Ernest Cole, Photographic collection and Papers
The collection contains the photographic work of the South African photographer Ernest Cole, some of which culminated in the iconic book "House of Bondage", published in 1967. Also included are his notes, correspondence and research material, as well as his photographic work which he continued in the USA.
Cole, Ernest
These images were published in the book "House of Bondage". Each of the 184 photographs originate from one of the folders in B2.1-24, from which they were extracted. The images which were selected for the book are marked on the original contact sheets and the negative sheets.
Pensive tribesmen, newly recruited to mine labor, await processing and assignment.
Barracks-like buildings are divided into starkly simple rooms with bunk space for twenty men. There are no closets or cupboards, so clothes and boots hang all over.
Kitchen helper dumps food on men's plates with shovel Diet is nyula, a vegetable mixture, and maize-meal porridge served twice a day.
Cardboard punched with holes and hung from the ceiling serves one man as holder for his spoons.
Miner sleeps on concrete slab, must supply own bedding.
Some, like man with penny whistle, pass time with musical instruments.
Man stares at snapshot of his wife on tribal reserve, whom he will not see for duration of his contract.