The Market Photography Workshop and the Development of South African Photography

South Africa’s Market Photography Workshop, an institution for photographic education founded in 1989 by David Goldblatt, occupies a crucial place in the recent history of the medium in that country. The Workshop began as a direct response to apartheid restrictions, which limited the access of many South Africans to other educational institutions. It has played a critical role in perpetuating in post-apartheid South Africa the ideals of the socially committed photography of the apartheid era, helping to transmit an earlier generation’s values to contemporary practitioners. From its beginnings as a small, informally organised school, the Workshop has grown in scale to become a certificate-granting institution with an influential gallery space attached. Since the end of apartheid, the Market has reflected broader transformations and served as an engine of shifts in photographic practice. Based on interviews with Workshop administrators, the article also addresses the work of specific photographers associated with the Workshop, including Goldblatt, Jodi Bieber, Zanele Muholi and Nontsikelelo ‘Lolo’ Veleko.