25 OCTOBER 2009 CITY PRESS 27

BOOKS

THE epic span of pho-tographer Alf Kum-alo’s life and careeris contained in anew photographicmemoir entitledThrough My Lens.Paging through this

200-plus coffee-table collection ofimages taken by the legendary lens-man, one could be forgiven forthinkingthatwhereverhistoryhap-pened, therewasKumalo,camerainhand, ready to capture the moment.

Kumalo, a self-taught photogra-pher, whose love affair with thecamera began in the late 1940s andwho worked for iconic publicationssuch as Drum and Bantu World inthe 1950s, is still a working snapperwith no intention of ever retiring.

Through My Lens is part biogra-phy and part pictorial memoir of aphotographer’s journey throughsome of the most turbulent and de-fining moments of the 20th century.This collection offers just a sampleof a much larger historical cata-logue Kumalo has amassed over thefive decades he has worked as aphotojournalist.

Kumalo’s lifestoryis told throughpictures he took and through pic-tures takenofhim.Unlikemostpho-tojournalists, Kumalo is not shy ofbeing in frontof thecamera.Thecol-lection begins with a prologue enti-tledTheLifeandTimesofAlfKuma-lo, and it could’ve been an alterna-tive title for the collection. Includedin this section is a photo of Kumaloin his youth decked out in full Zuluregalia, hamming it up for the cam-era, and there’s another of the pho-tographer clad in a three-piece suitand hat, striking a pose for a Manabout Town series for Drum.

The most endearing image is oneofhis latewife,JacquelinePoolaKu-malo, bathing their daughter Nom-fundoinanenamelbowl in1963.Thelittle girl is looking straight at thecamera, covered in soap suds, herface a picture of sheer delight as hermother looks on dotingly.

The biographical aspect of thiscollection also functions to under-score the brutality of the apartheidregimeand includesan image takenby Harry Mashabela of Kumalobeing roughed up by the cops at aboxing match at Wembley Stadiumin Johannesburg in 1976. It is oneof many images of police brutalityand harassment endured by thetenacious cameraman and whichworked, he says, only to cement his

determination to document hisworld and its harsh realities.

“I can’t count how many timesduring apartheid I was harassed bythe police, beaten, arrested or justroughed up. The more often it hap-pened, the less I was afraid,” saysKumalo, whose skull got cracked inone particularly brutal encounterwith the old South African policeforce.

Kumalo is best known as one of

South Africa’s most experiencedphotojournalists, but Through MyLens illustrates that he was also aninternational jet-setter whose pas-sion for imagesandpeople tookhimto where the action was. Evenduring times of severe and oftenarbitrary travel restrictions placedon politically active black SouthAfricans. His early work quicklyearned him a reputation as apolitical photographer and madehim the focus of intense scrutinyand persecution by a system intenton preventing images of apartheidbrutality seeing the light of day.Kumalo was arrested during the ’76Soweto uprising and pistol-whipped by police. The casedragged on for a year and he wasgiven a three year suspended sen-tence and told not to take picturesanymore.Hedefied thatandpickedup his camera as soon as he walkedout of court.

Hetookmanyoftheiconicimagesof Nelson Mandela and the Rivoniatrialists, some of which are con-tained in this collection. Kumalo’scloseness to Winnie and NelsonMandela meant he was perfectlyplacedtocapturerareimagesof inti-macy and family life. His relation-

ship with the Mandelas continuedafter Madiba was imprisoned andone close-up image of daughter Ze-nani as a little girl – with a singletear rolling down her cheek watch-ing her mother fly off to visit her fa-ther for the first time on Robben Is-land – bears testimony to the im-mense trauma suffered by thisfamily. Kumalo dedicates an entirechapter to Winnie and includesimages shot exclusively for her

imprisoned husband.But this is also a book of love and

laughter that charts our country’shistory from the days of unimagina-ble darkness and despair to an eraofhopeandjoy.Theimages thatbestcapture the elation of freedom area series taken at Mandela’s home inSoweto shortly after his release anddepicts the reunionofLeahandDes-mond Tutu, Mandela and Walter Si-sulu. These close-ups of unbridledjoy and hilarity are rendered poign-ant by the many preceding imagesof this group of stalwarts, who gavetheir best years to the fight againstapartheid.

