After reading an amazing book on the horrors of colonisation in Africa called King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild – specifically focusing on the brutality seen in the Congo in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century by journalist-turned-explorer Henry Morton Stanley - I began thinking about the certain ‘labels’ society puts on people… lablels that can actually be incredibly misleading.

Words such as ‘humanitarian’ and ‘philanthropist’ fly around, even today, when names like Stanley are mentioned. When, in actual truth, if closer inspection were given to the subject, one would see how deceptive it really is. Nowhere was this more evident than in the supposedly free, Congo state in the early 1900s.

In between studying, an alarming amount of stimuli has inhabited itself in my mind and has not failed to resurface at any free moment I might have. As well as King Leopold’s Ghost, I have read and seen many other things that have inspired me to ‘pick up the pen’ so to say, and get writing on the subject.

For now though, more about the book: King Leopold’s Ghost. As stated above, it is written by Adam Hochschild who is an American author and journalist. Ironically, he actually spent a summer working for an anti-government newspaper in South Africa. The book is all about the Congo and the terrible happenings between the ‘native’ and the colonialists after King Leopold II of Belgium sent Stanley, by then a famous explorer who ‘found’ Livingstone after years of absence, to map out a new colony on behalf of the king, who, ruled the colony of the Congo for almost half a century and never even set foot on the Congo’s resourceful soil. If you are anything like me and enjoy a good old rant about whether colonialism is good or bad, this is a wonderful read for you.

Or, if you are just simply interested in men with strange facial hair I suppose this will be a tantalizing read for you too. While reading this book, I came across a brilliant quote and I had to share it. With my (bordering on obsession) interest in photography and quotes alike, I thought this one rang extremely true, and I can only imagine that the essence of this quote is spot on in all the world’s deadly genocides and wars. The quote, which is taken from a piece of work that Mark Twain wrote during this time called King Leopold’s Soliloquy, an imaginary monologue by Leopold II of Belgium goes as follows:

After all the terrible things dug up by the reformers trying to stop the vicious cycle of colonialism and slave labour that King Leopold and his associates had buried so well, comes the inevitable and gruesome truth that a photograph always reveals, as well as conquering the test of time.

To bring this concept a little more close to home I read an article titled An eye on the shame of Apartheid by Fred Khumalo in the Sunday Times. the article was about an exhibition at the Johannesburg Art Gallery which is featuring the works of Ernest Cole, legendary photographer who ‘died in obscurity’ thousands of miles away from his home land, South Africa. One of the more poignant images was a picture taken in a doctor’s office showing lines of recruits for the ominous gold mines undergoing a group medical examination. The photograph’s absence of overt violence makes it frightening and chilling. Khumalo describes South Africa’s past as, ‘Oh, our tragic country, our tragic history.’

Admitting to shedding a few tears during the course of his visit to the exhibition, Khumalo was evidently moved by the experience and the raw reality that photography, or, photojournalism provides. South Africa’s shameful past and our uncertain future can be documented on the glossy paper of photographs. Not only candid memories stand the test of time through photography, but also a look into our past can provide historical significance to the present day.

For over a century, photography has been the incorruptible medium that Long Leopold II to Adolf Hitler to PW Botha failed to ‘silence’. It is the medium that speaks a thousand words without as much as just simply ‘showing up’.

WORDS: Jessica Jones

This prompted artist Jon Rafman to scan through thousands of images, globally available to the public, of people going about their daily lives and come up with a kind of anthropological study of people in their most natural state.

Google declares that the purpose of this visual exploration ‘enables you to view and navigate 360 degree street level imagery of various cities around the world, providing greater understanding of a specific location or area.’ Let’s be dramatic, because it’s more fun, and plant the (probably infertile) seed of Truman Show similarity; a panoptic invasion of human solace.

Street View, launched in 2007, is the somewhat nosey addition complimenting its powerful digital navigator, Google Maps. It involved the dispersion of electric cars; transformer-like creatures each boasting nine cameras enabling panoramic photographs, a GPS and equipped with laser range scanners. Although there is no need to go into the endless debates on surveillance, conspiracy and all the other invasions of the Google monopoly, there is still the invisible fine print to take into account.  It is available in real-time to anyone who has access to the internet, shots directly of faces and registrations are automatically meant to be blurred out, although there are always those cases of machine malfunction and identities are exposed.

Jon Rafman’s project is called ‘Nine Eyes of Google Street View’ and in all its simplicity, presents an unaffected study of the modern world; one that highlights the binaries, cultural nuances and the ironies in human life. The omnipresent relationship of an abandoned and uncaring universe where we try and find a sense of belonging and purpose becomes evident in the stills. A moment that has authentically lived within all of us has been captured and a of a new kind of street photography has emerged, each stamped with the unmistakable ‘zoom’ icon in the top left corner.

We get to see the less savoury aspects of life, the ‘de-glamourised’ reality of society from prostitution, car accidents, crime and drug-taking and its balance with some of the most serene moments in life.  The tumultuous scale of pain is balanced with the beauty of catching nature in motion, passionate lovers, timeless architecture and raw outbursts of emotion.

So, where a photographer calculates for days to take the perfect shot, Google can achieve in minutes with an automated catalogue consisting of photojournalism, wildlife photography and idyllic landscapes from locations all around the world, removing human agency. Just one more thing in the world that Google can now do better than you… how niggling.

Words: Megan King

ISSUE 01 FEATURES:

• PUBLIC ART: FLYING WITH THE SHARKS
• ART SHOWCASE: WATCH THIS SPACE
• GLOBAL DESIGN: ERA OF EVOLUTION
• INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY: SPEED OF LIGHT
• CONTROVERSIAL LITERATURE: KITCHEN TALK
• PERFORMING ARTS: MOVEMENTS IN TIME
• UNIQUE SHOPPING: HANDMADE
• CAPE TOWN LIFESTYLE/ARCHITECTURE: DADDY LONG LEGS
• ARCHITECTURE: TRANSFORMATION SPACE
• ARCHITECTURE: THE PROJECT 001
• AFRICAN FASHION: AFFIRMATIVE FASHION
• LOCAL MUSIC: SHAKING THE BLUES
• WORLD CINEMA: LIGHTS, CAMERA, AKSIE!