PROFILE: Spotted – Wits Graduate conquering the world
Recent graduate adds a Wits degree to his already impressive curriculum vitae.
Wits Justice Project to celebrate renowned photographer
The Wits Justice Project together with the David Goldblatt Legacy Trust and Goodman Gallery to celebrate the posthumous book, Ex-Offenders at the Scene of Crime.
As told to: Telling the story of everyday kindness on the streets of Johannesburg
“It is important to tell a truthful story and convey what is truly happening during this time.” (more…)
LIFE IN LOCKDOWN PHOTOESSAY: Keeping busy
Laura Hunter is a honours in journalism student at Wits University. This is her life in lockdown.
COVID19: Lockdown through the lens of Yeshiel Panchia
Covid-19 is pressuring photojournalists to reconsider how they document their subjects without infecting them.
Exhibition reflects on brutality of xenophobia in South Africa
Leading South African photojournalists Alon Skuy and James Oatway are showing some of their work on xenophobia.
GALLERY: O, What a jol!
By Pheladi Sethusa and MfunekoToyana
The weather wasn’t warm but thank God neither was the beer. The atmosphere in the beer garden was positively sizzling. O-week offered students a great way to start the year, explore the campus and get to know each other. The fun isn’t over yet, with tonight’s Fresher’s Bash sure to be a razzmatazz humdinger. Ziyawa Mo.
GALLERY: Highlights from Power Reporting 2013
This year’s Power Reporting Conference hosted by Wits Journalism was the biggest they’ve hosted to date. Three days saw close to 300 delegates from around the world coming together to discuss abd debate issues central to investigative journalism.
These banners were littered all over the FNB on West Campus to welcome all delegates to the conference. Photo: Prelene Singh
Delegates eager to read the special Power Reporting edition of the Wits Vuvuzela. Photo: Prelene Singh
Michael Salzwedel gave a class on Google tools and showed attendees how to use them. Photo: Pheladi Sethusa
Delegates taking notes and asking speakers questions. Pictured are Anina Mumm (left) and Izak Minnaar. Photo: Caro Malherbe
Alex Kotlowitz awed and inspired delegates with his opening talk that spoke to non-fiction storytelling. Photo: Pheladi Sethusa
Nigerian delegates arriving on the first day of the conference. Photo: Nolwazi Mjwara
Data journalism classes proved popular this year, most sessions were as well attended as the one pictured. Photo: Shandukani Mulaudzi
Luc Hermann gave a powerful session on pharmacutical drugs. Photo: Shandukani Mulaudzi
No pride at Wits
WHITE NOISE: The exhibition Substation art gallery was poorly attended. Photo: Pheladi Sethusa
By Nolwazi Mjwara and Pheladi Sethusa
Empty lecture rooms where talks were planned, no information tent and an exhibition with no pull are some of the things that contributed to the dark cloud that hung over this year’s Wits Pride celebrations.
Wits Vuvuzela headed out earlier in the week hoping to bump into people dressed in rainbow colours, ready to see all the events but all those hopes were dashed by a lack of noticeable fanfare for Wits Pride. [pullquote align=”right”]“I had no idea that it’s Pride this week. I think they haven’t advertised it enough”[/pullquote]
It’s pride?
Witsie after Witsie had no idea that it was Wits Pride this week, largely due to the lack of visible advertising around campus.
“I had no idea that it’s Pride this week. I think they haven’t advertised it enough,” said Jabulani Moyo, 3rd year BSc Eng.
A daily exhibition held at the Substation art gallery was poorly attended. Few came to see the beautiful self-portraits by artist by Germaine de Larch.
Ella Kotze, programme officer of the Transformation Office, defended the promotion of Wits Pride on campus.
“In terms of marketing, we have put close to 1 000 posters up across all of Wits’ campuses. We have been very active on Facebook and Twitter, and we have also had a very good relationship with Voice of Wits, who has gone out of their way to promote our events and the whole concept of Wits Pride,”she said.
Kotze agreed that attendance at some events was disappointing, particularly Tuesday’s panel discussion and films.
PORTRAIT: Photography by Germaine de Larch was on sale, at a pricey R1 500 a portrait. Photo: Pheladi Sethusa
However, Kotze said that an information stand and tours to Hillbrow and Constitutional Hill were very successful.
“Contributing factors are possibly varied and may include timing, as well as type of activity – perhaps Witsies don’t like movies as much as we thought,” Kotze said.
We need pride
“Pride is very, very, very necessary on campus,” said Wits Pride organising committee member Jeremiah Sepotokele, 3rd Law.
He believes the overriding culture on campus was still “very hetero-normative”, especially in a lot of the men’s residences like Knockando.
“As men’s res there’s a culture that’s very hetero, violent and masculine. That’s problematic,” said Sepotokele.
Many students start at Wits start out as homophobic but their perspective changes.
Sam Allan, 2nd year BSc, said that she was ignorant of gay rights before she had gay friends.
“I couldn’t stand gay people before,” she said.
It was only after spending time with gay people that did she begin to accept them for who they were.
Allan said she would have liked to have gone to Wits Pride events, had she known about them.
WITH GALLERY: The 1913 Land Act realised through photos
A crowd of eager art lovers could not resist the magnetism of the historical photographic archive dating back to the 1800’s and commemorating the 1913 Land Act.
