Goldblatt

Intersections Intersected
David Goldblatt at New Museum

Goldblatt's large landscapes and city scapes cover the walls of two full floors of the New Museum. His work spans over several decades, of significant importance to South African history and apartheid. The photographs are huge, almost 4 x 4 across every wall. They are also unending, a body of a life's work. Though the quality of the photographs is unchanging. There is no chronological log of a switch from film to digital. The sunlight does not seem brighter in the photographs of most recent years. Though the pictures can span from the early 70s all the way up to present day, the photographs remain unchanged in style and remain indeterminately timeless. This is an interesting comment on the artists work, as well as the state of South Africa. You simply can not tell when any of these photographs have been taken. It is unchanged, and their progress is synced and cataloged through Goldblatt's eyes.

Having been to Johannesburg I can attest, it's not the prettiest place. it's dangerous and unreformed.
As a Johannesburg native friend of mine once put it, "Oh, you've been to Jo Burg? It's a real shit hole, isn't it?"
Though the photographs do reflect a wide range of places throughout the country, it seems to me an accurate portrayal, and not harshly swayed in the direction of sympathy toward South Africa. Nor do the photographs evoke any type of gross reaction or pitty. Nor do they rejoice in the years that follow apartheid's end. They are quiet, and subtle. The sunlight really is that dull and overbearingly flat and bland. The colors are completely neutralized and washed away by sunlight, as the photos reflect. The most striking piece, that was repeated throughout the show, was the photograph of the housing projects that remain unfinished. It speaks to me as a metaphor for the state, the people, and Goldblatt's work.