doing her/his thang

dexterity

 

 

above: Ntombi Mbambo posted on YouTube by Konstant515

"For half a century photography has been the "art form" of the untalented. Obviously some pictures are more satisfactory than others, but where is credit due? to the designer of the camera? To the finger on the button? To the law of averages?" 

Gore Vidal: American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist

accessed from http://www.photoquotes.com/showquotes.aspx?id=287&name=Vidal%20,Gore#931 

•

During my time in the department, I have come to know of students who show artistry in other area's. Some students have been Olympic synchronised swimmers (derryn 2006), Kwazulu Natalian cyclists (bronwen 2009) South African ice hockey representatives (kristyn 2011). There are/were pastry chefs (dena 2011), musicians (sibonisa 2012) wanna be musicians (siya ndlovu * wink wink 2012), poets (lelo, gcobisa, lindy 2010/2012) and  dancers (se below) ...  ...  ... and so much more TALENT to be discovered in the department, besides photography. 

This post is dedicated to showcasing students with other 'gifts'. 

Let me know via email if you know of a student who I can showcase. Simanga (aka Konstant) from first year posted these two YouTube videos of Ntombi and Monde doing their thang's outside the department in November 2011 (end of portfolio hand in!)... 

 

above: Monde Ngcobo posted on YouTube by Konstant515

C=:-)

*chef

the advantages of Documentary

*

(wink wink)

eating 'the towel' with the president

from Mbuyi's phone

Mbuyi Ndolvu [MN], completed his 3rd year last year and he has been keeping in contact with me on 'whatsapp'. Mbuyi is currently working for "Roads and Safety', photographing accident scenes etc.  MN comes from Eshowe, the place where I was born and where I went to school... so we have a kinship_ we are 'brother' and 'sister' despite our skin tones (wink wink). He loves to tease me about eating 'the towel'_ and he loves to eat. See our conversation below, dated 2/26/2012.

 19:49: P3Mbuyi: Unjani ke sisi wami ?

 20:11: ME : Ngiyaphila_ wena? I have had a wonderful weekend_ how was urs?

 20:13: P3Mbuyi: I also had a wonderful weekend I was at home eating the Towel

 20:13: ME: What's a towel? Is it that thing u take to the beach?

 20:19: P3Mbuyi: Ha ha ha ha ha the Towel is the inside of the cow nje they clean it nicely and boil it

So in true Google style I have found an image for those people like me who still need to learn about 'the towel' ...439000 results in 19 sec!

The reason I have blogged this conversation is that I 'love' how Mbuyi has made time to follow his passion in Documentary Photography and I am 'excited' by how his previous undertakings in Photography have lead him to have 'lunch' (wink wink) with President Zuma. How much is 'true' and 'photoshopped' (wink wink)_ only Mbuyi (who ... by the way...loves to streeeeetch the truth) will know. 

This is what Mbuyi said: "Hey Liza I was at home for a weekend so on sunday I decided to go and shoot my documentary since its been a while, which was my specialist @tech. I went to nkandla, 50 km from my  Eshowe home and 237km from Durban.  So the bodyguards of the President knew me from shooting doccie in government events  and they invited me for lunch with the president. He wished me luck for my career and we had lunch, which was tripe, dombolo and Nhloko (which is the head of the cow) and I asked to shoot with him."

• 

And then... my random brain started to think about actually (wink wink)  trying 'the towel'  and how this would certainly be a new experience for me_ one where culturally I dabble... 

©liza • Qwahumbe • Feb 20102

And then my random brain thought of Wenger (2000:233), the 'Community of Practice' 'guru' (wink wink)... the guy I read about for my Masters. He says (<3):   “there is something disquieting, humbling at times, yet exciting and attractive about such close encounters with the unknown, with the mystery of otherness: a chance to explore the edge of your competence, learn something new, revisit your little truths and perhaps expand your horizon.” 

*-*

(dazed)

4am

"At 4 in the morning Photography takes on
a new meaning"

Paulo Menezes (year1)

Sent via OUR BlackBerry's from Cyberspace- let our emails find you!

