“Africa's First Woman Press Photographer”

For years, researchers have been searching for photographs made by Mabel Cetu, who “was said to be the first Black South African woman photojournalist” (Siopis 2006: 10). Cetu was a Black woman who worked as a nurse for more than twenty-five years before she was trained as a photographer in 1956, eight years after the National Party took over South Africa's government and introduced apartheid—a system of institutionalized racial discrimination against people of color. She received her training at the monthly publication Zonk! African People's Pictorial, which was launched in 1949 as the country's first widely circulated magazine directed at a Black readership (Maingard 2020: 153). Perhaps because many magazines published their images uncredited at the time, it seems as if none of her images have been found, meaning that they have never been discussed in scholarly research.1 Critically examining Cetu's photographs printed in Zonk! in 1956 and 1957 and analyzing in how far she might have been able to subvert common representations of gender, I want to reveal gendered power structures determining the field of photography in 1950s South Africa.The search for Cetu's photographs can be understood as part of recent scholarly interest in female South African photographers working prior to 1994 (Newbury, Rizzo, and Thomas 2021; du Toit 2005; Corrigall 2018; Danilowitz 2005; Thomas 2018). It is interesting that, although most of these photographers, including Cetu, would probably not have considered their photographs as art, nearly all researchers concentrating on their works are art historians. While photographs had been displayed in a fine art context in South Africa from 1858 (Bull and Denfield 1970: 63), the 1950s photographs of Cetu and her contemporaries were only rediscovered in the late 1980s, when they started to circulate “as aestheticised images ... [ascending from the] grainy pictures in magazines” (du Toit and Gordon 2016: 158). The recent interest in these women's photography can also be related to the efforts made in the field of humanities to broaden the canon and include more works by those groups that have historically been marginalized. For instance, the former director of the South African National Gallery, Marilyn Martin, claims that in South Africa's history of photography, Black women form “the most telling absences” (2001: 51). During the 1950s, when Cetu began working as a photographer, the field of photography in South Africa was largely dominated by men and White people. The artist Penny Siopis takes the example of the photographs of the notorious 1956 Women's March to point to the absence of women photographers covering the event (2006: 10). She claims that “Black women did not see photography as a viable profession. Those few chances to build a photographic career seemed limited to men, as witnessed in the photojournalism of Drum magazine of the fifties” (2006: 10).The lack of representation of Black women in the history of photography in South Africa is closely related to their nonexistence in or unavailability through archives. Pam Warne, the former curator of photography and new media at Iziko Museums, explains that “the paucity of research on both Black and White South African women photographers suggests that the lives of many female professionals and amateurs have thus far remained unrecorded, their work hidden in archives and lost” (2006: 15). This is also the case for Zonk!, which has very limited accessibility. Maingard highlights that, while both the British Library and the National Library of South Africa hold hard copies of the magazine, only the former makes the publication available on microfilm (2020: 156). She further argues that no resources for digitizing such publications exist in South Africa, noting that “large-scale digitization projects have tended to favour only certain parts of the world and privilege mainstream resources, particularly those located in or pertaining to the ‘global north’” (2020: 156). Warne points to the fact that “Mabel Cetu may not have been the only Black woman photographer working during the 1950s in an apparently exclusively male contingent of photographers at Drum and other magazines such as Zonk” (cited in Stemberger 2010: 55). She reasons that their work might just not have been documented, giving the example of Cetu, who is “not even listed by the Bailey Archives (which holds the photographic archives from Drum) as having worked for the magazine” (cited in Stemberger 2010: 55).The magazine Drum is prominent in recent scholarship on the history of photography in South Africa. While scholars often highlight the magazine's importance in employing numerous distinguished Black photographers from 1951, they also criticize Drum for its masculinist approach (Killingray and Roberts 1989: 205). For example, Clowes writes about far-reaching gender biases present in Drum as “images and texts produced by the magazine tended to reinforce male authority over women” (2008: 179). Walker claims that the magazine's “treatment of women was generally frivolous, stereotyping women as beauty queens, cover girls, and social ornaments” (1982: 149). Driver reveals that, aside from the monthly women's column, numerous texts published under women's names were actually written by male journalists (2005: 231). She argues that Drum's “shift from rural ‘past’ to urban ‘present’ was negotiated largely by means of belittling and damaging misrepresentations of women” (2005: 228). Yet, in the early years of Drum, examples of women's involvement in the photographic process can be found, such as the coming into existence of the famous investigative photo essay “Mr Drum Goes to Jail,” which