COLOURED Blood Relatives
Catch a fascinating photography exhibition by Cedric Nunn at the Durban Art Gallery this month running from now until the 21 May. It’s a look at his identity as a Coloured person in South Africa and what it means in today’s society.
‘I am committed through my photographs, to contributing to societal change that will leave a positive legacy for the children of Africa’.
photographs by Cedric Nunn
5 April – 21 May 2006
The gallery has a fine collection of national and international artworks in all media. The focus is on contemporary South African artwork.
2nd Floor Smith Street, City Hall, Smith Street
(031) 3112264
These photographs are the result of a process of examination/investigation of the family and communities that shaped my identity as a so-called coloured in apartheid South Africa. Coloured has for me always been a difficult and contentious term. During the struggle we pre-fixed it with ‘so-called’ so as to leave people in no doubt as to who had coined the name.
My early burgeoning consciousness was at odds to understand how such a diverse grouping of people could be classified as one group. And why that group, so closely related to both black and white, should have to be separate.
South Africans of black and white parentage occupy a unique space in the world, moulded by racial bigotry and apartheid. The ‘coloured’ people themselves, who have bought into this myth of separation, now perpetuate this enforced separation.
This condition is not sustainable and certainly not desirable, and will be changed by future generations who grow up in a healthier and more accepting society. The people depicted are my blood relatives, and so also are all the peoples of South Africa.
Attached image 24. Amy Madhlawu Louw in conversation with her son Ronny. iVuna 2001
About Cedric Nunn
I began photography in the early eighties, my initial impetus being to document the realities of apartheid that I thought were being ignored by the mainstream media.
Therefore, my focus throughout has been on documenting social change, and in particular rural issues. At first as part of the Afrapix collective and agency which operated throughout the eighties, then independently, working mostly with NGO’s.
I have extensive experience in media, from newspapers, wire agencies, magazines, public relation companies through to corporate.
I have exhibited extensively, both locally and abroad.
I have been involved in many photography education projects, from workshops to being the director of the Market Photography Workshop. I currently mentor and supervise photography students.
I have been both judge and convener of the FUJI Press Photo Awards and am currently a judge on the Vodacom Awards.
