July 7, 2004
By Chandrea Gerber
A 25-year retrospective of the life and work of Paul Weinberg, a photographer and social historian, is now on show at PhotoZA in Rosebank.
'Travelling Light' - an exhibition and a book - reflects on a life spent capturing the everyday lives of ordinary people.
Weinberg, one of South Africa's foremost photographers, is described as "a leading social-documentary photographer who sustains a spiritual and spirited focus on the land and indigenous populations".
His photographic journey is presented as a lyrical narrative that begins on the streets of Johannesburg in the 1970s and ends in rural and desert landscapes of the new millennium.
"The images presented here have taken me on a long ride from city to the bush and all that lies between, metaphorically and literally," explains Weinberg.
"When I began taking photographs it was in the context of a land divided. I now live in a country ostensibly united. Politically, at least, we have come full circle," he says.
But 'Travelling Light' is not a political narrative or a documentary of the past; rather, the images are an observation of the lives of ordinary people and their choices as they struggle to overcome the limiting circumstances of their lives.
In this, they become reflective of the tenor of their times. "These photographs capture glimpses of life between the cracks before, after and while the political wheel was turning."
Paul Weinberg's work is seen as an observation of the lives of ordinary people
Most of the images had, until now, been unpublished as they were taken in a time when there was no space for the ordinary. They "fell through the cracks" because they were considered "too off-beat to make it".
Much of his work concerns the environment and how people survive: "How they reflected themselves and how I absorbed their reflections, how they danced with reality, made light in the dark spaces, embraced each other at great risk."
The personal engagement Weinberg brings to his photographs is key to his narrative; this is a collection of moments he has cherished.
"Each image is a little caught moment, a vivid reminder of my own inner journey and my privileged interface with the reality of other people's lives."
The images tell the story of the photographer's interaction with the situations he encountered, of the choices he made - and the stories that emerged through the lens of his camera.
The book 'Travelling Light' is published by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Press and comprises 90 images, complemented by private observations from the diaries Weinberg kept throughout the years.
The exhibition, an edited version of the book, comprises 45 framed images with an introduction and captions.
The 'Travelling Light' exhibition at PhotoZA, on the upper level of Mutual Square at 153 Oxford Road in Rosebank, will run until 27 July.
The gallery is open on Monday to Friday, from 10am to 5pm, and on Saturdays, from 9am to 2pm. For more information phone PhotoZA on 011 880 0833.
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