[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.33,0:00:27.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,DAVID GOLDBLATT: The camera is a very strange instrument.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:30.32,0:00:33.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It demands first of all, that you see coherently,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.90,0:00:41.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it makes it possible for you to enter into\Nworlds, and places, and associations,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:41.16,0:00:43.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that would otherwise be very difficult to do.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.66,0:00:57.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Being a photographer is a wonderful thing, really.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.07,0:01:03.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm not tied to any place.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:04.83,0:01:06.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can go and come as I like.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:10.05,0:01:10.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's wonderful.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.14,0:01:18.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My childhood years in Johannesburg were very\Nhappy.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:19.45,0:01:21.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We enjoyed an enormous amount of freedom.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.91,0:01:29.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We would ride our bicycles all over the Randfontein Estates, which was the goldmine around the town,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.48,0:01:33.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we could explore the mines to a\Ngreat degree.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:36.21,0:01:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a brutal landscape, it's very bare, bleak,\Nwe don't have a sea, we don’t have a big river.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:42.46,0:01:46.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We just had these rather dull and uninteresting spaces.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:48.05,0:01:52.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think there was a kind of osmosis taking\Nplace in me,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.41,0:01:56.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I became organically related to the place.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:59.63,0:02:04.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,On the one hand, I want to photograph the land.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.20,0:02:08.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Land, in a very broad sense.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.15,0:02:15.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,On the other hand, I'm fascinated by our structures\Nas declarations of value.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.21,0:02:25.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm too late for this photograph, the trees\Nare already in leaf.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:26.47,0:02:27.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I’m going to try.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.40,0:02:28.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Let's have a look.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.11,0:02:36.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It seems to me that the style of architecture\Nthat is emerging to the north of Johannesburg,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.64,0:02:40.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is a kind of an aggressive materialism.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.15,0:02:53.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In this country, because of the nakedness,\Nalmost, of the struggles that took place between
Dialogue: 0,0:02:53.97,0:02:55.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,black and white,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:55.40,0:03:02.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the structures that emerged were amazingly\Nclear demonstrations of value systems.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.57,0:03:07.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,White Afrikaner Protestant churches are those\Nthat I think of particularly.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.34,0:03:13.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Their churches had these huge windows and\Nthis mega phonic structure,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:14.17,0:03:20.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,come the 1970s the forces of liberation are\Ncoming down to South Africa,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.46,0:03:23.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,increasingly impinging on Afrikaners.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.19,0:03:28.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, their new churches become defensive.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:29.88,0:03:33.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are very few of them built with piercings\Nin the outer walls.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:35.10,0:03:40.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Public structures become clear manifestations\Nto self-image.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:45.08,0:03:51.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Look at this, look at this, huge building,\Nbut at least this has got a certain amount
Dialogue: 0,0:03:51.13,0:03:53.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of movement.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:01.31,0:04:02.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That’s a Hasselblad.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:04.11,0:04:09.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Famous, very expensive, beautifully built box.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:10.46,0:04:16.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My brother Dan would come back from somewhere\Nin the world and bring little miniature cameras.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:17.24,0:04:21.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He brought back from one of his voyages a\NContax camera.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:21.45,0:04:24.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Contax was the Zeiss equivalent of the\NLeica.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:24.81,0:04:29.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was a great camera, but this particular\None had been severely damaged.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:29.77,0:04:33.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don't know what its history was during the\Nwar, but when it eventually reached Randfontein,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:33.51,0:04:38.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was a very sick camera, but I tried to\Ndo some photography with it.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:39.71,0:04:45.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I matriculated in '48, I certainly had\Na strong wish to become a magazine photographer.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:46.51,0:04:51.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“Life” and “Look from America,” “Picture\NPost” from England were the
