Apartheid in South Africa and Earnest Cole's Perspective
Apartheid in South Africa was one of the most abhorrently racist regimes of the 20th century, and it was met with fierce internal and external opposition.
Earnest Cole: An Artist's Rebellion
One instance when the harms of this rule were chosen as the inspiration for an artist’s work has not received much attention. But Earnest Cole, a South African photographer, managed to capture the situation from a black person’s point of view. He made the observation that other artists frequently create works after the subject has been addressed. He captured his country’s racial segregation on camera and made the images public. He was one among millions of the victims of the evils of the apartheid rule. With his dreams of becoming a doctor shattered by the useless education, he chose to take a photograph full time and probably make a difference to the lives of others who faced the same problem.
The Unique Approach of Earnest Cole
Earnest Cole in his art had the dream of a free South Africa and therefore decided to take a unique approach to air his views. There are not many artists who would be brave enough to document such a dire situation without the fear of the consequences. Cole, however, in his early 20s driven by the gravity of the situation devises a way of capturing the vices of an administration that reigned several years of inhuman rule. Through art, he considerably paints a picture of the difficulties that he faced in his early life accompanied by the uncertainties that he would later face in exile as he hoped for a better and free South Africa.
A Different Outlook
Perhaps it is his life encounters that made him resolve to document the contemporary life of a black South African from a black’s perspective. He took a different outlook from the other photographers and decided to capture the misdoings of the apartheid rule on the black South African. He adopts a mute approach in capturing the humiliation, discomfort, and humanitarian crisis that was to be in a mute yet defining way. Even so, he does not take the position of a startled spectator when he captures action for instance once he captured a white man being mugged by five black boys, he does not seem startled by the events that took place rather he seems to be a part of the group.
Unmatched Courage
He depicts unmatched courage, particularly when he passes for the change from a black to a colored individual, which made him earn rights that the other blacks did not have. He maneuvered his way into areas that he did not have permission for and captured the debilitating conditions that the blacks had to live in. For instance, he once stayed in a black's only hospital for a month where he captured the scenario. He also gained access to persons and captured the appalling conditions that the prisoners lived in.
The House Of Bondage
He had the dream of documenting all his photographs in one book that was named The House Of Bondage. Sensing that he could not publish the book in South Africa, he sought to flee the country and head to the United States. However, the situation was not any different in New York after he found out that the United States had not resolved the racial problems.
Works Cited
Cotter, Holland. “What Ernest Cole’S Hidden Camera Revealed”. Nytimes.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 28 June 2017.
