclaiming spaces: black drag queens
from townships would normally go to the
city to take part in pageants or performances,
and de-drag before going back to their
townships — they’d risk getting killed if they
didn’t. Ka-Fassie and Olwage decided to
Photographer Lee-Ann Olwage (left) poses
with Belinda Qaqamba Ka-Fassie (middle),
a drag artist and activist and Mandisi Dolle
Phika (right) one of the subjects from
#BlackDragMagic.
bring them to the places where hate crimes
and discrimination happened, turning the
photoshoots themselves into radical activism.
Khayelitsha, the location, is South Africa’s
largest and fastest-growing township, and
means “our new home” in Xhosa, the mother
tongue of many subjects of the photographs
— which has no words to describe being gay,
trans or drag. When they came out to their
families, many could purely express it as a
sexual act, forced to erase a significant part of
their identity. By posing for the portraits in
traditional Xhosa clothing and jewelry, often
used for wedding ceremonies, the black drag
queens are taking it back: they’re saying this is
their culture too.
ZEKE SPRING 2020/ 81

ZEKE
THE MAGAZINE OF GLOBAL DOCUMENTARY
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