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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South Africa
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 2000
A crowd passes by a guarded building.
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 2000
A woman and her daughter in conservative dress walk through town.
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 1999
Women weaving baskets on which fish are dried.
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 1999
Women weaving baskets on which fish are dried.
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 1999
A woman collects water from a communal tap in the Qwaqwa homeland. Under apartheid, homelands or 'bantustans' were areas reserved for the black population of South Africa.
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 1998
Himba woman in traditional dress, Epupa Falls.
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 1997
A women dressed in traditional costume dances in celebration of a CONTRALESA chief taking a seat in parliament.
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 1997
A Hutu woman and her children cover up a corpse.
UCT: University of Cape Town · 1 October 1992
A Red Cross worker visits families to determine the requirements for the distribution of food relief.
