Provenance

Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, 19 April 2013.

The Gary Eisenberg Collection.

Exhibited

Metropolitan Museum of Art (MoMA), New York City, USA, New Photography 2008: Josephine Meckseper and Mikhael Subotzky, 10 September 2008 to 12 January 2009, another example from the edition exhibited.

Notes

Through a stark and revealing lens, Subotzky offers an insightful portrayal of often-overlooked and complex histories within contemporary South Africa.

Beaufort West captures life in the small town, on the N1 running from Cape Town to Johannesburg. From inmates within the town’s prison walls, rituals performed by residents, stark landscapes highlighting the town’s topography as well as banal moments of daily life, Beaufort West highlights the essence of a community caught between the remnants of apartheid and the harsh realities of modern life.

The present lot captures two young men with vivid and striking intensity, one partially obscured by hazy, swirling smoke. This evocative image highlights the realities of those living on society's periphery. The present lot confronts the viewer into acknowledging their existence and struggles, perhaps calling for a deeper reflection on the often invisible lives of the marginalised.