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“The points of departure and arrival are less important, while the space between is the space of going, the very essence of nomadism, the place in which to celebrate the everyday ritual of eternal wandering.” - Francesco Careri
Photography has been synonymous with mobility since the advent of the ‘Kodak No. 2 Brownie Box Camera’ in 1900. Before that, photographers could merely record motion from a stationary position. Two hundred years earlier, the first camera obscura was large enough for the user to walk within it. Now, the same physics exists in the palm of our hand - the ability for anyone, anywhere to record an image - and remains one of the most significant developments in history. Freed from the restraints of the tripod of its predecessors, the black box is suddenly smaller, portable, and can move with the image maker. Enter photography for the people, by the people. From cave paintings to artificial intelligence, we are, however, exploring only a small section of humanity’s unrelenting desire to tell its own story, regardless of constraint.
For two photographers associated with the Contemporary Archive Project, mobility has become a prerequisite to their image-making process. Andre Swart and Rory Jacobs, both emerging from similar moulds, epitomise the wandering street photographer. For both, their gritty, sometimes [shot] from-the-hip images are steeped in references to greats of the medium - the names on 1980s monographs that gave them their education.
Swart’s images made on Durban’s beaches during the Covid-19 Lockdown of 2020 currently sit in CAP’s repository of contemporary documentary photography. Described by the photographer as a difficult time in his life, there is a palpable sense of desolation in each frame. Although made on one of the most recognisable stretches of coastline in the country, many of the images transport the viewer to a quiet, unfamiliar place. Quiet, but not still - perhaps less people mean clearer study of those that are before the camera. Here the photographer becomes the recorder of movement - a man in his twenties runs through the plain of the viewfinder, a street performer hangs upside down above a horizon of masked figures and a lone pigeon is suspended mid-flight. Suspended in ‘frame 11’, to be exact, of Eadweard Muybridge's Animal Locomotion, Pigeon Flying study of 1887. The groundbreaking series - an electro-photographic investigation of consecutive phases of animal movements - pushed the boundaries of the medium at the time. The series marked the first scientific study of motion to use photography. Now 130 years on, the camera remains at the forefront of the human experience.
Plate 755 from Eadweard Muybridge's Animal Locomotion, Pigeon Flying, 1887
2020 Lockdown, Bird in flight on the Durban 2020 Lockdown, Feather, Durban, KZN, Andre Swart
Promenade, Durban, KZN, Andre Swart
Similarly, Jacobs’ works too becomes a contemporary study of movement. Familiar shapes, gestures and fragments of a city continue out of the frame, allowing the viewer to compose 2-second motion pictures as we immerse ourselves in the vivid imagery - we know what happens next. In a departure from the work of Swart; Jacobs’ work is loud, full of colour. Each frame hums with a cacophony of inner-city bustle. In his ‘say it how its is’ style, the photographer depicts Durban’s inner city from a viewpoint closer than most, growing up with the city forming part of regular family routines. Much of his work holds a sense of nostalgia, curiosity and an acute sensibility to colour. Jacobs moves with his subjects, sharing the same pavements as the people in his photographs - with a fixed 23mm lens, you must tuck your elbows in and get closer.
The work of Swart and Jacobs both highlight the greyed areas that almost define the genre of street photography. How close is too close? By the same token, how far is too far? In recent public talks, both photographers alluded to the fact that they merely photograph the people that pass their cameras’ field of view, and in many cases that is true - the streets of Durban aren’t for the faint of heart. The more time spent with the pictures of both Swart and Jacobs, one word begins to emerge - quest - a word that cuts through the grey. Writer and curator Simon Njami describes the quest as “[...] the desire to show the world how we envisage our humanity”, and “that motivation to wake up every morning, to go out and seek images that will illustrate a story that we cannot keep for ourselves [...]”. For Swart and Jacobs, two photographers with an extensive archive of Durban and KZN, this desire is undeniable.
