The form of the norm

Shades of gender in South African photography of the 1980s

Bibliographic Data

ID3610900
AuthorsPatricia Hayes (0000-0002-8937-4273, University of the Western Cape, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume37
Issue2
Pages263-277
Publication date2011-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Dynamics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0253-3952 • E-ISSN: 1940-7874
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02533952.2011.615180
OpenAlexW2063561636
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited2

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. The Visual History Project at the University of the Western Cape, which also runs a postgraduate course in photographic histories and practices, has conducted interviews with numerous photographers from the 1980s in southern Africa in an attempt to chart relationships between the visual and social/historical change. Interviews cited here were conducted by Patricia Hayes, Farzanah Badsha and Natasha Becker, with transcription by Ingrid Weidemann, Cané Lake, Khadija Heeger, Sarah Espi Sanchis and Bianca van Laun. This research has been supported by the National Research Foundation and the University of the Western Cape. We are deeply grateful to the photographers who participated in and generously commented on the research. 2. For more on feminist methodology and the tendency to confine the question of gender to the gendering of individuals, see Hayes 2007a Hayes, P. 2007a. Visual emergency? Fusion and fragmentation in South African photography of the 1980s. Camera Austria, 100: 18–22. [Google Scholar]. 3. De Vlieg’s hierarchical pyramid made no mention of black women photographers. Afrapix had three branches in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. de Vlieg was located in Johannesburg, and did not mention Deseni Moodliar in Durban or Zubeida Vallie in Cape Town, but referred to the main group, which had a number of white women photographers, with Di Stuart as the administrator. In addition to the list given here, Pam Warne (2010 Warne, P., 2010. Interview [online]. Eikon – International Magazine for Photography and Media Art, 10. Available from: http://www.artandtheory.net/detail/spot-south-africa-women-photographers-pam-warne-eikon/ [Accessed on 22 August 2011]. [Google Scholar]) includes Ingrid Hudson. 4. Several male photographers produced similar subject matter, notably Omar Badsha and Santu Mofokeng. 5. For examples of (but also exceptions to) this, see Omar Badsha’s (1989) edited volume, South Africa: the Cordoned Heart; Hill and Harris’s (1989 Hill, I.T. and Harris, A., eds. 1989. Beyond the barricades: popular resistance in South Africa, New York: Aperture. [Google Scholar]) Beyond the Barricades and collections held at the Mayibuye archive of Robben Island Museum/University of the Western Cape. 6. The recent London exhibition and catalogue entitled Figures and Fictions: Contemporary South African Photography (2011), curated by Tamar Garb, might be usefully considered in this context. 7. Gideon Mendel was not officially a member of Afrapix, but was closely associated with the group. 8. Waller’s comments were made at the international conference ‘Encounters with Photography’, South African Museum, Cape Town, 17 July 1999. 9. Or possibly the photographer wished to negotiate the questions on her own terms, over time. See Deseni Soobben (née Moodliar) (2010). 10. The formulation of these questions owes much to editorial dialogue with Desirée Lewis. 11. I am grateful to Graham Goddard for his input on these ‘lost’ photographers, and for his insightful observations regarding many other women photographers. 12. I refer to particular debates at the conference that accompanied the Bonani Festival of Photography, Cape Town, September 2010, but also to selected writings in journals such as Art South Africa and in the biannual Cape Town Month of Photography catalogues

Archaeology · Art · Cape · Photography · Photojournalism · Sociology · Visual arts · African history and culture studies · Gender Studies · History · South African History and Culture

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