  I checked 'recent updates' on my bbm @ about 6am this morning. The quote above was Paulo Menezes's status. It caught my attention _ especially the 'new meaning' part, so I asked Paulo to share his experience with me via email/bb so that I could share it with you.

• 

 This is what Paulo wrote about 'new meaning': 

building 1

building 2

"Well, every time I shoot at sunrise (which should be more frequent) its a surreal experience. The rate at which light changes and the changes it brings about on the subjects is amazing. I think I was also grabbed by the nature of the building -how IT, as well as the light had the power to span/transport one back to previous architectural era's (see above).  I would say that my bbm status was mainly based on me witnessing the transition between 3am and 6am, between which a series of images were captured, and how this change is not merely a time lapse but potentially a laps through time itself.

Here is PM's Blurb about his 'experience' and 'thinking': 

"Yesterday I tagged along with my mom to Umhlanga in search of a 'photograph-able' building for the 'Architecture' part of my portfolio. Prior to this, I had had no luck in the Durban area - I found it very cramped and couldn't seem to find a suitable vantage point to correctly photograph a building, which is a pity 'cuz Durban has really beautiful structures (I think I need to further develop my skill in this department). So, I headed to Umhlanga with a modern building in mind (either Coastlands Hotel or one of the many office buildings in the area). 

building 3

 As I did not plan this trip (my mom had to drop off a document to clients in the area), I found myself setting up my tripod at 12 o' clock, not ideal as the sun had just come out of it's week-long hiding and was very harsh. This made exposure very difficult, with either silhouetted buildings or over-exposed skies. On the way back, we passed the Moses Mabhida stadium. I saw a small building on the outer fields surrounding the stadium which caught my eye... Which brings me to this morning (excuse the extensive intro). SO, I had planned to get up at about 5/5:30am - forgetting that summer is here and the sun rises much earlier. Luckily I had visited WeatherSA last night, after which I found myself setting my alarm clock to 3:45am (uncharted territory for both me and my bedside clock). I headed down to the stadium and got there at about 4:30am this morning. The sun hadn't risen yet but it was still fairly bright. I got to the building that I had seen and set up. It was a short wait for the first light to fall on the glass front at about 4:45/50'ish. And...well, the rest of the story lies in the images..


Attached:
1 - The building, just below the south end of the stadium.
2 - I altered the colours slightly to enhance a feeling of 'The Great Gatsby' or '1970's New York' that I immediately felt as I framed the shot through the viewfinder (I hope I have the right era).
3 - I couldn't help swivelling my tripod head toward the stadium as it takes on a pink tint for a few minutes of the day.

•

see more of PM's images on his blog_ click below

buka lapha

☕

Tribe_3 /_4 exhibition

bye-bye, hamba gahle,  tsimaya sintle,  bye, farewell, adieu, au revoir, ciao, adios, voorspoed,  so long, see you later,  sayonara; bon voyage; cheers; informal toodle-oo,   
see you...

Sabelo sent me these images yesterday_ I wanted to make my own post on saying goodbye to the Third years and to Lauren and Deseree (Tribe_4). Try to get to see the exhibition currently held @ the DUT Art Gallery> its up for a week_ remember to leave a comment in the guest book.

 Also see Nicole's post below_click below.

http://nicolemeiringphotography.blogspot.com/

 •

I am going to put in 2 quotes from http://www.quotegarden.com.  
They say what I feel_better than me.  

Let my blackberry take you back... top left window

  

((1))

 Gone - flitted away,
Taken the stars from the night and the sun
From the day!
Gone, and a cloud in my heart.
Alfred Tennyson

 ((2))

 Some people come into our lives and quickly go.  

Some stay for a while, 

leave footprints on our hearts, 

and we are never, ever the same.  

