Freedom Square: here, in the time of apartheid, on 26 June 1955, under harassment by the police, some 3000 people of all races, from all over South Africa, gathered in a Congress of the People and adopted the Freedom Charter, a template for the governance of a non-racial, democratic South Africa. The Charter became the basis of South Africa’s democratic constitution. Kliptown, Soweto, Johannesburg

David Goldblatt's photograph 'Freedom Square: here, in the time of apartheid, on 26 June 1955, under harassment by the police, some 3000 people of all races, from all over South Africa, gathered in a Congress of the People and adopted the Freedom Charter, a template for the governance of a non-racial, democratic South Africa. The Charter became the basis of South Africa’s democratic constitution. Kliptown, Soweto, Johannesburg'. At the front, two individuals seated under an umbrella on sandy plain. At the back, various buildings make up the border of a settlement.

Artwork: David Goldblatt, Freedom Square: here, in the time of apartheid, on 26 June 1955, under harassment by the police, some 3000 people of all races, from all over South Africa, gathered in a Congress of the People and adopted the Freedom Charter, a template for the governance of a non-racial, democratic South Africa. The Charter became the basis of South Africa’s democratic constitution. Kliptown, Soweto, Johannesburg (2003). Archival pigment ink on cotton rag. 111 x 135 cm. Private collection.

Details

Artist David Goldblatt Title Freedom Square: here, in the time of apartheid, on 26 June 1955, under harassment by the police, some 3000 people of all races, from all over South Africa, gathered in a Congress of the People and adopted the Freedom Charter, a template for the governance of a non-racial, democratic South Africa. The Charter became the basis of South Africa’s democratic constitution. Kliptown, Soweto, Johannesburg Date 2003 Materials Archival pigment ink on cotton rag Dimensions 111 x 135 cm Edition Edition of 10 Credit Private collection

This photograph is included in TJ, 2011; The Pursuit of Values, 2015; and Structures of Dominion and Democracy, 2018.

About the artist

b.1930, Randfontein; d.2018, Johannesburg

“I was drawn,” the late photographer David Goldblatt wrote, “not to the events of the time but to the quiet and commonplace where nothing ‘happened’ and yet all was contained and immanent.” A preeminent chronicler of South African life under apartheid and after, Goldblatt bore witness to how this life is written on the land, in its structures or their absence. Unconcerned with documenting significant historic moments, his photographs stand outside the events of the time and yet are eloquent of them. Through Goldblatt’s lens, the prosaic reveals a telling poignancy. Even in those images that appear benign, much is latent in them – histories and politics, desires and dread. His photographs are quietly critical reflections on the values and conditions that have shaped the country; those structures both ideological and tangible. Among his most notable photobooks are On the Mines (1973), Some Afrikaners Photographed (1975), In Boksburg (1982), The Structure of Things Then (1998), and Particulars (2003).

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