Britain's What's On Event Guide
Ernest Cole: House of Bondage
This summer, The Photographers’ Gallery presents Ernest Cole: House of Bondage, on show from 14 June – 22 September 2024. This substantial exhibition revisits Cole’s ground-breaking project House of Bondage.
South African photographer Ernest Cole (1940–1990) is considered one of the most important chroniclers of the brutal reality of apartheid in South Africa. Through his work, Cole revealed the violence and injustice of apartheid to the world.
Born in a township in Transvaal in 1940, as a young Black man Cole experienced the daily humiliations of the system from the inside: “Three-hundred years of white supremacy in South Africa have placed us in bondage, stripped us of our dignity, robbed us of our self-esteem and surrounded us with hate.” (Ernest Cole)
One of the first Black freelance photographers in South Africa, which was only possible due to his reclassification from ‘Black’ to ‘Coloured’ under apartheid, he documented everyday life with assignments for Drum magazine and The New York Times, amongst others. Cole photographed the precarious living conditions of Black South Africans, from mine labourers to domestic workers in white households, as well as the state of the transport and health sectors. He paid particularly close attention to children and young people who were denied a proper education under the Bantu Education Act, which was introduced while Cole was still in high school and caused him to leave in protest.
In 1966, Cole fled South Africa and smuggled out his photographs, travelling through the UK before settling in New York. His book House of Bondage was published in 1967 and showed the countless forms of violence and repression of the apartheid system to the outside world. Its publication resulted in him being banned in his home country. House of Bondage is considered one of the most significant photobooks of the twentieth century.
South African photographer Ernest Cole (1940–1990) is considered one of the most important chroniclers of the brutal reality of apartheid in South Africa. Through his work, Cole revealed the violence and injustice of apartheid to the world.
Born in a township in Transvaal in 1940, as a young Black man Cole experienced the daily humiliations of the system from the inside: “Three-hundred years of white supremacy in South Africa have placed us in bondage, stripped us of our dignity, robbed us of our self-esteem and surrounded us with hate.” (Ernest Cole)
One of the first Black freelance photographers in South Africa, which was only possible due to his reclassification from ‘Black’ to ‘Coloured’ under apartheid, he documented everyday life with assignments for Drum magazine and The New York Times, amongst others. Cole photographed the precarious living conditions of Black South Africans, from mine labourers to domestic workers in white households, as well as the state of the transport and health sectors. He paid particularly close attention to children and young people who were denied a proper education under the Bantu Education Act, which was introduced while Cole was still in high school and caused him to leave in protest.
In 1966, Cole fled South Africa and smuggled out his photographs, travelling through the UK before settling in New York. His book House of Bondage was published in 1967 and showed the countless forms of violence and repression of the apartheid system to the outside world. Its publication resulted in him being banned in his home country. House of Bondage is considered one of the most significant photobooks of the twentieth century.
accessvam.accessacloud.com/PhotographersGalleryBookings/BookDate.aspx?eid=0491&_gl=1*4p42fw*_ga*MTE5ODM2NTA2My4xNzEyMTQ1OTI2*_ga_EJ00PSPQ8T*MTcxNzU5NDQyNy4yNi4xLjE3MTc1OTQ0NjAuMjcuMC4w
The Photographers’ Gallery 16-18 Ramillies St, London W1F 7LW
Fri 14 June
Website:
thephotographersgallery.org.uk/
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