1999 Photo Contest, Portraits, 1st prize
Photographer

Jodi Bieber

for The National Arts Council of South Africa

01 January, 1998

Ouma (grandmother) Johanna Cloete sits with her son and holds a picture of her late husband. About 500 people make up the community of Eksteenfontein in the semi-desert of Richtersveld in the Northern Cape, South Africa. The village has a liquor store, two shops, a community hall, a guesthouse, two churches and a shebeen (informal drinking place) - but no electricity. Historically known as the Bosluis Basters, the residents are of both white and colored (mixed race) origin. Under the apartheid government, Eksteenfontein was declared a 'colored area'. Many whites married to coloreds gave up their race status in order to remain with their families.

About the photographer

Jodi Bieber

Jodi Bieber is a photographer from South Africa whose work explores contemporary issues related to gender, politics and identity, often contradicting the mainstream media narrati...

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