Artist Feature, November 2023: Ernest Cole

Ernest Cole

South Africa, 1940-1990

“[A]nything I say cannot be written in the newspapers, but that doesn’t matter. It’ll stand in the future because I’m sure South Africa will be free.”

Ernest Cole

Ernest Cole, Untitled, 1960, Gelatin silver print, 6 5/8 × 9 15/16" (16.8 × 25.3 cm)

Ernest Cole, 'Untitled' c. 1960, Gelatin silver print, 6 3/4 × 9 11/16" (17.2 × 24.6 cm)

Ernest Cole, Untitled, c. 1970, Gelatin Silver Print, 7 13/16 × 11 9/16" (19.9 × 29.4 cm)

Ernest Cole, born in South Africa in 1940, is known for his work documenting the realities of apartheid in South Africa in the 1950-60’s. Discovering his interest in photography early in his life, his young career started as a photographer’s apprentice in Johannesberg, and worked his way to freelancing for multiple magazines, covering news and social issues in South Africa. Inspired to raise international awareness of the brutal realities of apartheid, he created House of Bondage, a book featuring his photography accompanied by texts and explanatory captions. He left South Africa for Paris and London in 1966 for the book to be published in 1967, which was banned in his home country a few months later. Cole settled in the United States and died in 1990 having never returned to South Africa. 

House of Bondage was republished in 2022, and he is continually known for his bravery for raising worldwide awareness of apartheid and portrayal of everyday lives of black South Africans with warmth and empathy.   

His work is currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art. 

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Resources:

https://www.moma.org/calendar/galleries/5591

https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/liberation-history-timeline-1940-1949#:~:text=The%201940s%20were%20characterised%20by,during%20the%201920s%20and%201930s.