BREATHING SPACES

Cape Town photographic exhibition deals with south Durban residents.

The exhibition Breathing Spaces: Environmental Portraits of Durban’s Industrial South is a photographic exploration of three Durban neighbourhoods which form part of the city’s residential-industrial hinterland. It runs at the Good Hope Gallery at the Castle of Good Hope until March 1.

Images by Jenny Gordon of the Rhodes School of Journalism and Media Studies, combined with the research material of Marijke du Toit of Historical Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, offer compelling insight into three neighbourhoods: Wentworth, Merebank and Lamontville.

Jenny’s panoramic landscape photographs and her portraits of South Durban residents provide powerful viewing and illustrate how individuals, despite living within highly challenging environments, succeed in creating personal ‘breathing spaces’ for themselves.

The exhibition also brings together very different photographic genres. Jenny’s photographs are juxtaposed with decades-old studio and other family photographs drawn from the personal collections of people living in the South Durban neighbourhoods. These are accompanied by images taken by residents - adults and teenagers - during photography workshops taught by Jenny.

Marijke du Toit explains: “Durban's urban geography reflects race and class inequities that persist beyond apartheid. Wentworth, Merebank and Lamontville (formerly categorised under apartheid as 'coloured', Indian' and 'African') are located in the immediate vicinity of refineries and other industry. The area has been the centre of much controversy and activism about the levels of industrial pollution experienced by residents.”

The exhibition inquires into what it means to live in an environment still strongly structured by the geographies of apartheid city planning, by poverty and industrial pollution. Despite its rich local cultures and histories, these neighbourhoods have remained excluded from Durban's visual identity as a city.

“Environmental injustice”, says Marijke, “translates into day-to-day living.”

The exhibition includes extracts from interviews with those affected by these circumstances. Curated by Jenny and Marijke, the project which was initiated in 2002, has been sponsored by the Royal Netherlands Embassy, the Centre for Civil Society (UKZN) and the National Research Foundation of South Africa and the Global Greengrants Fund.

For further information, contact Esther Esmyol on 021 464 1262 or email eesmyol@iziko.org.za or info@iziko.org.za