South Africa
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South Africa
a documentary over decades of incredible change
by Graeme Williams
Afrikaners re-enact the Day of the Vow ceremony, in which they thank God for helping them
survive a battle with the Zulu's in 1838. Pretoria, South Africa. 1993.
In the late1980s Graeme Williams began to work for the international news and photo agency, Reuters, covering
events leading up to the political settlement in the early 1990s and the introduction of a constitutional democracy
in 1994. In this five-year period his photographs appeared in leading newspapers and magazines throughout the
world.
The images depict an extraordinary period in which political conflict that had escalated during the rule of the
Apartheid Government gradually gave way to a negotiated settlement and a largely peaceful transition to
democratic rule. Given the severe and widespread violence, this was a major achievement.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu calms an angry crowd during a period of violence in Sebokeng
township. 1990. South of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Two Xhosa initiates sitting next to a busy highway. They were undergoing a traditional rites of
passage ritual to become men within their tribe. 1994. Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Police and township residents clash. 1992. Alexandra Township, Johannesburg. South Africa.
Police patrol Sebokeng townships in an armoured vehicle during a period of violence. 1990.
South of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Women gather their possessions from a squatter camp following a battle between rival
supporters of the ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party. 1990 Katlehong Township. east of
Johannesburg, South Africa.
“My initial motivation for this project was to capture a segment of South African life during this transit period.
My own reactions to the changes happening around me were mixed and often jarring. In the early stages, I tried
to let my approach to the project be as unformulated as possible, thereby allowing themes to emerge.
Instead of trying to construct a narrative about life in the country as a whole, I concentrated on fragments of life
at the literal and figurative edges of town. It is a stream of consciousness that attempts to draw in the elements
of both change and of lack of change within this paradoxical country.
This essay, like a mosaic, is made up of fragments that I have collected as I moved within the spaces occupied
by South Africa's marginalized communities. These fragments build a picture of the challenges, changes,
frustrations and joys experienced by people who are attempting to move from the shadows into the centre stage
of South African life.” Graeme Williams
The Edge of Town
Springfontein 2006. South Africa.
Moenaneng Township, Marquard 2006. South Africa.
Witbank, 2004. South Africa.
Khayelitsha Township, Clanwilliam, 2005. South Africa.
Concordia (near Springbok), 2005. South Africa.
Glen Cowie, 2005. South Africa.
Phutanang Township, Kimberley, 2006. South Africa.
Groblersdal, 2004. South Africa.