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David Goldblatt
Patience Poni visiting her parents, Ruth and Jackson Poni, 1510A Emdeni South, Soweto , 1972

Platinum print on Arches Platine 310gm
Image: 74 x 56 cm (29.1 x 22 in.)
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Goldblatt spent years taking photographs of Johannesburg – of the white areas of the city centre, the comfortable suburbs and the townships on the outskirts of the city. "With a camera, I was for the first time able to expand my experience of other people’s lives. Making portraits of people in Soweto in 1972 was a significant moment for me fundamentally," said Goldblatt of his 1972 photographic essay.

Goldblatt was engaged in the conditions of society and the values by which people lived, rather than the climactic outcomes of those conditions. He intended to discover and probe these values through the medium of photography.

Other Artworks

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    David Goldblatt
    Farmer's sign for Gate (Hek). Near Rammetjieskraal, between Lainsburg and Prince Albert, Western Cape. 28 May 2004 , 2004
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    David Goldblatt
    Playground, Chiawelo, Soweto. September, 1972
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    David Goldblatt
    Dancing-master Ted van Rensburg watches two of his ballroom pupils, swinging to a record of Victor Sylvester and his Orchestra, in the MOTHS' Hall at the old Court House, Boksburg, 1980
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    David Goldblatt
    Joe Maloney, boiler-house attendant, City Deep Gold Mine, 1966 , 1966