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Indictment of a society corroded by racial discrimination and injustice
A new exhibition demonstrates why photographer David Goldblatt became an iconic documentarist of the apartheid system, says JOHN GREEN
ICONIC: Baby with child-minders and dogs in Hillbrow park, 1972 and young man at home, Soweto, 1972

SOUTH AFRICAN photographer David Goldblatt, who died in 2018, was not an activist in the usual understanding of the word and saw his work in terms of reflecting reality rather than as direct political engagement. Yet his photos leave the viewer in no doubt about where his sympathies lie.

Renowned for a lifetime of photography exploring his home country, Goldblatt produced an unparalleled body of work within the city of Johannesburg, where he lived for 50 years.

Aged 17, Goldblatt would hitchhike from Randfontein, the small mining town where he was born, into the city where he walked around until the next morning, talking to night watchmen and following his intuition. This process became the foundation of his practice.

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