was printed in Drum in March 1954. To gain access to the view of the prison courtyard, the Black photographer Robert “Bob” Gosani and the Black writer Arthur Maimane pretended to be working for the magazine editor's White secretary Deborah Duncan, who posed as a photographer (Newbury 2009: 133–34).While I do not want to deny the strong gender bias prevalent in many South African 1950s publications, I want to point toward Adichie's warning about the dangers of telling a single story: “The single story creates stereotypes. And the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story” (2009). What might be gained by searching for and writing about alternative stories indicating Black women's contribution to South Africa's history of photography is what Achebe termed “a balance of stories” (2000). This paper tries to contribute to such a balance through highlighting Cetu's story.Cetu, widely known as Sis May, was born at Viljoensdrift, Orange Free State, in 1910 or 1912.2 The daughter of a Methodist Church minister, Cetu and her family moved a lot during her childhood (Zonk! 1956b: 12). Having obtained her Junior Certificate at Amanzimtoti, Natal, in 1928, she qualified as a nurse at St. Monica's Home, Cape Town, in 1930.3 Subsequently, she worked at different clinics in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown), New Brighton, Evaton, and Gqeberha, also after she married Russel Cetu and had her son Churchill (Zonk! 1956b: 12).4 Trained as a photographer in 1956, she first worked for Zonk!, the Golden City Post, and Drum and was later employed by the Eastern Province Herald and the SABC's Radio Bantu (Martin 2001: 51; Matyu 2005). Her house, which was located in the township called White Location, was frequented by and to and and and were at social 2005). into a Cetu was in she as of the Church and was a of the (Zonk! 1956b: that in Africa in the early 1950s was often related to “the of and ... the social for to than to a social of and it might have a for Cetu's It can be said that Cetu a that was very for a woman at that time, as it was not only by a of in but also and numerous South Africa.The country's government largely for the of its the It which people to their such as the or the Cetu with people from South Africa her Her in and her to and the social that she on a and how in the African context with such as be through and to and This might have Cetu's in in when she for the as part of the Black 2005). This to a of the social in her “as people did not want to be with the 2005). While had not been of in before the when the against the and and Matyu the that Cetu's years later in she had moved to be her daughter 2005). of Cetu and from the the the of White to in 2005; thus is one of the few in South Africa which to a female of Cetu's photographs in Zonk!, I in her with her what it might have had on her photographic monthly 1949 and Zonk! African People's was the magazine at African in South (Maingard 2020: 153). the magazine with the in South Africa's printed media in the of Zonk! was “the first South African White or make photojournalism than its writes that was to the magazine's first White who that “the would pictures more than Zonk! importance on photography, the first Black magazine to and explains that and were for their with other than as to the written Zonk! was a in many the of the magazine the Drum magazine, which was years after Zonk!, is and to a that Drum tended to the existence of Zonk! in having its This might while scholarship on the representation of women in 1950s magazines in South Africa these on Drum, not Zonk! at all Driver was also the first publication to a to a Black magazine” having started as in 1951, only worked in for a few before photographic as at the importance of for the Cetu was not the first female of the was she the first photographer trained by and for were few Black South African journalists in the Zonk! trained their photographers from the the photographic at the time, on their in its Zonk! in that has to training to as many as by monthly and about (Zonk! Zonk! of its about far the readership to the to a its as argues that the magazine was never because it the of the Black explains that these were because Zonk! of the the magazine on a South African event when the Zonk! when of the that when Zonk! in these during the of the of a house, it was to the magazine Cetu was This might have to do with her involvement with the township of New Brighton, she worked for years and which Drum's as “the most township in South only was Cetu in but her family was as the of her son Churchill The of Cetu's and the by the from her made Cetu that she Matyu to with her 2005). the of Cetu's training by Zonk!, the of on the part of the magazine and in Zonk! during a of women's the of and of was far-reaching the that all Black women and men had to with with at all only in 1956 did the the and these to Black women” a and magazines were with about for the and about women's For instance, Drum in 1956 that was “the very of the The of South African that and 1956, women against the in in different Cetu's The of the took on 1956, in form of a through to the of women to that have event all those for and started to just 1956, about women and men who against “the of the were by the The to the and were and other were in the one of the were were of the female the Women's such as and who were later before the during the famous It might have been in of the Women's March that took the to Cetu as the first Black woman Cetu's training and her in the as a on the part of the magazine, a in of the gendered and for that South African at the first of Cetu in Zonk! was The of the 1956 not only her in the of but also in African The cover is a photo