Flavia Weedn

 •

  lots <3

be well • do good • keep in touch osmosisSTYLE

☕ 

KMM: Cedric Nunn

Convergence

the process or state of converging

coming together from different directions so as eventually to meet

 an exhibition of Photographs 

by Cedric Nunn

@ Kwa Muhle Museum

screenshot Google maps

 CN says: "Exhibitions are and remain to be an important platform for photographers and artists to project an extended essay of images which when placed in that body and context are able to make a particular statement otherwise not possible through the normal commercial outlets."

Then & Now

The image above from a series of works from exhibition THEN & NOW  ---> held @ the DAG in 2007. This exhibition was comprised of black/white and color photographs • 8 South African documentary photographers • 20  photographs each •  10 made under apartheid • 10 photographs made after democratic elections of 1994. 

☕

KZNSA: Angela Buckland

TURN (our) GAZE INWARDS

On www.dut.ac.za,  Vice Chancellor Bawa states: "My decision to suspend the academic programme on Monday 25 July is underpinned by the need to put in place measures that will ensure that the University returns to a state of sustainable peace and stability – without which the pursuit of knowledge is impossible. "  

---> background to the student protests and suspension of the academic programme.

buka lapha 1

  •

... and YES the 

academic programme has been suspended indefinately till further notice

however 

that doesn't mean one should not take the opportunity to "pursuit knowledge" independently_ get to the Galleries... gather your peers, friend and camera... go explore all things Photographic.

 •

 

Angela Buckland [AB]

www.artthrob.co.za

One of the recent exhibitions @ the KZNSA features the photographic works of Durban Photographer, Angela Buckland.  Over the years, AB focus has shifted. In her earlier work she observed, responded and commented on the outer world; but the realities of being a mother has turned her gaze inwards...

---> to view AB's other exhibitions 

buka lapha 2

AB's recent exhibition entitled: LOCATION - Block A, Thokoza Women’s Hostel is an installation comprised of 700 small  photographs and is on show from 26 July - 20 August 2011.

www.nsagallery.co.za

www.nsagallery.co.za

---> to view more thumbnails of recent exhibition

buka lapha 3

BLURB from AB (sourced from www.nsagallery.co.za): 

"Thokoza Women's hostel was the first African women's hostel built in 1925 in South Africa.This new work is the sister version of a previous work completed in 2002, the oldest men's hostel in Durban, Block A, Jacobs Men's Hostel. I have been drawn to these environments because of their unnatural and complex histories. I am interested by detail, emblematic of a universal need to humanize space. I have photographed each and every resident's bed or some artefact in their bed space. The photographic strategy adopted for both artworks was to take one frame within a couple of seconds and record a trace that marks some form of humanity..." 

---> to continue reading...

buka lapha 4

•

GLOSSARY

What does humanity and 'to' humanize mean?

...these words refer to the human race • human beings collectively • the fact or condition of being human • human nature • care • dignity • kindness • brotherly love • charity • understanding • sympathy •  

human culture (literature, history, art, music, and philosophy)

trace:

to find or discover by investigation
• find or describe the origin/development of • follow or mark the course or position of (something) with one's eye, mind, or finger

• 

?'s 2u

How do these photographic works record a trace that marks some form of humanity? 

What elements in these photographs would consider to be a trace? 

☕

Ernest Cole: Unalterable Blackness

 ERNEST COLE 

You may escape, but you carry your prison smell with you 

Ernest Cole (Newbury 2009:174)

Mac Photobooth

The book "Defiant Images" by Darren Newbury [DN], was  shared with me. This book has one chapter dedicated to and makes commentary on Ernest Cole's [EC] "House of Bondage" book. My reading of this chapter has inspired the writings for this blog post. I ask my 'followers' to please read EC's bio by clicking on 'buka lapha'. This link has been retrieved from Omar Badsha's site: SA History Online.

buka lapha

Newbury states that the House of Bondage [HoB] is a visual record, supported by accompanying text,  of the oppressed conditions of the majority of people living during Apartheid (2009:174)_ "a damning visual critique" (2009:207). DN lists these conditions as:

• dehumanization (depriving human qualities) of the black population
• the dislocation (disturbance from usual place/injury) of families
• the distortion (pull or twist out of shape, mislead, false) of black society and culture

Newbury adds that this book is also a commentary on photography itself and an "affirmation of EC's existence". The ability as a "black South African to create a body of work in spite of the restrictions of apartheid" (2009:174) . Newbury further states, that for EC, being in exile, it was a subtext (an underlying theme) to answer a personal question that EC faced, that being: "How to free oneself from apartheid?"(2009:174)

The HoB contains 183 photographs organized into 14 sections.

