
鄭
struggle without documentation is no struggle” – Peter Magubane pic.twitter.com/GEkN8JsJUp—
Exclusive Books (@exclusivescoza) June 16,
2016
At the launch of photographer Peter Magubane’s latest book, June 16: 40th Anniversary Edition at the Museum Africa in downtown Johannesburg on 14 June 2016, Magubane shared some of the dark stories that changed South Africa’s political landscape during his 60 years documenting crucial moments in the country’s history.
The book has been published to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1976 Soweto uprising. Magubane’s photographs of that day brought him much international recognition and
acclaim. But more importantly, he feels, they told the world “what kind of animal apartheid was”.
Magubane began his career as a photographer at Drum magazine in 1955, covering an ANC convention with a borrowed camera. After that, he says, he “never looked back”.
#ICP50 Peter
Magubane: Eyewitness to the Ruthless Era of Apartheid? Soweto Riots, South
Africa, June 16, 1976. pic.twitter.com/7fMFTSGvbh—
ICP (@ICPhotog) May 19,
2016
He covered both the Sharpeville massacre in 1960 and the Rivonia trials in 1964. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was arrested, imprisoned and even banned from using cameras by the apartheid government. It considered his work to be subversive and inflammatory.
Peter
Magubane spent 586days solitary for refusing to destroy imageshttps://t.co/wHsmc9c0ab #apartheid #photography pic.twitter.com/u1I96uhjjK—
Sharique Siddiqui (@shariquess) December 1,
2015
“I was prepared to die for what I was doing,” Magubane said at the book launch. “I
told myself that I was not going to be told by anyone not to take a picture.”
His photos of the 1976 uprising led to an extensive international career as both a photojournalist and art photographer. But documenting South African life and politics was always his first love. He continued to cover the transition to democracy during the 1990s until his retirement in 2006.
The book is available at all good book shops.
Source: News24