Angelo R.
A1
David Goldblatt: The South African Apartheid Photographer
David Goldblatt is a Jewish-South African photographer during the Apartheid. He is of European descent, having parents that were Jewish. Goldblatt, a white South African man, was born on November 29, 1930 in Randfontein, South Africa. He was the third child of Eli Goldblatt and Olga Light. His parents moved to South Africa after escaping the Jewish-Lithuanian persecutions that was going on during the 1890’s.
As a child, David didn’t really know where photos come from or what photography even is but when his mother gave him a camera, his love for photography sparked up. The camera was originally brought home by his brother Dan, which served in the merchant navy, but when Dan got home, his parents bought the camera from him and gave it to David. In 1948, David was around 12 years of age, he set photojournalism as his career and was enrolled in schools that were specific to that career. He was even more inspired by the works of famous photographers working for American-European magazines like Life and Picture Post. In the 1950’s, David started his photojournalism career by documenting political campaigns by the Congress Alliance; he found that this work was very non-beneficial.
Another chapter from David’s life was opened when he married a woman named Lily in 1955 and had three children. Because David and Lily didn’t want their kids to grow up in a racist society, they moved to Israel. These plans were put on hold when David’s father was diagnosed with cancer and had to leave the family business to one of his children. With no one else around for the family business, David took the responsibility and also studied part-time at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg. From all this work he had to do, he still managed to take photos here and there but when a major event from his life happened, his father’s death, he sold the family business and pursued his professional career as a photographer.
People were amused by what David could do, especially the “white Johannesburg” or whites in Johannesburg. He made a lot of friends and acquaintances as he pursued his professional career as a photographer. One of the friends he made was a writer by the name of Lionel Adams. Because of this writer, David started photographing and exploring Afrikaners and their farming community. From this point on he started to explore South Africa more and take photographs of what he thinks is interesting; this is also when he starts getting to know more about the real South Africa.
David was not a “joiner”; he was neither for nor against blacks’ freedom in South Africa. But even though he neutral, he did show a sign of sympathy towards the blacks in South Africa. He took photos of the blacks in South Africa, different kinds of them, during the apartheid. He said that all of the photos he took during apartheid were to show how life was for the blacks compared to the whites. The photos he took were enough to show the world what was happening to the people, both white and black, in South Africa. He put a big emphasize on blacks’ suffering during the apartheid for everyone to see how much inequality the world contains and wishes that one day, inequality will change.
David Goldblatt’s work really amazed me. His photos changed the way I looked at the people in South Africa during the apartheid. Pictures from pictures, I saw a massive difference on how these two “colors” lived their lives. Photos containing the whites were generally more joyful and more positive whereas the blacks almost had no uplifting photos. His work was really shocking. For people interested in reading more about him, I suggest taking a look at his photos that he took because it really shows how different the lives of blacks and whites were in South Africa during the apartheid, I mean after all, picture is worth a thousand words. Wink wink.
"David Goldblatt." www.sahistory.org.za. SAHO. Web. 19 Dec 2013. <http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/david-goldblatt>.
McCarthy, Diane, and Lauren Said-Moorhouse. "David Goldblatt: Photographer bears witness to Apartheid." CNN. CNN, 08 Nov 2013. Web. 19 Dec 2013. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/08/world/africa/david-goldblatt-photographer-apartheid/>.
I thought you did a very good job of capturing this person's life story because I found myself intrigued and wanted to know more about his family struggles, especially in Israel. While all of this domestic history is interesting, it also hurts the article. I felt as if there was a little too much focus on Goldblatt's family and not enough on his style of photography. What were specific differences between the two races that he captured in his photos? I also thought there could have been more achievements included in this article. I want to know Goldblatt has won any awards for his photography.
ReplyDeleteI think you did a pretty good job. I liked how you gave some background information about him instead of just going straight into what he's really famous for. That way i'll have a better understanding on who this guy is that your're talking about and who is was as a South African during apartheid. But also, at the end you said Goldblatt's photos really amazed you and changed the way you look at apartheid. Maybe you could have explained one of his photos so that we'd have a better insight on why Goldblatt chose to take that photo to show the struggles in apartheid. -Breana C
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