2023-07-22 Women of the Zion Catholic Church,
Warwick Junction, Durban, KZN. Rory Jacobs
2024-01-25 Hot Kaleidoscope Colour Typical of inner city
Durban, Durban CBD, KZN. Rory Jacobs
‘’Amaphuzu okusuka nokuhlala awabalulekile kangako, kuphela isikhala esiphakathi nendawo okuyisona esingumsuka, ingqikithi yokungahlali ndawonye, indawo yokugubha isiko lansukuzonke lokubuyekezwa kwemicabango okungakhawuki.”-u-Francesco Careri
Ukuthathwa kwezithombe kuyafana nohambo olunokukhululeka kusukela kwasungulwa i’Kodak No. 2 Brownie Box Camera’ ngowezi-1900. Ngaphambi kwalokho, kwakunzima kubathwebuli ukuthwebula into enyakazayo uma bemile. Eminyakeni engamakhulu amabili eyedlule, ikhamera yokuqala i-obscura yayinkulu engangokuthi oyisebenzisayo angangena kuyona. Manje, ubuchwepheshe obufanayo sebusentendeni yezandla zethu- ikhono lanoma ubani, noma yikuphi lokuqopha isithombe- lihlale lingenye yentuthuko esemqoka emlandweni. Ikhululiwe ekubekweni kwi-tripod yabathwebuli bakuqala, ibhokisi elimnyama selivele laba lincane, liyathutheka, liyakwazi futhi ukuhamba nomenzi wezithombe. Ukufaka isithombe sabantu, ngabantu. Kusukela kwimidwebo yasemigedeni kuya kukuhlakanipha okwenziwa, singasho ukuthi, impela, sibheka ingxenye encane yesifiso sabantu sokuxoxa indaba yabo, ngale kwesithiyo.
Okwabathwebuli bezithombe ababili abane- Contemprary Archive Project, ukuhamba-hamba sekube yinto esemqoka kakhulu enqubweni yabo yokwenza izithombe.U-Andre Swart kanye no-Rory Jacobs, bobabili baqhamuka esikhunjeni esifanayo, bafanekisela ukubuyekezwa kwezithombe zasemgwaqeni. Bobabili, izithombe zabo ezingcolile, kwesinye isikhathi [ezishuthwe] ezivela kwi-hip zithathelwe kuma-greats of the medium- amagama asemibhalweni yezithombe ezabanika imfundo yabo ngezikhathi ze-1980.
Izithombe zika-Swart ezenziwa emabhishi aseThekwini ngezikhathi zokuvalwa kwezwe ngesikhathi sokhuvethe( covid-19_ yangowezi-2020 okwamanje zigcinwe e-CAP yezithombe zemibhalo yesimanje.Okuchazwe ngumthwebuli njengesikhathi esinzima empilweni yakhe, kunomuzwa ozwakalayo womunyu esithombeni ngasinye. Yize wenziwe kwenye yezindawo ezaziwayo kakhulu zogu ezweni, izithombe eziningi zenza ozibukayo abone indawo ethule, angayazi. Ethule, kepha engenakho ukuthula- mhlawumbe ukungabibikho kwabantu abaningi kusho ukubuka okucacile kulabo abaphambi kwekhamera. Lapha umthwebuli uphenduka abe ngumqophi wokunyakazayo – indoda eneminyaka ebalelwa kweyamashumi amabili iyabonakala igijima ithafa, umlingisi wasemgwaqeni ulenga ebheke phansi ngaphezu kwezithombe ezifihle ubuso kuthi kusenjalo ijuba elindiza lodwa livele liwe. Kuma konke ku-‘frayimu ye-11’, ngokweqiniso, kwe Animal Locomotiion ka-Eadweard Muybridge, ucwaningo lwangowezi-1887 lwe-Pigeon Flying. Uchungechunge olwaba yingqophamlando- uphenyo lwezithwebulo zeminyakazo yezilwane eyahlukahlukene zezigaba ezilandelanayo – lwaphusha imingcele ephakathi ngalesosikhathi. Loluchungechunge lwaba ucwaningo lobuchwepheshe lokuqala lokuhlola okunyakazayo lokuthwebula. Sekudlule iminyaka eyi-130, ikhamera isalokhu ihamba phambili kunokubonwa umuntu.
