Beyond the Barricades: Popular Resistance in South Africa in the 1980s
This exhibition (Editors, Omar Badsha, Gideon Mendel and Paul Weinberg) is an important collection of photographs by twenty South African photographers, mainly from the photographic collective, Afrapix. Both, the exhibition and subsequent book, have become an indispensable anthology of popular resistance in South Africa during the 1980’s. The collection highlights one of the longest and bloodiest periods of political resistance to apartheid, a time of mass mobilization and brutal repression when taking of images was often a matter of life and death.
The photographs were taken by Ellen Elmendorp during a rally after the release of Patrick "Terror" Lekota from Robben Island. He was one of the accused in the Delmas Treason Trial.
The collection contains the personal and professional papers of Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson. Justice Arthur Chaskalson was the President of the Constitutional Court of South Africa from 1994 to 2001 and Chief Justice of South Africa from 2001 to 2005. He was also part of the defence council during the Delmas Treason Trial (1985-1989), also known as the Vaal Triangle Treason Trial.
The photographs were used for an Afrapix exhibition entitled "Domestic Workers", with photographs by Giselle Wulfsohn, Paul Weinberg, Santu Mofokeng, Dave Hartman and Guy Tillim.
They are images of domestic workers at work, during their time off, in their own homes, and attending Centres where they learned sewing and other skills. Also included are photos of meetings of the South African Domestic Workers Union (SADWU), which was formed in November 1986, combining five domestic workers unions to one strong national trade union.
Taking Sides: Conflict in South Africa 1984-1986: An Afrapix exhibition
The exhibition was compiled with photographs from the Afrapix collective, with the assistance of Oxfam, Canada. They depict images of conflict, funerals, youth, labour and culture vs Apartheid South Africa.
The exhibition and subsequent book publication, was curated and produced by Omar Badsha, as a product of the photographic project for the Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in Southern Africa in 1983. The exhibition was comprised of the work of 28 South African Photographers.
"On 24th April 1984 over 300 hundred academics, artists and photographers attended a conference at UCT where 300 research papers were presented and the exhibition titled South Africa The Cordoned Heart made up of over 36 photographic essays comprising of 386 images were exhibited in the foyer of UCT's Leslie Building. The exhibition was part of a mini cultural festival of film, music and performances. (Francis essay)"
South Africa: The Cordoned Heart: A short history of the photography project of the Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in Southern Africa (Source: Omar Badsha website https://www.omarbadsha.co.za)