1. The Mines
2. Police and Passes
3. Black Spots
4. Nightmare Rides
5. The Cheap Servant
6. For Whites Only
7. Below Subsistence
8. Education for the Servitude
9. Hospital Care
10. Heirs of Poverty
11. Shebeens and Bantu Beer
12. The Consolation of Religion
13. African Middle Class
14. Banishment

 •

TEXT and IMAGES

EC according to Newbury, was from a generation of Photographers who "believed in the autonomy (on it's own/independant) of the image and it's ability to communicate across cultural boundries" (2009:185), but Newbury says that leaving the "images to speak for themselves would have left the meaning too much to chance and given the audience too much to work with" (2009:205). Bear in mind that the audience was a Western audience as this book was banned in South Africa.

Please note: all images used below have been resourced from http://www.joburg.org.za/culture/museums-galleries/jag/ernest-cole-photographer and the captions are the text from EC's book "House of Bondage' [HoB].

Caption unknown: young boys playing

During group medical examination the nude men are herded through a string of doctors’ offices.

Which black train to take is matter of guesswork. They have no destination signs and no announcement of arrivals is made. Head car may be numbered to show its route, but number is often wrong. In confusion, passengers sometimes jump across track, and some are killed by express trains

•

 3 relevant questions asked by Newbury

• 1. Would EC have produced the same book had he been able to publish his works freely in South Africa?
• 2. To what extent is the HoB an authentic expression of EC's voice as a black South African (2009:205)? 
• 3. To what extent can HoB be read as a critique of the photographic tradition from which it emerged and was embraced (2009:205)?

During a “swoop,” police are everywhere, checking passes. Young boy is stopped for his pass as white plainclothesman looks on. Checks go on in the townships, too.

In relation to the above questions posed by Newbury, it is interesting but extreemly sad,to read an insert from EC's letter, written to the Swedish immigration authorities, as it exemplifies those questions. EC writes(2009:209):  
" Recording TRUTH at whatever the costs is one thing, but finding oneself having to live a lifetime of being the chronicler of misery, injustice and callousness is another...but the total man does not live by one experience. He is molded and shaped by the diversity of other experiences into some form of the whole man". 



Unfortunately EC never managed to escape the issue of race and develop his own works in a new direction. In the early 70's it was reported that he suffered from mental health problems, and was periodically homeless and in 1990 died 'exiled' in a New York hospital from cancer.

 ☕

FURTHER READING:
Book list_sourced from Wikipedia/ Books with 's have been order for ML Sultan Library

• House of Bondage, Random House, 1967, ISBN 0-394-42935-4

• Defiant Images: Photography and Apartheid South Africa, Darren Newbury, University of South Africa (UNISA) Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-86888-523-7 (see Chapter 4. An 'unalterable blackness': Ernest Cole's House of Bondage)

• The Photographer, Ernest Cole, Steidl, 2010, ISBN 978-3869301372

GOOGLE BOOKMARKS list_thank-you to Nirmi Ziegler for sharing links.

View this list<https://www.google.com/bookmarks/l?threadID=Gne7DpsJTtLU/BDZco3woQso_FwJIm


OTHER BLOG posts_seminar exhibition

http://osmosisliza.blogspot.com/2011/07/seminar-ernest-cole.html 

 ☕☕

Mandela Day_ 67 minutes

ubuntu 
 umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu

eurweb.com

a person is a person through (other) persons

respect HELPFULNESS sharing COMMUNITY trust UNSELFISHNESS caring

I attended a keynote address by Proffesor Jack Whitehead today here @ DUT, where JACK spent his 67 minutes speaking of UBUNTU [I am because we are] and those persons who practiced Ubuntu. I wanted to share and spread knowledge of Ubuntu with you.

