Beyond the Binary: Santu Mofokeng and David Goldblatt

This is the second publication in The Walther Collection Books series at Steidl, focusing on a dialogue between two of the most important South African photographers of the twentieth century—David Goldblatt (1930–2018) and Santu Mofokeng (1956–2020). There are both profound similarities and differences between the two artists’ work. Goldblatt documented the ways in which architecture and spatial planning reflect the ideology of apartheid, and how the land continues to bear its legacy in post-apartheid South Africa. His investigations explore both actual structures and how mental constructs reveal how ideology has shaped our landscape. Mofokeng’s photo essays shed light on everyday life in South Africa, beyond the stereotypical news pictures of Soweto depicting violence or poverty. Deeply personal, they record communities in townships and rural areas, religious rituals and landscapes imbued not only with historical significance but spiritual meaning, memory and trauma. The approach of Tamar Garb in Beyond the Binary is both daring and inquisitive—she “scrambles” and reassembles Mofokeng’s and Goldblatt’s photographs, blurring the boundaries between them and creates juxtapositions and insights that challenge prevailing views of these established images. By delineating 15 viewpoints around the themes of “Earthscapes,” “Edifices,” and “Sociality,” Garb decontextualizes the work and creates a platform for comparing and rethinking the artists’ practices. Co-published with The Walther Collection, Neu-Ulm and New York