Strauss & co - 17 February 2018, Cape Town

148 Strauss & co contemporary art auction 53 Various SOUTH AFRICAN 20TH CENTURY Inside Edition 20th century A Portfolio of Seven Works by South African Photographers, published by Goodman Gallery Editions edition of 30, plus 7 artists’ proofs and 3 publisher’s proofs each signed and numbered 6/30 in pencil in the margin Photographers include: Jodi Bieber, Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Hasan & Husain Essop, David Goldblatt, Mikhael Subotzky, Nontsikelelo Veleko, and Sue Williamson. inkjet prints on Hahnemuhle 308gsm Photo Rag paper, in red linen portfolio with embossed title sheet size: 43 by 56cm; image size: 36 by 42cm R150 000 – 180 000 Inside Edition is the first in a series of photographic portfolios to be published by Goodman Gallery Editions. This selection of photographs suggests a variety of approaches and methodologies, as well as a range of influences and concerns amongst the nine photographers represented. Photography, more than any other medium in the visual arts, has been, in many ways, burdened with truth . It has always been required to represent, but more than that, to show how things are in the world. Faith in the camera’s veracity, in its ability to capture images of the world, meant that it was indispensable to the loose, disparate, and motley army of journalists and artists determined to confront the harshness and complexity of the apartheid state prior to 1994. Photography in South Africa, therefore, has grappled not only with the history of the country, but also with its own history, a history of form, as well as of deeply political subject matter. In the last decade-and-a-half, however, it has finally seemed possible that photography in the South African context might be let loose a little, might explore new genres within the medium, and give the photographer an entirely different set of choices in relation to both form and content. The transformation of the political landscape has indeed meant a softening of the parameters within which many South African photographers once worked and, concomitantly, a greater degree of exploration of the potential of the photographic medium.