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ALFRED KUMALO |
| Although Alfred Kumalo was very much a member of the group of photographers known as Drum photojournalists, some of whom were remarkable artists who brought modernism to South African photography, in many of the canonizing books of the Sophiatown Renasissance phenomenon he is not given the recognition he deserves. The reason for this perhaps is the fact that his origins as a photographer were on the pages of Bantu World newspaper, rather than Drum magazine or Golden City Post newspaper, the last two are sisterly publications that were central in the cultural formations and cultural representations of the 1950s. In the last decade of the twentieth-century, Afred Kumalo has been positioned in closer proximity to Bob Gosani, Gopal Naransamy, Lionel Oostendorp and others of the Drum ‘School’ photography. In writing the following, Jurgen Schadeberg was among the first to authoritatively to situate Kumalo where he had always been and should have been recognized as always having belonged there: “At the end of 1953, Drum publications started its sister magazine Africa, and later the Sunday paper The Golden City Post. . . . Later, in 1955, we employed the street-wise and tough Peter Magubane who joined us as a driver and messenger. He came with us on stories, assisting the photographers. His interest in picture-taking grew and he soon transferred to the photographic department. Ernest Cole, Alf Kumalo, Victor Xashimba, Gopal Naransamy and many others later joined the department. Although none of these photographers had any formal training, the pictures they produced for the magazine were unusual and outstanding in their excellence” (Images from the black ‘50s, Nedbank, Pinegowrie, 1994). Indeed, an examination of Mandela: Echoes of an Era reveals that Kumalo’s photographic style is in the same mode as that of other Drum photographers. Kobena Mercer in his brilliant encapsulated history of African photography also situates Kumalo in this context: “The key region in the burgeoning development of African photojournalism , however, was South Africa. The weekly [a monthly at the moment of its avantgarde period] Drum magazine, edited [in actual fact published rather than edited] by Jim Bailey from 1951 to 1984, combined hard-edged reportage on social injustices with lighthearted scenes of everyday life in townships. Its multiracial team of staff photographers included Bob Gosani, Ranjith Kally, G. R. Naidoo, Lionel O[o]stendorp, Jurgen Schadeberg, and Ian Berry, all of whom combined topical news and entertainment coverage in their respective portfolios. Like his contemporary Alf Kumalo who started at Bantu World, Drum photographer Peter Magubane established a career in photojournalism. Magubane was a foreign correspondent for Time magazine between 1978 and 1980, while based at the Rand Daily Mail” (http://www.africana.com/tt_376.htm). Clearly, Alfred Kumalo is one of the outstanding figures in ther visual poetics of Sophiatown Renaissance photography. | |