different and the of the The of the cover the of a by a of in the from to the of the This of as the for photographs the woman in different She a and while the woman her to to her the she even seems to hold her with one widely at the who can at her to is into the cover It an woman who holds a to her her is that the photographer is a more of a a on her and a Her seems to be to the of the and thus the of the in the to a certain the of the to be the also be as a to the magazine's to which the of the photographer, in to the and the would only be means of the the was in the magazine, the further about the cover not only the magazine's on but also its of its of its This was in the on Cetu's photography which was in the Africa's and in the all the the magazine far (Zonk! 1956b: Cetu's photography training just one more of and a further in its of and on the of Black South on Cetu's at of the the first is a Cetu from with part of her the pictures The and pictures of Cetu of these images how she to in the and on her first The on the first explains how Cetu's photography although written reveals of the gendered power structures in the For instance, while is as Mabel Cetu is only to by her first This has a in the context of South Africa, for Black working such as had only been called by first names of their names the first part of the explains the photography the part Cetu's her career as a as as her the of through when Cetu is as a of of Church While the seems to be to particularly in the fact that the only to the in most was when she in The on was common in South African publications of the 1950s, such as Drum or the Golden City (Newbury 2009: and The of its that Zonk! was “the first of a new of magazines that all of in the can be as the point and from which to not only but also the of numerous publications at that of the of the gendered printed to While the the on Cetu is to the of a for men, at and for on the that Cetu at her photography training that in Zonk! was at men the later part of the 1950s reasons for the of men in urban many women's as which to and family structures social was by men the and of Zonk! the gendered power structures that South African in the these structures are in Cetu's photographic is the of the the 1956 of Zonk! printed photographs of Cetu, the printed images by of the photographs to Cetu in 1956 and 1957 her to on (Zonk! 1956b: from the which the urban Black working Cetu was to cover and of in her Her photographs can be to for the and that people in Cetu's recent as as women with their and at the photographs by Cetu, become a of the people or the photographs the from their This is by the fact that people are often in the on their of such photographs might be not only to Cetu's as a photographer it is to people than but also to South Africa's media which only in the 1950s began to include photographs other than the in 2009: This was largely by the of the who started working at Drum and Black photographers work is known such as and Gosani (Newbury 2009: to their work at Drum the of photographic that social in South Africa of and and is different in the to Cetu in the 1957 of Zonk!, these were probably not the only photographic by Cetu, the approach of Zonk! and other magazines to a story on the Black work was in a at the Gallery, Cetu's photographs to the of art, they were many years later and The other a by the famous photographic were into the prevalent power structures of the While the cover story on the male as and the female as the of the Bantu Church of which gender of a more than power structures to the works of her male contemporaries at Drum, Cetu's in Zonk! are not only closely to her but also present of social by more from the might be by the different and Gosani started working at Drum when they were about years and were able to most of their to photography (Newbury 2009: Cetu, on the how to in her and working as a her for photographic for instance, to in groups of people and as with of which a Black woman did not have apparently the of the Yet, to what are the different in their to gendered and how far can the of their images in the magazines be to their or the the Cetu took for the 1956 and 1957 of Zonk!, the only of women which were on Cetu's from pictures of Black women in who are for the The of of Cape Town, during a to the in the on an against a (Zonk! While her can only be to strong in her her of a a and is to the This was probably considered particularly because women did not in the 1950s The is further through the urban she was The her as a The other woman is seems to have been in of a (Zonk! what to be a she her on her while a with her and in the women the to not only their but also their only the of these women include the in not one of the of a The to the of the in most of the of men the it be that no can be Cetu's approach only a of her gendered pictures of women in and images of men in common in printed publications with a Black readership at that of Drum's Perhaps the most example is the 1956 Drum cover 10). by it a woman in a and on a and at the while men in of to her with the of examples are the 1956 Drum cover a of with a of a woman in a as as the 1957 Drum cover by which a to a her can be which a in the of the under the 12). The 1950s of Drum also a point of as they have received scholarly in when it to gendered that with the urban as a of and for a She to the fact that in 1957 “a and were the of her and was most by what she and the of her photographs women's and their were to of This also means that the of Cetu's photographs of and can be understood as to and part of a Walker how Drum's cover the most of for the of the magazine's (1982: The the representations of women in 1950s Drum and the of the of Black women