N Botha: Opening of World Press Photo Exhibition

20 July 2006

Programme Director,
Your Excellency, Deputy Ambassador Mrs Wolters,
Ms Kerchoff and Mr Vles of the World Press Photo Foundation,
Embassy officials and officials of the WPP Foundation,
Members of the jury,
Representatives of Vulindlela Communications,
World Press representatives,
Members of the South African media,
Representatives of the business community,
Representatives of the sponsors of this exhibition,
Government officials,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen:

A very good evening to you all and may I also officially welcome all our
guests from the Netherlands and visitors from other parts of the world to our
very beautiful country, South Africa.

It is indeed an honour and a great pleasure for me to be invited to open the
50th World Press Photo (WPP) Exhibition in South Africa. I would like to
sincerely thank the World Press Photo Foundation for choosing to bring the
exhibition to South Africa once again.

I understand that the World Press Photo Foundation (WPPF) is an independent
non-governmental organisation (NGO) which was founded in the Netherlands in
1955. Its mission is “to encourage high professional standards in
photojournalism and to promote a free and unrestricted exchange of
information”.

In addition to organising what we consider to be the world’s largest and
prestigious annual press photography competitions and exhibitions, it also runs
seminars and workshops throughout the world.

The competitions create a worldwide overview of how press photographers
tackle their work. I believe that it is the only international event of this
stature which does not simply bring together pictures from all parts of the
globe but also reflects trends and developments in photojournalism, revealing
how the press gives us the news.

As far as I can remember it is the second time that South Africa has been
privileged to host the WPP travelling exhibition. I am not certain whether it
has travelled to any of our sister countries on the African continent.
Nevertheless I would like to thank the WPPF and everyone who has been involved,
for giving us another opportunity to enrich our visual experience with these
photographs.

This exhibition comprises of 65 images of the finest press photographs of
2005, selected from over 83 000 images submitted by 4 448 most accomplished
photographers from 122 countries. Amongst the 65 winning pictures are five by
South African photographers with two first, two second and one third prize in
five different categories. I think that you will agree with me that this is
quite an accomplishment. Congratulations to all the 65 photojournalists for
this achievement. I am particularly delighted that Shayne, Pieter, Sydney, Joao
and Halden have made it into first, second and third place in their respective
categories. Well done! You’ve done South Africa proud.

Photography has always since the first camera was commercially available
been used to document daily life and to record special moments and happenings.
This would become and still is important for future generations to see how
things were done, how they happened, sad and joyous, strange and peculiar
moments in nature, sport, politics and social life.

The use of the traditional camera and the processes involved in taking and
developing a photograph has improved immensely and with the development of
technology into the digital era, taking photographs has become much easier in
the last few years. Unfortunately this has a negative side to it because it has
taken away some of the romanticism and exclusivity of taking a photograph and
the developing processes.

The taking of a good photograph needs a good camera and involves the trained
eye, the skills and the time. Time is so important when a photograph is taken
because within seconds the moment of capturing could be lost. Time is the key
to creating a photograph of this quality that we see tonight. I must say, I
have had my moments too of attempting the skill and I must confess I have not
been very successful. That was before the digital camera came into
existence.

Photography is a medium as well as an art form that is understood by almost
everyone: the educated, the uneducated, the young and the old. The message and
the visual impact of a photograph on the viewer is one that can evoke
happiness, sadness, fear, hope, love and hate. I would dare to say that a
photograph is in many instances easier to understand than other art form. More
people can identify themselves with images portrayed. It is a universal
language.

Photojournalism has also played a significant role in capturing some epoch
defining moments in socio historical developments throughout the world. The
photograph capturing the last moments of Hector Pieterson 30 years ago for
example, continues to serve as glue in our collective memory as a nation. It
also serves as both an emotional and symbolic link which roots the aspirations
of our democracy with the international values of human rights. In fact such
images signify our shared history and humanity’s heritage.

Besides the public viewing of this exhibition, I am told that there will be
schools guided tours, girl learner guided tours and photographic workshops
which will be conducted amongst others by past and present WPP winners. The
workshops will be conducted in collaboration with the Market Photo Workshop.
This training will include skills development in basic photography and visual
literacy.

I am also very excited and grateful that there will be special focus on
girls to promote women photographers as we are celebrating the 50th anniversary
of the protest march of over 20 000 women to the Union Buildings on 9 August
1956. It is, indeed, a noble way of honouring those gallant women.

I trust that those that will benefit from this experience will invest their
expertise in those that follow so that we can continue this chain of knowledge
and appreciation. In our society of today it is important that an approach be
built on accepting the innate creativity of all people. A commitment must be
made to giving everybody equal access to art and cultural resources and
actively encouraging our rich culture to express itself creatively through art,
design, music, photography and other means.

