David Goldblatt has photographed the changing political landscape of his native South Africa for over five decades. His documentation of the country throughout the period of Apartheid and its aftermath has established him as the ‘father of South African documentary photography’. However, Goldblatt himself resists being labelled as such. His photographs carefully observe the social, cultural and economic divides that characterise the country and include the series and publications ‘On the Mines’ (1973) ‘Some Afrikaners Photographed’ (1975) ‘Lifetimes under Apartheid’ (1986) ‘The Transported of KwaNdebele’ (1989) and ‘South Africa: the Structure of Things Then’ (1998). In 1989, Goldblatt founded The Market Photography Workshop in Johannesburg. Its aim was to teach visual literacy and photographic skills to young people, particularly those affected by apartheid.

Boksburg is a town in the eastern sprawl of the greater Johannesburg area. From 1979-80, Goldblatt photographed the town and its inhabitants in order to examine life in what he describes as a typical ‘small-town, middle-class, white community’. Goldblatt’s photographs capture everyday scenes and social rituals in a segregated society, a society he describes as being ‘shaped by white dreams and white proprieties’.