Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
For nearly six decades, the celebrated South African photographer David Goldblatt (1930-2018) documented the impact of apartheid on South Africa. As a white Jewish native of Johannesburg, he brought both an insider and outsider perspective to his country, which was dominated by a white Christian Afrikaner elite. And, although he viewed his work as a ‘dialogue’ between himself, his subjects and his fellow South Africans rather than an instrument of liberation, it carried a nuanced yet powerful critique of the contradictions and cruelties of apartheid. His non-commercial projects before apartheid’s fall in 1994 were shot only in monochrome, with Goldblatt finding colour to be ‘too sweet a medium to express the anger, disgust and fear’ of the era. Filmed during the final months of Goldblatt’s life, this short by the nonprofit organisation Art21 provides a glimpse into his unwavering career as a photographer. Portraying him as anti-censorship and intent on providing a detached and observational look at his country’s ever-changing landscape until the end, the film offers a worthy bookend to Goldblatt’s impressive body of work.
Video by Art21
Director: Ian Forster
video
Animals and humans
Are zoos and natural history museums born of a desire to understand, or to control?
57 minutes
video
Archaeology
What’s an ancient Greek brick doing in a Sumerian city? An archeological investigation
16 minutes
video
Family life
The migrants missing in Mexico, and the mothers who won’t stop searching for them
21 minutes
video
Ecology and environmental sciences
The tree frog die-off that sparked a global mystery – and revealed a dark truth
15 minutes
video
Beauty and aesthetics
In art, the sublime is a feedback loop, evolving with whatever’s next to threaten us
9 minutes
video
History
From Afghanistan to Virginia – the Muslims who fought in the American Civil War
22 minutes
video
Family life
One family’s harrowing escape from postwar Vietnam, told in a poignant metaphor
10 minutes
video
Fairness and equality
Visit the small Texas community that lives in the shadow of SpaceX launches
14 minutes
video
Film and visual culture
Our world has very different contours when a millimetre is blown up to a full screen
8 minutes