In 2004, Anne Rearick set out to meet the Xhosa people, a Black community living in two townships near Cape Town. Over the course of more than ten years, she returned regularly—especially to Langa—where she forged deep and intimate bonds with its residents. It took all those years to truly grasp the reality of South African society. In the beginning, Rearick sensed the hope that followed the end of apartheid. Twenty years later, that hope has faded; the society is disillusioned, worn down by economic segregation. Violence, murder, alcoholism, and illness are part of daily life in the township...And yet, her photographs reveal something else entirely: they capture the beauty within the everyday.
With restraint and poetry, Anne Rearick bears witness. This work was exhibited at Visa pour l’Image in Perpignan in 2014 and was awarded the Roger Pic Prize (SCAM) on that occasion. In 2016, the book—featuring a foreword by Sipho Mpongo and Philipp Prodger—was a jury favorite for the 2016 Prix Nadar.
