A land divided: photo exhibition tells many stories

The exhibition will reflect on the significance of the land question in South African society, and harvests a selection of pictures from 18 archives and the work of over 30 photographers.

The curators - David Goldblatt, Bongi Dhlomo, Pam Warne and Paul Weinberg - have developed a narrative about the land which includes a thorough exploration of archival photographs and the work of committed photographers who have engaged with this issue for over a century.

Goldblatt and Weinberg both have long histories exploring land issues, Dhlomo is a well-known artist and curator, and Pam Warne is the curator of photography and new media for the National Gallery at Iziko.

Weinberg, a senior curator at UCT Libraries, said: "The anniversary of the Land Act offers an important opportunity to tell this story in ways it has never been told before. The exhibition is not just about forced removals, but also includes a historical journey through the land."

He added: "Music, historical films and images up to the present day give the viewer a rounded experience of the land issue. The exhibition travels in time from the past to the present day, offering insights into the complexity and contested nature of this landscape. It asks questions about how the land is signified and used, and the multiple meanings it has for those who live on it."

The exhibition will move to the University of the Witwatersrand Art Museum in August.

In a related exhibition, Extraordinary lives: Portraits from a divided land, the work of Sophia Klaase will be showcased at the District Six Museum until 18 April 2013.

Klaase first used a camera as a participant in a photography project organised in 1999, as part of a long-term study into the socio-economic and environmental history of Paulshoek, a remote village in Namaqualand.

Her collection of more than 1,500 images recorded 13 years of village life from the perspective of a young woman growing up in the new South Africa. Her work documented family, friends, village events and daily chores. It also included self-portraits that provide a poignant record of Klaase's own passage into adulthood.

Dr Siona O' Connell, co-curator from UCT, said: "This exhibition teases apart just what it means to be a young woman in a social landscape that is common to millions of South Africa's rural poor. Klaase's photographs are not 'simple representations'; rather, they form a powerful and remarkable archive of meanings that are embedded in palpable social, political and economic frames, connecting memories, histories and language."