In the 1980s, South Africa’s Anti-Apartheid movement was gaining traction. Throughout the country, and across the world, a broad coalition of students, trade unionists, churches, political parties and community organisations called for an end to the regime. Apartheid, a system of systemic racial segregation and white minority rule, had been enforced by the National Party government since 1948. The system would eventually fall in 1994, with Nelson Mandela becoming the first president elected in a fully representative democratic election. It was during these turbulent, transformative decades that photographer Jillian Edelstein began working, documenting people, communities and contemporary history with a distinctive combination of empathy, curiosity and psychological insight.
Still, Edinburgh, presents the first major survey of the internationally renowned artist. The retrospective is perhaps long overdue, considering her enduring legacy over the past four decades. Among People sets this right, offering audiences the opportunity to experience the breadth of Edelstein’s practice for the first time. Bringing together previously unseen early photographs from South Africa alongside globally recognised editorial commissions, portrait series and documentary projects, the exhibition traces the development of one of the most compelling photographic voices of the 20th century. Curator Tracy Marshall-Grant: “Jillian Edelstein’s work has a remarkable ability to move between intimate human encounters and wider social histories. Across very different projects and decades, there is a consistent curiosity about people, relationships and community life. Among People brings together the breadth of her work for the first time and reveals the depth of her engagement with the people she photographs.”
The exhibition begins with Edelstein’s early work in South Africa, during the final years of Apartheid, where she worked as a press photographer in Johannesburg in the early 1980s. Alongside documenting political tensions and public events, Edelstein photographed the quieter social worlds around her; beaches, clubs, bars, rituals and community events, observing how ordinary life unfolded within the structures of Apartheid. The show includes a number of rarely seen early works, including Pinelands Bowling Club Ladies (1981), which reflects the artist’s longstanding interest in communities and shared social spaces. These early pieces contain many of the qualities that would come to define her later work – close observation and an instinctive attentiveness to people and everyday life.
A standout moment of Among People is Truth and Lies, Edelstein’s landmark photographic project documenting South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, following the end of Apartheid. Commissioned by The New York Times Magazine, she travelled across the country, photographing individuals who came forward to testify about human rights abuses committed during the regime. In the first two years of the commission, more than 20,000 victims made statements to the commissioners and, encouraged by the possibility of amnesty, some 7,000 perpetrators came forward to confess their crimes. Perhaps the most moving image of the series is of Bishop Desmond Tutu, chairman of the commission, with his head resting on his hands. The burden of such a huge task, and the exhaustion of witnessing so much pain, is almost palpable. The project is one of the most powerful visual records of this historic process.
Among People, presented as part of Edinburgh Art Festival, is a major and vital exhibition. Edelstein says that: “Looking back across these photographs, I’m struck by how much my work has been shaped by my early engagements or interactions with inequality and subjugation, one asserting an unjust superiority over another. This exhibition brings together many parts of my life that began with those early personal encounters.” The show shines a light on photography as a tool for social justice, and reminds us what is possible when we view the world, and each other, with empathy and curiosity.
Among People is at Stills, Edinburgh from 31 July – 24 October: stills.org
Words: Emma Jacob
Image Credits:
1&5. Jillian Edelstein, Desmond Tutu, Truth and Reconciliation Commission series 1996-2001.
2. Jillian Edelstein, Pinelands bowling ladies.
3. Jillian Edelstein, Sitting on a truck, Cape Town.
4. Jillian Edelstein, Josephine Msweli, Truth and Reconciliation Commission series 1996-2001.