i-plate yesi-755 ye-Animal Locomotion ka-Eadweard Muybridge, Ukundiza Kwejuba, 1887
Ukuvalwa kwezwe ngowezi-2022, Uphaphe,eThekwini,eKZN, Ukuvalwa kwezwe ngowezi-2020, inyoni endizela
eka-Andre Swart ngasemgwaqeni waseThekwini ongasebhishi,
eThekwini, eKZN, eka-Andre Swart
Ngokufanayo, nawo umsebenzi ka Jacob ungucwaningo lwesimanje lwezithombe ezinyakazayo. Izimo ezijwayelekile, okuthinta kanye nengxenye yedolobha iyabonakala ezithombeni, ngokuvumela ozibukayo izithombe ukuthi akhe isithombe esinyakazayo ngemizuzwana emibili njengoba sizibona sijula esithombeni esicacile- siyakwazi okuzolandela. Uma sisuka emsebenzini ka-Swart; umsebenzi ka-Jacob ucace bha, ugcwele imibala. Isithombe ngasinye siveza ngokusobala ukuphithizela okwenzeka enkabeni yedolobha. Ngesitayela sakhe ‘sokusho kunjengoba’, lomthwebuli uveza inkaba yedolobha iTheku ngendlela ekhombisa ukubukela eduze okwenzeka khona kunokwabaningi, ukhule idolobha liyingxenye yezindawo abajwayele ukuthunywa kuzona ekhaya. Yingakho umsebenzi wakhe unomuzwa wokulangazelela, yilukuluku kanye nokuzwela okukhulu kombala. U-Jacob uhamba nabantu abashuthayo, ahamba kanye nabo eceleleni kwemigwaqo- nge lensi ka-23mm, kufanele uthi ukusondela kakhulu.
Imisebenzi ka-Swart kanye no-Jacob yomibili igqamisa izindawo ezinganakekile ezibeka ngokusobala uhlobo lwezithombe zasemgwaqeni. Kuseduze kangakanani okuseduze? Ngokubonakala kufana, kukude kangakanani okukude? Ezinkulumweni zomphakathi zangamuva, bobabili abathwebuli baveza ukuthi kukancane bethwebula abantu abasuke bedlula ngaphambi kwalapho ikhamera ibheke khona, kanti isikhathi esiningi lokho kuyiqiniso- imigwaqo yaseThwekwini akusiyona eyabantu abanezinhliziyo ezizwelayo. Uma uchitha isikhathi esiningi ubheka izithombe zika-Swart kanye no-Jacob, lilodwa igama elilokhu liqhamuka – ukufuna- igama eligqamayo. Umbhali nomlondolozi u-Simon Njami uchaza lokhu kufuna njengokuthi“[…] isifiso sokutshengisa umhlaba ukuthi sibubuka kanjani ubuntu bethu”, kanti “ Lologqozu lokuvuka njalo ekuseni, siphume siyobheka izithombe ezizochaza indaba esingakwazi ukuyigcina kithina[…]”. U-Swart no Jacob, abathwebuli ababili abanengobo yomlando obanzi waseThekwini nase KZN lesisifiso singephikwe.
2023-07-22 Abesifazane base Nkonzweni yaseZayoni Yamakhatholika, ku-Warwick Junction,
eThekwini,eKZN. uRory Jacobs.
2024-01-25 Umbala iKaleidoscope oshisayo wokwenzekayo enkabeni
Yedolobha eThekwini, eNkabeni yeTheku,eKZN. uRory Jacobs