Mine recruits humiliated by being forced to strip naked for tuberculosis examination, Witwatersrand
Peter Magubane
Artwork 1968
Peter Magubane's monochrome photograph 'Mine recruits humiliated by being forced to strip naked for tuberculosis examination, Witwatersrand'.
Artwork: Peter Magubane, Mine recruits humiliated by being forced to strip naked for tuberculosis examination, Witwatersrand (1968). Photograph. 29.5 x 45.5 cm. Courtesy of Goodman Gallery.
Artist Peter Magubane Title Mine recruits humiliated by being forced to strip naked for tuberculosis examination, Witwatersrand Date 1968 Materials Photograph Dimensions 29.5 x 45.5 cm Edition Edition of 10 Credit Courtesy of Goodman Gallery

The mistreatment of black mineworkers was a compelling subject for many photographers in South Africa. New recruits were employed for only 18 months at a time, and lived in overcrowded hostels. This photograph, in which workers are stripped and humiliated, illustrates the extent to which black labour was exploited in service of white South Africa’s economic prosperity. Formally and thematically similar to a photograph by Ernest Cole in House of Bondage, the two photographers reportedly came to blows over their identical subjects.

Peter Magubane is recognised for his fearlessness in documenting apartheid’s subjugation of black South Africans. He was arrested on numerous occasions and sentenced to nearly 600 days in solitary confinement. In Magubane’s words: “I did not want to leave the country to find another life. I was going to stay and fight with my camera as my gun. I did not want to kill anyone, though. I wanted to kill apartheid.”

Installation photograph from the Photo Book! Photo-Book! Photobook! exhibition in A4’s Gallery. At the front, two freestanding display cases with printed matter. In the middle, a moveable gallery wall that features Peter Magubane’s photograph ‘Mine recruits humiliated by being forced to strip naked for tuberculosis examination, Witwatersrand (1968)’, Jacobsens Publishers’ book ‘Index of Objectionable Literature’, Ernest Cole’s book ‘House of Bondage’ and four screenprints from Gavin Jantjes’ ‘A South African Colouring Book’ series. On the left, shelving units with printed matter from the years 1945 to 1967 line a white wall, with Albert Newall’s oil painting ‘Harmonic Development within a Square’ mounted on a wall at the back. On the right, shelving units with printed matter from the years 1967 to 1994 line a white wall, along with David Goldblatt’s photograph ‘Climbing into kibbles at the shaft-head, the shift gets ready to go down. President Steyn No.4 shaft, Welkom, Orange Free State. 1969’.
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