This South African exile was one of the first to reveal to the world the reality and the hell of apartheid. A powerful photo book and documentary by Raoul Peck shed light on the tumultuous and chaotic journey of photographer Ernest Cole.
With *I Am Not Your Negro*, Raoul Peck celebrated the writing of African-American author James Baldwin on the social and political struggles in the United States during the 1960s. Now, with *Ernest Cole, Photographer*, the Haitian filmmaker breathes new life and power into the images of one of those who stood up against apartheid in South Africa. In 2017, more than 60,000 of Cole's negatives and photographs were mysteriously discovered in the vaults of a Stockholm bank. This is what Raoul Peck reveals in this beautiful photographic book, published in October, directly inspired by his documentary, released in theaters two months later. The images and words/woes of Ernest Cole (1940-1990), recounted in the first person, are thus finally brought out of the shadows, becoming a precious testimony to the horrors of the South African segregationist regime.
FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA
It was through discovering Henri Cartier-Bresson's Moscow that Ernest Cole, born Ernest Levi Tsoloane Kole in a Transvaal township, chose his way of documenting daily life in his country. An inhumane existence of institutionalized racial discrimination that he immortalized in photographs often taken under restrictive conditions, while hidden or on the move.
A revolutionary book resulted ten years later, House of Bondage (1967), which was immediately censored and forced him into exile in 1966. He managed to flee the Republic of South Africa and settled in cosmopolitan New York. In 1968, the apartheid regime forbade him from returning, condemned him to exile, and revoked his South African passport.
Thanks to these substantial black and white and color archives, Raoul Peck retraces and reconstructs Ernest Cole's journey, a journey fraught with contradictions. Arriving in America, his new land of freedom, where he believes he has finally put segregation behind him, he is confronted with the ignominy of the Southern states and the struggle for civil rights.
« When I was photographing in South Africa, I was afraid of being arrested every day. In the southern United States, I was afraid of being killed. " he admits as the pages unfold.
INHUMANITY REPEATED BY THE IMAGE
In this journey strewn with traumas and obstacles, Ernest Cole nevertheless managed to obtain a grant from the Ford Foundation, to collaborate with Magnum Photos and to publish his work in various magazines, such as Drum and the New York Times.
Stern magazine also eventually published his photos, after initially rejecting them, following the assassination of South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, who defined apartheid as "a system of good neighborliness." Throughout his wanderings, Ernest Cole was never able to adapt to his new life, grappling with the same struggles. I'm homesick and I can't go back He writes.
In the late 1970s, his mental and physical health declined. He stopped working as a photographer, fell into poverty, and lived as a homeless person. He died at the age of 49 from pancreatic cancer, a week after the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990, who would receive the Nobel Peace Prize three years later and become, the following year, the first black president of the Rainbow Nation.
Whether in Africa, Sweden, or America, segregation relentlessly pursued Ernest Cole. With this book and documentary, Raoul Peck offers redress. He pays tribute to Cole, who, like so many others, had the courage to stand up against apartheid, offering a profound analysis of the concepts and torments of exile based on invaluable research.
ERNEST COLE, PHOTOGRAPHER
BY ERNEST COLE AND RAOUL PECK
DENOËL PUBLISHING, OCTOBER 2024
VELVET FILM OCTOBER 2024
DENOEL.FR
