I thought I knew something about apartheid in South Africa – in the 1980s I went on student marches and signed petitions and boycotted South African produce – but this detailed and harrowing exhibition showed me that I was, in fact, shamefully ignorant of the full legal and social complexity, the extraordinary extent, and the terrible psychological impacts of this evil system on its Black victims.
Ernest Cole bio
Ernest Cole (1940 to 1990) was a Black South African who, despite all the barriers put in his way, turned himself into a documentary photographer of genius. In his early 20s he became South Africa’s first Black freelance photographer, working for publications like Drum magazine, the Rand Daily Mail and the Sunday Express.
But at the same time he was able to use the sophisticated equipment and opportunities of travelling all over the country on ‘official’ assignments, to document every aspect of the iniquitous apartheid system. By the mid-1960s Cole had amassed a huge portfolio of brilliantly evocative photos, categorised into 15 or so headings. Knowing none of these could be published in his home country, he left South Africa for New York in 1966 and, thanks to his professional CV and contacts, quickly got a book deal for his portfolio.
House of Bondage
The resulting book was titled ‘House of Bondage’ (1967) and became hugely influential, ‘one of the most significant photobooks of the twentieth century’. It’s divided into 15 themed chapters, each with an introduction to the topic and then each photo accompanied by a brief factual caption. These describe in unflinching detail how the interlocking laws of the apartheid system penetrated into every aspect of Black life, to suppress, control and humiliate.
‘Handcuffed Blacks were arrested for being in a white area illegally’ from ‘House of Bondage’ by Ernest Cole at the Photographers’ Gallery © Ernest Cole / Magnum Photos
‘House of Bondage’ first brought home to a Western readership the full horrors of the system; its photos were used in press and publicity campaigns against apartheid, not least by the African National Congress (ANC). It led to the founding of anti-apartheid organisations in London, which became a centre of anti-apartheid activity – as documented by pamphlets, articles and posters displayed in an alcove in this exhibition (drawn, we are told, from The Bishopsgate Institute Special Collections and Archives).
The alcove of anti-apartheid activism inspired by ‘House of Bondage’ at the Photographers’ Gallery (photo by the author)
The exhibition
But the lion’s share of this exhibition, in five or so rooms spread over the top two floors of the Photographers’ Gallery, is devoted to a 3-D recreation of the book. The show is divided into the original 15 themes, displaying the original text introducing each theme and then a selection of six or 8 or 10 photos from each topic, each accompanied by the original picture captions, with a couple blown up to wall size.
Installation view of ‘Ernest Cole: House of Bondage’ at the Photographers’ Gallery (photo by the author)
There are over 100 photos and the thing to emphasise is that, although they were obviously done for a blazingly good cause, all of the photos are brilliant in their own right. All are in black and white which, as we’ve commented so many times, instantly gives them a classy classic feel. But they are all brilliantly composed, framed and executed. Cole had a natural genius for the medium, which had been honed to perfection by his work for commercial magazines (and there’s a display of his photos for anodyne spreads in Drum magazine and suchlike), a complete professional control of his craft which means every photo makes its mark.
15 themes
The 15 themes are:
- The Quality of Repression
- The Mines
- Police and Passes
- Black Spots
- Nightmare Rides
- The Cheap Servant
- For Whites Only
- Below Subsistence
- Education For Servitude
- Hospital Care
- Heirs of Poverty
- Shebeens and Bantu Beer
- The Consolation of Religion
- African Middle Class
- Banishment
It’s tempting to write a summary of some or even all of the themes and include one photo per theme but that might be too much for me to do and a reader to process. And anyway, you can read the original texts for all 15 themes, written by Cole himself, on the PG website. Go to the source. But it’s worth quoting his overall introduction which comes under the first theme, The Quality of Repression:
It is an extraordinary experience to live as though life were a punishment for being Black.
No day passes without a reminder of your guilt, a rebuke to your condition, and the risk of trouble for transgressing laws devised exclusively for your repression.
Some of these are merely petty and mean-spirited, others terrible in their severity and injustice.
They deny the small comforts of a park bench and a drinking fountain, they make essential permits subject to the caprice of hard-eyed bureaucrats, and they countenance imprisonment without charges, drumhead justice, and political exile.
As you read the introductions and then process each of the vivid photographs you find yourself drawn deeper and deeper into an unimaginable hell, a society devoting all its energies to limiting, proscribing and stunting the lives of most of its population, giving only the minimum education necessary for slaves and servants, offering the minimum possible medical care, subjecting all Blacks to arbitrary arrest on the streets for failing to have the correct paperwork, forcing them to commute large distances on unreliable overcrowded trains, subject to humiliation everywhere, from the intimate cowing and ordering of domestic servants to random abuse in the streets.
