The University of Cape Town Photographs and Images Collection
University of Cape Town
The photographic archive in Special Collections has material that spans a period from the inception of photography to the present day, from fragile prints to digital format. Fox Talbot’s Pencil of Nature is a rare body of work that found its way to the African continent. Many of the early photographs are of Cape Town and its surrounds, reflecting its architecture, environment, and the city’s early development. There is also a considerable archive reflecting UCT’s memory and history. The archive houses social history and anthropology collections of Bleek and Lloyd, Hunter-Wilson and Martin West. New material from the 1950s to contemporary times includes the archives of Jürgen Schadeberg and Ernest Cole. Other seminal collections complement the early historic images: The Cordoned Heart, an investigation into poverty and development; Beyond the Barricades, an anthology documenting resistance to apartheid; the Staffrider exhibitions; as well as photographers such as Guy Tillim, Greg Marinovich, Cedric Nunn, George Hallett, Paul Grendon, Chris Ledochowski, Graeme Williams, and others. We are also engaged in projects that aim to keep the archive alive and in conversation with the South African heritage and memory: Underexposed is a collection of highly significant but off-the-radar photographers; The Other Camera is an anthology of vernacular photography; while the Ernest Cole Award supports contemporary South African photography.
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UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 2012
�Bhele� Tholakele Dlunga was tortured by police while in custody as part of what seems to be a systematic intimidation campaign against witnesses to the Marikana Massacre, Wonderkop, Marikana, 2012.
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 2012
Yellow paint marks made by investigators indicate where the bodies of some of the 34 men killed by police were recovered by forensics at Nkanini, Marikana, 2012. Some of the …
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 2010
Members of one of the many African Zionist Churches purify themselves in a stream to mark the start of the new year, Soweto, 2010.
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 2007
Zimbabwean teenagers, Tareiro Mbudzi, 19 (front, in red and blue) and Obey Sithole (rear), climb over the third and last fence from Zimbabwe to South Africa in their attempt to …
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 2007
Photographic studio, Angelo settlement, Main Reef Road, Johannesburg, 2007.
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 2006
Zimbabwean craft sellers, Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. 2006
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 2004
Small-scale fishermen launching a boat from the beach in Paternoster in the Western Cape.
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 2004
Small-scale fishermen heading back to shore, Paternoster, Western Cape.
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 2004
Restaurant in Paternoster in the Western Cape.
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 2004
Small-scale fishermen attend a fishing imbizo in Saldanha Bay.