On the Mines is a re-designed and expanded version of David Goldblatt's influential book of 1973. Goldblatt grew upin the South African town of Randfontein, which was shaped by the social culture and financial success of the gold minessurrounding it. When these mines started to fail in the mid-sixties Goldblatt began taking photos of them, which formthe basis of On the Mines. The book features an essay on the human and political dimensions of mining in South Africaby Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer, whose writing has long influenced Goldblatt.The new version of the book maintains the original three chapters "The Witwatersrand: a Time and Tailings","Shaftsinking" and "Mining Men", but is otherwise completely updated, in Goldblatt's words, "to expand the view butnot to alter the sense of things". There are thirty-one new mostly unpublished photos including colour images, elevendeleted images, a postscript by Gordimer to her essay, as well as a text by Goldblatt reflecting on his childhood andthe 1973 book. On the Mines is the first of many titles in an ambitious collaboration between the photographer and Steidlthat will publish Goldblatt's life work in a series of re-prints and new books.David Goldblatt is a definitive photographer of his generation, esteemed for his dispassionate depiction of life in SouthAfrica over a period of more than fifty years. Born in Randfontein in 1930, Goldblatt worked in his father's menswearbusiness until 1963 when he took up photography full time. Goldblatt's work concerns above all human values and isa unique document of life during and after apartheid. His photographs are held in major international collections, andhis solo exhibitions include those at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1998, and the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris in 2011. In 1989 Goldblatt founded the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg to teach visualliteracy and photography especially to those disadvantaged by apartheid.
Perlentaucher-Notiz zur Süddeutsche Zeitung-Rezension
Der von Nadine Gordimer zusammen mit dem südafrikanischen Fotografen David Goldblatt verfertigte Fotoessay über die Gold- und Platinminen Südafrikas hat traurige Aktualität bekommen durch die jüngsten Massaker an Arbeitern der Mine Marikana, das Tim Neshitov uns in Erinnerung ruft. Der erstmals 1973 erschienene Band jedoch nimmt den Rezensenten mit in die 60er Jahre und zeigt die Kumpel bei der schmutzigen Arbeit im Schacht. Dass die begleitenden Texte Gordimers ausgehend vom Bergbaualltag über allgemein Menschliches nachsinnen, scheint der Rezensent nicht für kitschig zu halten, sondern für die berechtigte Sorge um ein friedliches Miteinander im Angesicht der Apartheid.
© Perlentaucher Medien GmbH
© Perlentaucher Medien GmbH