Ernest Cole's Apartheid Photographs Featured in London Retrospective
From 14 June to 22 September 2024, The Photographers' Gallery in London will host "Ernest Cole: House of Bondage," featuring more than 100 images from his 1967 publication. Born in Transvaal in 1940, Cole became one of the first Black freelance photographers, capturing the harsh realities of apartheid after being reclassified from "Black" to "Coloured." He escaped South Africa in 1966, sneaking his work into the UK, but was banned by the apartheid government in 1968. Following his cessation of photography in 1972, Cole faced homelessness and ultimately succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 1990 at the age of 49. The exhibition, curated by Anne-Marie Beckmann and Andrea Holzherr, will also display previously unpublished works. Simultaneously, "Ernest Cole: A Lens in Exile" will be on view at Autograph, London from 13 June to 12 October 2024.
Key facts
- Ernest Cole: House of Bondage opens at The Photographers' Gallery, London on 14 June 2024
- The exhibition runs until 22 September 2024
- Ernest Cole was born in 1940 in Transvaal, South Africa
- Cole's book House of Bondage was first published in 1967
- He fled South Africa in 1966 and was banned by the apartheid regime in 1968
- Over 60,000 missing negatives were discovered in a Stockholm bank vault in 2017
- The exhibition includes over 100 photographs and previously unpublished works
- Aperture re-released House of Bondage in 2022 with an additional chapter
Entities
Artists
- Ernest Cole
- Anne-Marie Beckmann
- Andrea Holzherr
- Karen McQuaid
- Albert Luthuli
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Institutions
- The Photographers' Gallery
- Magnum Photos
- Aperture
- Autograph
- Drum
- The New York Times
- Tiofoto collective
- ANC
Locations
- London
- United Kingdom
- South Africa
- Transvaal
- New York
- United States
- Sweden
- Stockholm
- Johannesburg
- Mamelodi
- Oslo
- Norway