Kumalo travelled extensivelyduring his career. Travel is a unify-ing metaphor throughout this col-lection which charts his journey tomany destinations including Lon-don, Kinshasa, Lesotho and theUnited States. He travelled to Zairein 1974 for the fight betweenMuhammad Ali and George Fore-man, but nearly didn’t make it aftergetting arrested for three days inZambia, being refused entry intoKenya, getting sent back to Zambiaand then back to South Africa,where he had to start all over again.Kumalo eventually landed in Kin-shasa four hours before the Rumble

in the Jungle began.Through My Lens includes a

chapter on Ali, which documentsnot only his legendary prowess inthe ring, but also the close friend-ship that developed between himand Kumalo after they met in Lon-don in the late 70s. In one photo-graph Ali strokes Kumalo’s headand in another Ali sits eating icecream in his bedroom in Chicago.

He dedicates an entire chapter toartists he photographed in exilesuch as Miriam Makeba, HughMasekela, Caiphus Semenya andLetta Mbulu. And also of WinstonMankunku Ngozi taking a breakwhile recording Yakhalínkomo in1968, of pianist Gideon Nxumalowith eyes closed, one hand holdinga cigarette another playing the pi-ano, and of Kippie Moeketsi, StanGetz and Alan Kwela rehearsing, aswell as an image of lesser-known

artists such as Alfred Maqubela,Sydney Khumalo and EphrahimNgatane on the streets of Pimvillein the 70s.

But it is an image right upfront,taken of artists Dumile Feni and Ju-lian Bahula in London, also in theearly 70s, which is one of the mostpoignant images in theentirecollec-tion. In the wide-angle shot, Fenisits on a mattress surrounded byvastcanvasesofhisart, lookingpen-siveanddishevelled,his facespeaksvolumes of the pain of exile and heseems almost oblivious to both Ba-hulaandKumalo.Feni leftSouthAf-rica in 1968 and died in New Yorkbefore South Africa was liberated.

But Kumalo didn’t just chroniclethe rich and famous, brutality andoppression, he also photographedordinary people. And it is these im-ages that bring levity to a collectionthat could otherwise have been a se-

riousbuzz-kill.Photographssuchasan Evaton man bowing down inprayerattheannouncementofMan-dela’s release from prison, of a littlegirl with a dog on her back wrappedlike a baby, of a beautiful group ofwomen smiling and chatting out-side the Rivonia Trial and staff rid-ersona train in the70s, all illustratethe point that life went on in spiteof oppression, hardship and pain.

This collection of images, withtext by journalist Tanya Farber, isa testimony to the long and success-ful career of a dogged photographerwith an artist’s eye for light andshadows. It charts the tears and tri-umphs of a nation, the unbowedspirit of a defiant people, of inno-cence and optimism, of heroes andheroinesbothknownandunknown.) Through My Lens: A Photo-graphic Memoir is published byTafelberg

STILL GOING STRONG . . . AlfKumalo at his Photographic Museumin Diepkloof Picture: Ruth Motau

ARTISTRY AND EXILE . . . Dumile Feni and Julian Bahula in London

FOR HISEYES ONLY. . . A pictureof WinnieMandela takenfor Madiba inprison

THEGREATEST. . . KhumaloandMuhammadAli before afight atMadisonSquareGardens inNew York in1977

ORDINARY PEOPLE . . . A couple at Newmarket Racecourse in Alberton in the 60s

EYEON THEPRIZE

Veteranphotojournalist

Alf Kumalo’s newphotographicmemoir bears

testimony to the longand successfulcareer of a doggedphotographer withan artist’s eye forlight and shadows,writes GAILSMITH