Dialogue: 0,0:04:51.48,0:04:54.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,window on the world for millions.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:55.46,0:05:04.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1952, I think it was, the apartheid government\Nhad begun to put its ideology in place and
Dialogue: 0,0:05:04.60,0:05:10.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one of the first steps was to separate the\Nraces in public amenities.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:12.00,0:05:19.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I did a short strip of film of a black man\Ngoing up and then being turned back by a black policeman.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:19.69,0:05:24.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He had been accustomed to taking that route\Ninto the Johannesburg railway station and
Dialogue: 0,0:05:24.66,0:05:26.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,suddenly he was not allowed to.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:26.62,0:05:31.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I sent a strip of those photographs to\N“Picture Post” to the editor.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:31.76,0:05:33.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was politely rejected.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:36.62,0:05:42.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I tried to do a magazine story about the men\Nwho worked on top of the mine dumps around
Dialogue: 0,0:05:42.44,0:05:43.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our town.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:45.00,0:05:49.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These men worked right through the year, every\Nday and night,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:49.91,0:05:55.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no matter what the conditions, dealing with\Nthe waste of the milling operation.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:56.71,0:06:00.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We were subjecting these men to a terrible\Nexistence.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:01.24,0:06:03.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It is freezing cold on the top of those dumps\Nin winter.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:07.50,0:06:08.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here's an old dump.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:09.71,0:06:13.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's been covered in grass to keep down the dust.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:16.43,0:06:25.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Black miners could not rise beyond the level\Nof what were known as boss boys or team leaders.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:26.46,0:06:28.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Of course, they were not boys, they were men.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:30.91,0:06:36.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In order to rise above that level, you had\Nto have a blasting certificate,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:36.44,0:06:41.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and this was a method that was used by the\Nwhite trade unions to ensure that
Dialogue: 0,0:06:41.46,0:06:47.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,only whites could go into the upper echelons\Nof the mining hierarchy.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:52.65,0:06:54.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If one wanted to look at this society,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:54.90,0:07:01.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you had to grasp the nature of white Afrikaner\Nlife and ideology.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:05.00,0:07:13.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Afrikaners were descended from the Dutch\Nand French Huguenot, and German, Scotch, early,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:13.50,0:07:15.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,early settlers in this country.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:15.90,0:07:21.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Small as that group was, they determined a\Ngreat deal of what happened here.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:21.43,0:07:30.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For them, their conquest of the tribes that\Nthey encountered were guided by God, the ineffable.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:31.46,0:07:38.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This became something that I had to deal with\Nas I saw it in a way that hadn't been done before.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:40.07,0:07:47.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,During the 1930s, the right wing of Afrikaner\Nmovement known as the Ossewabrandwag was anti-Jewish.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:48.45,0:07:51.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like many of my fellow Jewish friends,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:51.80,0:07:57.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had a fear of Afrikaners from my childhood\Nand yet felt the need to explore this.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:59.35,0:08:01.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These people really absorbed me.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:02.37,0:08:06.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They frightened me in their depths of the\Nfear of black people,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:06.92,0:08:10.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and yet at the same time their ease with them.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:13.66,0:08:18.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I would be photographing an elderly couple\Non one of these plots
Dialogue: 0,0:08:18.56,0:08:23.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a little black girl would walk into the\Nparlor, sucking her thumb
Dialogue: 0,0:08:23.77,0:08:29.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and just stand there watching me work and\Nthey would not say a word to her.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:29.25,0:08:31.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They didn't object and tell her to get out.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:31.20,0:08:34.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was just accepted that she would come in\Nand do that.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:37.96,0:08:42.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A common response from potential publishers\Nwas “where's the apartheid?”
