Carnegie Reporter, Vol. 2, No. 4 | A conversation with South African photographer, Omar Badsh, page 3

There is also an independent National Arts Council in the country. Most government funding for the arts goes through this body. There a number of other institutions that fund the arts as well, such as The National Lottery Fund. For the last 10 years, international funding institutions and governments have made significant contributions to the development of the arts in the country, but we worry about what might happen if this international support dries up.

In terms of the artists themselves, the majority who do well are those with an arts education background and due to the educational inequality that still exists, most of them are white. Also, nearly all the private galleries are owned by white people, and thus the South African art scene is seen as being “lily white” by most people in the country. However, most public and international traveling shows are mixed with white and black artists, so one gets the impression that things are changing, but the change is very slow.

The cultural exchange of artists, i.e., the movement of South African artists around the world and vice versa, has been flourishing in the new democracy, leading to a vibrant and diverse arts scene in the country. Artists are able to command huge prices now. We are also seeing the issue of identity coming to the fore more and more and this diversity of views is very healthy for the arts, I think. Social issues, too, continue to engage a large number of artists, in particular photographers. Many photographers are now showing work in trendy galleries that didn’t showcase their work during the apartheid era.

As I mentioned before, SAHO is one of the institutions that is dedicated to supporting photographers in undertaking relevant social projects and in designing and producing books of photography. We are also beginning to publish the work of South Africa painters. Many of the major galleries are giving us their exhibitions to put up on our web site.

However, the one area where things are still quite slow is the field of literature. We are not producing sufficient new writers and new work. Black voices still remain absent from the literary scene, but this probably has to do with the low level of literacy and the lack of funding for libraries, etc., in the country. We hope that with the new educational policies and restructuring in place, the nation will be able to correct this imbalance.

KAPUR: What message do you have for young people in South Africa who are interested in photography?

BADSHA: Through our SAHO schools project, we are encouraging young artists to undertake local history projects, such as recording and representing the role played by ordinary people in the struggle for freedom and the shaping of our democracy. We encourage them to use photographs, sound and art to display their documentation. We want to inculcate in them the concept of a people-centered approach to the rewriting of history in South Africa.

On 21 March 1960 at least 180 black Africans were injured (there are claims of as many as 300) and 69 killed when South African police opened fire on approximately 300 demonstrators, who were protesting against the pass laws, at the township of Sharpeville. Pass laws were South African laws that required the black population to carry passbooks (identity documents) at all times and severely restricted freedom of movement. They were repealed in 1986.

The Rivonia Trial, named after the suburb of Johannesburg where sixteen leaders of the African National Congress had been arrested in July 1963, began on 26 November 1963. Nelson Mandela and his fellow defendants were charged with 221 acts of sabotage designed to "ferment violent revolution".