The exhibition Umhlaba 1913-2013: Commemorating the 1913 Land Act opened this week at the Gertrude Posel Core Gallery in the Wits Art Museum.
1913 Land Act
This year marks 100 years since the 1913 Land Act was passed. The act helped to successfully disenfranchise indigenous South African’s in terms of land ownership and its repercussions are still felt today.
[pullquote align=”right”]”No single photographic exhibition could illustrate the full diversity of our complex realities”[/pullquote]Curator of the Umhlaba Exhibiton, Bongi Dhlomo-Matloa said that the exhibition’s purpose was to help people remember their history. “Commemoration is a relative term here, we are remembering this act that left blacks with only 7% of the land,” she said. Dhlomo-Matloa coincidently wore a black and white ensemble matching the monochromatic nature of most of the photographs on display. She said it was merely a coincidence but nonetheless she carried the colours of our history around her neck and on her shoulders.
Remembering history
Next to the exhibition’s entrance was a plaque detailing the aims, limitations and history behind the curation. “No single photographic exhibition could illustrate the full diversity of our complex realities,” but this by no means, kept the artist/photographer from making an attempt to illustrate those complex realities.
This history could not only be seen, but was also heard as jazz, afro-soul and choral music ushered people up the ramp and along the walls of the gallery. It was quite jarring to hear the juxtaposition between Miriam Makeba’s voice sing Gauteng and then immediately after, a choir sing Die Stem, while standing at the wall with all the apartheid-era photography on it.
Photographic reality
[pullquote]“Commemoration is a relative term here, we are remembering this act that left blacks with only 7% of the land”[/pullquote] Dlomo-Matloa went on to say that these photos were used as they “are very exact” and can therefore accurately depict the reality they captured. The first colour picture seen in the gallery was on the apartheid wall, a photograph by David Goldblatt. It was taken in 1987 at a resettlement camp in the Wittlesea district of the then Ciskei.Fourth year photography student Melissa Bennett, said she loved how the photos told a story of overcoming boundaries. She was also particularly intrigued by the way the photos had been arranged according to a historical timeline.
Dhlomo-Matloa said that the exhibition was displayed in chronological sequence laid out in a timeline to reflect how things and people changed as time went on. Although a huge amount of images were available, budget and space constraints restricted how many photographs could be exhibited.
The photography on display showcases some of the most talented photographers in the country, like Peter Magubane, Paul Weinburg and Ingrid Hudson.
After a walk about the whole gallery, the reality of our history was more than apparent. The exhibition will be on display until January 2014.
Watch the video below in which curator Dhlomo-Matloa talks about the exhibition:
RELATED ARTICLES:
- Wits Vuvuzela. ‘Art in Motion’ fascinates audiences. August 4, 2013
Weekend hotspots in Braam
#Teamvuvu went out to some of the weekend hotspots in Braam, to see where all the fun is. The team of photographers consisted of: Pheladi Sethusa, Nokuthula Manyathi, Shandukani Mulaudzi, Sibusisiwe Nyanda and Nolwazi Majwara.
Photography exhibition illuminates the inner city
Earlier this year Gauteng City Region Observatory (GCRO) launched a photography competition, which ended with an exhibition of 62 of the most powerful photo’s received.
Entrants were asked to send through photographs of theirs which depicted their perceptions of the Gauteng City Region, said finalist and Witsie Thato Nkoane. Nkoane came in 4th place for her photo called ‘Johannesburg My City’, which was entered under the politics and governance sub topic.
“There were about 600 entries,” said Nkoane. The ecompetition was made open to students and staff af all university;s in the Gauteng region. The prizes offered were to the value of R15 000. Of wich Nkoane won R1000 and would like to use that money to buy herself a Lomography camera.
The final event came in the form of an exhibition at the FADA Gallery at UJ. There were over 250 people in attandance at the launch of the exhibition last week.
The judges were two photographers, Jodi Bieber and Roger Ballen. The third judge was Khwezi Gule who is the chief curator of the HectorPieterson Museum.
Potsiso Phasha, from GCRO said that “The exhibition, entitled ‘Portraits of a City-Region’, is an illustration of the Gauteng City-Region as a place we interact with with a strong ‘personality’ of its own and one with which we are constantly engaged in building relationships with.
GCRO ran the competition andexhibition in partnership with FADA Gallery at UJ. The GCRO is a partnership between the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Johannesburg and Gauteng Provincial Government.
The top five winning images where taken by the following people (and appear below):
- Blaq Smith
- Jenna-Lee Ferrer
- Irene Lambrianos
- Thato Nkoane
- Martin Bolton
Winning photo, ‘Sunday Morning’ by UJ student Blaq Smith.
In second place, ‘F-CK’ by UJ student Jenna-Lee Ferrer.
Third place went to Irene Lambrianos from the Design School South Africa. Her photography is titled ‘City’.
In fourth place representing Wits, “My City” by Thato Nkoane.
In fifth place ‘The Asphalt’ by UJ winner, Martin Bolton.
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- BONUS: What do Witsies have to say about the ongoing #WitsShutdown?Today we’re taking a look at the #WitsShutdown protests which are over historical debt and unaffordable accommodation, which have seen several students suspended, physical clashes between protestors and security and disruptions to the academic programme for many. In this bonus episode of We Should Be Writing, we let students unpack their views on what has […]