Contemporary South African society is forged from its deep-rooted tribal traditions, a disruptive colonial history and apartheid struggles. Traces that remain identifiable in this synopsis of photography essays made alongside research for the book: Life Itself: Photography and South Africa, Reaktion Books, 2025. The pictures represent loosely formed narratives that, while not necessarily explicitly, nevertheless, reflect inevitably nuances of this past as well as transformation.

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The photographs made between 2016 and 2019 can be situated in the context of local elections (2016); when President Zuma was in the spotlight (2017), and at a time of township and student unrest (2018-19). 

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David Goldblatt in Intersections provides some degree of context: ‘Primary is the land, its division, possession, use, misuse. How we have shaped it and how it has shaped us’. 1

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1. Interview with David Gollblatt by Mark Haworth-Booth, London/Johannesburg, April 2005, David Goldblatt, Intersections, Prestel Verlag, 2005, P.99

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