Dialogue: 0,0:08:43.30,0:08:49.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To me, it was embedded deep, deep, deep in\Nthe grain of those photographs.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:51.05,0:08:56.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,People overseas simply didn't grasp these\Nextraordinary contradictions in our life.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:57.78,0:09:01.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was not interested in trying to explain\Nthings to them.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:05.33,0:09:07.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We're heading into the center of Boksburg.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:08.65,0:09:12.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I photographed here in the winter of ‘79\Nand again in ‘80.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:14.62,0:09:18.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Instead of traveling the country and photographing\Nwhites generally,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:18.20,0:09:23.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I wanted to concentrate on this one community\Nand regard it as a microcosm of
Dialogue: 0,0:09:23.23,0:09:25.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,white middle class life in South Africa
Dialogue: 0,0:09:25.43,0:09:26.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that's what I did.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:28.57,0:09:32.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This entire town was reserved for whites.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:32.69,0:09:37.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Black people came here only if they had the\Nright paper, a pass.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:39.65,0:09:44.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I began to look at these crowds waiting at\Ntraffic lights to cross the road and found
Dialogue: 0,0:09:44.78,0:09:48.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,them remarkably exposing of us.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:55.09,0:09:56.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Corner of Commissioner and Eloff.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:56.79,0:09:58.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Oh, we must go up one block.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:00.12,0:10:06.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This picture here was taken from where I'm\Nstanding now, of that shop there,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:08.49,0:10:12.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I was probably standing here when I took\Nthis picture.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:14.62,0:10:20.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was excited by this winter light that we\Nhave, it’s very sharp and low angled.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:21.49,0:10:27.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These low buildings were to me, the quintessence\Nof the world that I knew and grew up in.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:28.35,0:10:30.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's nothing distinctive about them.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:33.72,0:10:38.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don't think there is a single picture in\Nthat whole collection in which the subject
Dialogue: 0,0:10:38.30,0:10:39.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is looking at the camera or me.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:41.86,0:10:44.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I wanted to disappear from the equation.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:46.50,0:10:52.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In Soweto and Hillbrow, the photographs were\Nencounters between myself and the subject.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:54.68,0:10:58.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Instead of trying to photograph life as an\Nongoing process.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:58.99,0:11:03.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I elected to photograph people as they were\Nin a formal way.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:05.12,0:11:09.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was always insistent that the subject would\Nlook at me, not at the camera.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:13.81,0:11:15.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In doing those portraits.,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:15.25,0:11:19.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I became aware of people's bodies in a very\Nemphatic way.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:20.19,0:11:26.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Arms, and limbs, breasts, hips, necks, particulars.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:30.82,0:11:34.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here is a whole drawer of four by fives.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:36.89,0:11:43.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,On my death, my negatives, my contact prints,\Nand my working prints, would have gone to
Dialogue: 0,0:11:43.38,0:11:44.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the University of Cape Town
Dialogue: 0,0:11:44.50,0:11:50.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where they had established an archival facility\Nfor this purpose.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:52.31,0:11:57.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But after the burning of paintings and the\Nburning of some photographs by the students
Dialogue: 0,0:11:57.62,0:12:00.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the university art collection,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:00.22,0:12:05.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the university appointed a committee of academics\Nand students to examine every piece of art
Dialogue: 0,0:12:06.90,0:12:08.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with a view to deciding
Dialogue: 0,0:12:08.33,0:12:15.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whether to pulling out or covering up any\Nartwork that they regarded as potentially
Dialogue: 0,0:12:15.49,0:12:17.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,offensive to black students.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:19.55,0:12:28.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, I can't accept that kind of valuation\Nand interference in the freedom of expression.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:29.52,0:12:34.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If there are pieces of work in the art collection\Nthat perhaps make other people uncomfortable,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:34.17,0:12:37.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then let’s exhibit them, hold debates.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:40.13,0:12:44.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I regard my work as one thing that I will\Nnot allow to be compromised,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:44.25,0:12:46.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I compromise every day,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:46.50,0:12:48.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just by drawing breath in this country.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:50.47,0:12:54.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But today under a democracy, I refuse to be\Ncomplicit.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:57.24,0:12:59.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I canceled my contract.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:00.80,0:13:03.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And my stuff won't go to the University of\NCape Town.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:12.32,0:13:15.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don't think I've ever been bored with photography.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:16.95,0:13:19.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I have sometimes become extremely frustrated
Dialogue: 0,0:13:19.28,0:13:20.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ahh [bleeped].
Dialogue: 0,0:13:20.68,0:13:21.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Disgusted.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:21.63,0:13:22.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Look at this.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:22.28,0:13:23.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Look at this.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:23.28,0:13:25.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it's a life absorbing process.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:26.52,0:13:28.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It absorbs me fully.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:30.56,0:13:35.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've changed my mind about photographs 25,\N30 years after I've taken them.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:37.36,0:13:41.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My problem is that I don't have 25 or 30 years\Nto make up my mind now.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:42.00,0:13:44.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've got to make up my mind much sooner.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:53.61,0:13:56.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was doing photographs of the goldmines,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:56.36,0:13:59.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I saw a reflection of myself,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:00.33,0:14:04.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I just snapped it.