Below a video of Mandela explaining Ubuntu 

Archbishop Desmond Tutu says:

samanthasteele.wordpress.com

" A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed [1999]  One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu – the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality – Ubuntu – you are known for your generosity. We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.

Nelson Mandela is a personification [embodiment, symbol, model, representation] of Ubuntu, and globally inspires tolerance and humanity.

Notes for Jack Whitehead's Mandela Day Lecture on the 18th July in Durban, South Africa> http://www.actionresearch.net/

Nelson Mandela says: " I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear". 

For more quotes  buka lapha

Hapqy Hapqy Birthday Madiba
93

It took me 67 min to make this blog post. 

What did you do with your 67 mins today?

☕

Lolo Veleko

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder 

Nontsikelelo [Lolo] Veleko's [LV] funky street fashion portraits captured on the streets of Johannesburg. Memorable and powerful, LV's images pose questions around how identity is perceived, and often assumed, and at the same time of how her subjects use their clothes to construct their guises of identity.

http://www.artthrob.co.za/05editions/profile012.html

buka lapha 1

buka lapha 2

 ☕

vegetarians DO NOT look

ambiˈgyoō-itē

ambiguity_ambigious 

DEFINED by MAC DICTIONARY as: uncertainty or inexactness of meaning in language • a lack of decisiveness or commitment resulting from a failure to make a choice between alternatives• double meaning • unclear • obscure

I have been hounding Mbuyi 'Trinity' Ndlovu _ my 'other' brother from my birth town Eshowe, (click to see place I was born on Google Maps) for a long time for this image_ and even Sakhile (his good friend) has been avoiding me_ incase I  begin harass him about where to find Mbuyi. It was hard work, and even though I also got myself in a sticky and rather embarrassing situation (yes I went red) when I made an attempt to answer a question conversed to me in Zulu, about receiving the image, and then tried to answer back in Zulu...I was adamant to blog this.  Ironically double meanings or ambiguities implied in words can also be prevalent in images... and this is exactly what drew me to  Mbuyi's photograph in the first place. 

•

Besides the visual power of this image_ it's 'rawness' (excuse the pun) and it's specific 'documentary style/reference' to cultural ritual and custom, that are not of my culture.  I (a white female, unmarried and a former vegetarian) also find myself intrigued by other things. For instance_I am mostly captivated by the ambiguity of the form [which has come about by the angle of view], it monumental size [which has been accentuated by close framing and its central placing] and the contrasts of colour and textures (red meat on green grass on brown soil). I am also held by the many narratives that are present in the image, the onlookers, the gatherer and the slaughterer_ all male.  I find my eye wondering around watching all the activity but at the same time coming back to the red shape and form, with splayed legs_ looking rather vulnerable and completely helpless. Even though I know what it, and can make my own associations, I always find myself back in a 'space' where I experience mixed feelings or contradictory ideas (ambivalence) about elements and actions in and around the photograph.  I am unconvinced by my own assumptions and feel uncertain about myself in relation to what my eyes show me... Is this due to my cultural make-up as I am challenged by another culture? Is this image ambiguous to me because of me?

Mbuyi emailed me this 'blurb' about his image: "I shot this image when I was at the rural areas of Eshowe, a place called Mbongolwane.  The reason I shot this image is to show people that Pick n Pay or Woolworths don't manufacture red meat, they just provide the price tag. Red meat comes from a cow.  This cow was slaughted for a wedding and it was killed by the bride. It is the culture of the Zulus."

I spoke to Mbuyi about his 'blurb'_ he told me that the bride is given the knife to make the first 'kill' (hard to find the right word) by the male elders of her husband-to-be's family, as a symbolic gesture to welcome her into their family.

Can anyone else make further comment on the ritual/ceremony that has taken place or simply share what you see or feel?