in South Africa, who had to an to the of their was also by She that Drum only of Black urban the and and the ... few women actually of these with of on such argues that in Drum are through an that the of a Black urban which is (2001: displayed Black women from the with a of in a and with on the cover of the magazine's very first in What was new about cover was its of Black women in a new Black women had been of to the of to the The numerous of women on later 1950s magazine to that Zonk! a magazine” examples to fact that 1950s South Africa witnessed the of stereotypes that women under as women as This through the of at women and was also in the of other such as the Bantu in 2001: one the on the representation of Black women as the of the magazine's and to in to it also be understood as a against because it a to of Black women's writes how these 1950s magazine photographs an of to the of rural that pictures of to images of Black women took in a a beauty in the Bantu Thomas that the photographs were that to the and from that dominated of (2006: She on to that had become a for and Black (2006: years the social representation had as the has The of by in a reveals the new photography a or the the to more these photographs prevalent of the time, as a of and while This of female representation from to pictures of how social were to in the They as a for what was to a did have for the the they highlight Cetu's photographs of and the their by or an on The of the and and the women do not into the and at the but to the the to their these the apparently female with images they have been through This all the more through the fact that in both the women are with one of the most female of the South Africa While the of of would to in the of and become South the of is printed to a of as part of an while the women's a by the that the about the to which was by a while the are of the of This when at the often such as the in the of or the 1957 Drum cover a of in of an of about the of these different of photography in the African the of the 1956 Zonk! cover Cetu made her first in an urban is with of of and were also prevalent in other parts of the at the time, for in 2001: This toward as the of Cetu's photographs than her the as Cetu's many other cover images at that time, do not about the of of most Black women in 1950s South Africa. they to present their as on magazine many Black women to and their chances of both and from the of in to an of through which women to of their most of these were not with the photographs to many women's to “the and of a and African as as with the against I want to and on the of the that photography and and that African people in were only as if they took photographs of the problem to the into and photography and the of the they the of ... at the in different parts of the a of than of 10). of I do not to a but to an of Cetu's photographs of and can be for the of by many urban Black South African women during the 1950s that its in the in and through in the in the and the Zonk! I want to to Cetu's including not only the images but also the for “the meaning of by on the context of their and their on written or to and meaning in to of the 2006: the photographs of the the of Cetu's photographs are by indicating the or the or groups to their the argues that “the of and the of as they are is often by of and the to in or gender She that “as photographs become parts of the through which is Cetu not only in her such as or but she also a to the and Her photographs an with a the first of a scholarship to of new a and to Zonk! a of social while highlighting by a of and in of (2001: about Drum of in urban Black argues that “the importance of photography to of the magazine be point the of Black from limited to claims that become social as of social in the South African photographs have been social as they have been related to the country's Cetu's photographs a at the of under the of and with these images just as more than years the what a and of the of South was by the While Cetu's photographs of urban Black a for and they also present a after by a of and Cetu's photographs might thus hold to and Mabel Cetu's photographs in Zonk! gendered power structures and of representation prevalent in magazine photography in South Africa. Cetu an for her time, and her and her might have made her more of the which Black people under her to about took the to Cetu after the Women's a in of women's which and the magazine's an of the of the about Cetu's reveals that her was not as it the publication with to its While Cetu's in Zonk! was into the was by gendered of Cetu and her male contemporaries highlights the in to their I have that Cetu's and her family her photographic from which images of at from the photographs to her in the 1956 and 1957 Zonk! of Cetu's of Black women and other Drum reveals that her photographs in with a that can be to an of different including the of the and the of the the for a of and the of a Black in South Africa. The photographs their with new of as urban including a of their and with of the and their or to the Black of Gqeberha, Cetu's photographs Black South African with a means to by the that, they present an of in Black South African during the claims that stories have been to and to stories can also be to and to (2009). Cetu's story is one of the many stories that

Art · Audience measurement · Government (linguistics) · Meaning (existential) · Media studies · Photography · Photojournalism · Political science · Power (physics) · Sociology · Visual arts · African history and culture studies · Gender Studies · History · Law · Psychology · South African History and Culture · Visual Culture and Art Theory

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