Given that the arts have an important role to play in education, the economy
and social well-being, we want to see the arts grow without dictating directly
or indirectly what they should be doing creatively. A vibrant, active and
independent artistic community should therefore be the fabric of the society.
This initiative by the WPP is contributing largely to this development of the
arts. The social and economic potential of press photography should not be
undervalued.

Exhibitions are an educational tool to assist the formal educators to
communicate and to implement new ideas within the photographic industry, whilst
simultaneously promoting the future development of artistic and scientific
talents of the already established skills of the industry. The education and
job opportunities within the photographic arena have been sadly neglected and
unfortunately the digital era has not contributed greatly to the artistic
quality of photography.

The value and contribution of photography to the cultural and social life of
the community is often undervalued. The ordinary citizen often does not have
the means to develop such an industry. Photography can provide a means to
generate income for people and can contribute significantly to job-creation. We
have not acknowledged photography as a sustainable industry and it has been
largely part of the so-called second economy. It, therefore, needs to be
developed into a viable industry.

We are involved in a very complex society and transitions taking place every
day. We need to manage this transition carefully to establish a strong civil
society with vigilant and responsible citizens for a democratic culture to
flourish in this splendid country of ours. The visual image of this complex
society is brought forward by exhibitions like the one that we are viewing here
tonight. This exhibition should serve as an incentive to the industry to make a
difference in our society.

Our history in South Africa is told by photographs by our own world-class
photographers like Jurgen Schadeberg, Alf Khumalo, Bob Gosani and Peter
Magubane. Women photographers like Lien Botha and Neo Ntsoma. As an
award-winning graduate of Cape University of Technology and Technikon Pretoria,
Ntsoma says, “I fell in love with the medium and never looked back. Memories
from my childhood which I never captured on camera came back with such clarity.
It felt like I had a calling to make the past live forever in images.” She has
since won the CNN African Journalist of the Year photographic award and the
National Geographic photo award for her project South African Youth Identity
Document (ID): kwaito culture, which was showing recently in New York.

Photographers like Roger Ballen born in New York and living in South Africa
for the last 30 years, who is known for his social comment in his publications
also explores the shadow chamber of existence in his work and takes major leaps
forward into a metaphoric dimension with multiple conscious and unconscious
meaning. With his work he creates a way of seeing that makes an important and
historic contribution to art photography.

Photography has assisted us in reconstructing our history and to deal with
the unfortunate past. We have entered the “Age of Hope” and our photographs
should depict that and contribute to the upliftment of our society. We have an
opportunity and a responsibility to inform the community and the world of
events and daily happenings around the globe. These visuals impact on our
emotions and intellect. They inform us of injustices done to human and animal,
the joys of celebration of a new life and the sadness of losing a life.

When we recently celebrated the 1976 Youth Uprisings on 16 June photographs
once again played an important role in remembering this time in our rich
history. Also on 9 August when we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the women’s
march to the Union Buildings we will again exhibit photographs that were taken
on this day 50 years ago which are still playing a crucial role in history,
constantly reminding us of what happened on that day.

Press photographs form the backbone of our national archives.
Photojournalist like Peter Magubane and others have made a valuable
contribution to the recording of our new history and the rewriting of our past
history that was distorted, which is now preserved in our archives for future
generations.

The photographer as artistic expressionist contributes to the process of
sharing a common interest and in creating communication channels between
generations and between diverse cultures. Through the lens of the camera a
history is written of diverse cultures, a growing democracy and the building of
a strong nation.

I am aware that the issue of intellectual property rights and the royalties
that photographers receive for their photographs, if any, are of great concern.
I therefore urge photojournalists and other photographers to engage in
discussion and debate around this matter and find a possible solution.

Your Excellency, Deputy Ambassador Wolters, may I also take this opportunity
to thank the people of the Netherlands, our friends, for the support they gave
the oppressed people of South Africa during the very difficult times under
apartheid. We can never stop thanking you for what you did for us. We are
sincerely grateful for your support.

Last year we were privileged to receive the audiovisual archives of the
Dutch anti-apartheid movement here in South Africa. The permanent return of
these images portray a significant contribution which journalists from all over
the world made in capturing images of our struggle for democracy and
freedom.

In some parts of the world and here in South Africa such valour was met with
suppression and in some instances it even meant death. We should, therefore,
take this occasion as an opportunity to pay tribute to those brave journalists
who sacrificed their lives in the process of upholding the democratic values
and principles of press freedom, freedom of expression.

And now I have the pleasure of declaring the World Press Photo Exhibition
officially open.

To all our international guests, please enjoy your stay in our beautiful
country and may you have a great evening.

I thank you!

Issued by: Department of Arts and Culture
20 July 2006
Source: Department of Arts and Culture (http://www.dac.gov.za/)