Search for content, post, videos

40 ans de photojournalisme, Génération agences, by Michel Setboun and Marie Cousin #13

Preview

This image is taken from Michel Setboun’s third book about agencies. Eighty reporters were chosen to comment on one iconic image  taken during their careers. The image we’re publishing today is a picture by Yves Gellie.

In South Africa in the 1990s, the war between Inkatha and the ANC was raging. I covered the campaign of Mangosuthu Buthelezi, a political leader of the Zulu Inkatha party. He was the main opponent of Nelson Mandela, who was then leader of the ANC. Buthelezi shared power with the king, Goodwill Zwelithini, who still exerted much influence.

During this report, I witnessed a strange scene in Ulundi, in the former capital of Zululand. It was an initiation ceremony that brought together a thousand virgins armed with green bamboo. In their midst, a young Zulu albino. The image is so powerful. It was like an apparition.

The photo was never published, although my agency sent it to the Word Press. Benetton saw it, and then it appeared around the world, including on the cover of Polynation, an album by the South African rock group Electric Petals. The image had no relationship to the political situation at the time, but it was prescient nonetheless. In the following years, many photographers began looking at the fate of albinos.

Interview by Sarra Ben Chérifa

http://www.yvesgellie.com

Create an account or log in to read more and see all pictures.

Install WebApp on iPhone
Install WebApp on Android