Standout images
In ‘The Mines’ section, there’s a picture of a row of young Black men forced to strip naked and face the wall as part of the inspection-for-work process.
‘During group medical examination the nude men are herded through a string of doctors’ offices’ from ‘House of Bondage’ by Ernest Cole at the Photographers’ Gallery © Ernest Cole / Magnum Photos
In ‘Education for Servitude’, a small Black boy streaming with sweat as he struggles to follow the lesson given in a poverty-stricken school with no desks or chairs and barely enough pencils and paper for the 100 pupils in every class.
‘Earnest boy squats on haunches and strains to follow lesson in heat of packed classroom’ from ‘House of Bondage’ by Ernest Cole at the Photographers’ Gallery © Ernest Cole / Magnum Photos
In the ‘For Whites Only’ section, an archetypal image of a prim white woman on a park bench marked ‘Europeans Only’ while a Black gardener works in the background.
‘Europeans Only’ from ‘House of Bondage’ by Ernest Cole at the Photographers’ Gallery © Ernest Cole / Magnum Photos
And the shocking photo of a group of pitiful Black kids in rags begging in the street and a smartly turned-out middle-aged white man just casually slapping one of the boys in the face – because he could, because there was no fear of comeback or criticism.
‘Penny baas, please, baas, I hungry…’ This plaint is part of nightly scene in the Golden City, as Black boys beg from whites. They may be thrown a coin, or… they may get slapped in the face – from ‘House of Bondage’ by Ernest Cole at the Photographers’ Gallery © Ernest Cole / Magnum Photos
Image after image after image demonstrates with stark graphicness the way every aspect of the system victimised and humiliated Blacks everywhere. The only ways out of this hell were 1) ‘The Consolation of Religion’ which Cole documents with fascinating images of not just revivalist Christian preachers and baptism ceremonies, but survivals of the older African beliefs and practices. Or 2) to get drunk, as amply demonstrated in the section ‘Shebeens and Bantu Beer’, documenting how only the cheapest alcohol was sold to Blacks, who often resorted to making their own in illegal stills with the inevitable consequences of alcoholism and further impoverishment.
‘After a few drinks, young mother begins to sag’ from ‘House of Bondage’ by Ernest Cole at the Photographers’ Gallery © Ernest Cole / Magnum Photos
Black ingenuity
Cole seems to have drafted a final section for ‘House of Bondage’, loosely titled ‘Black Ingenuity’. The idea was to counter the negative images which throng the rest of the book with uplifting images of how Black South Africans overcame the horrible odds to express their talents and creativity. These include photos of musicians playing various instruments, boxers and sportsmen, and some stylishly dressed dancers grooving in a dancehall. Many were shot at Dorkay House, the home of the African Music and Drama Association and the Union of South African Artists.
Determination against the atrocious odds in ‘House of Bondage’ by Ernest Cole at the Photographers’ Gallery © Ernest Cole / Magnum Photos
You can see why he wouldn’t want to paint a picture of unrelenting servitude and to balance it with images of triumph against the odds but, in the end, this section wasn’t included in the final book. It was felt to be ground-breaking enough to introduce uninitiated readers to the horrors of apartheid without complicating the message with nuance and complexity.
But the exhibition ends with this 16th section which never made the book, displaying prints of the photos Cole had listed for inclusion, and giving the harrowed visitor inspiring examples of hope and achievement against terrible odds. Thank God!
Film: The Story of An Anti-Apartheid Activist
The Story of An Anti-Apartheid Activist: Ernest Cole (2006), directed by Jürgen Schadeberg:
Promotional video for this exhibition
House of Bondage for sale
The exhibition has partly been triggered by the republication of ‘House of Bondage’ as a replica of the original book, except (as you might expect) with a modern introduction and the missing 16th chapter now included. You can buy it via the TPG website and support the gallery’s work – it’s a staggering experience.
Autograph
There is currently another Ernest Cole exhibition on in London. The exhibition at the Autograph gallery over in Shoreditch focuses on the photographs Cole took of Black life in America after he fled South Africa for New York, where he captured thousands of evocative images of Harlem street life in the later 1960s and ’70s.
N.B. The Autograph exhibition is FREE, but then it only costs £8 (a fiver if you’re over 60) to get into the Photographers’ Gallery. Both are outstanding exhibitions and well worth a visit.
Related links
- Ernest Cole: House of Bondage continues at the Photographers’ Gallery until 22 September 2024
- Ernest Cole: A Lens in Exile is at Autograph until 12 October 2024
Books & Boots 