Introduction
BaileySeippel Gallery is the first gallery in South Africa to specialize solely in African photography. Situated at Arts on Main, the new hotspot for art and culture in the heart of Johannesburg’s central business district, the young gallery features unique photographs and material from Bailey’s African History Archive as well as it represents contemporary African documentary photographers, such as Cedric Nunn and Paul Weinberg. The gallery started in the spring of 2009 with a group exhibition, presenting photographers from the African DRUM Magazine.
On a national level, the gallery has been received with great success and was invited to participate in the Johannesburg Art Fair in 2010 and 2011.
It cooperates with institutions such as the South African National Gallery, the Durban Art Gallery, the Johannesburg Art Gallery and the Pretoria Art Museum, for instance by providing art works on loan.
The greatest external project, which the BaileySeippel Gallery produced, is “South African Photography 1950-2010”. The exhibition reveals an extensive insight into South Africa’s history, beginning with the topic of Apartheid, continuing with the struggle and ending in freedom and democracy. Opening in three cities in Germany: Berlin, Ulm and Goch, it continued to be shown in Cologne, Johannesburg, and Pretoria. In future it will be shown in Sylt, Brussels, Hannover, East London, and Cape Town.
While in the beginning the gallery focussed on South African photography from the 1950s until the present, we are currently focussing on also presenting the young generation of photographers in South Africa, discovering new talents and supporting the next generation. In the future we intend on extending this focus of the gallery’s repertory to include further African countries.
In this year’s Paris Photo, the BaileySeippel Gallery intends to focus on two main aspects. As a first focus, we are planning on presenting a fine selection of historical photographs from the early African DRUM Magazine. These images from the 1950s and 1980s, include some of the most iconic photographs of South African documentary photography of that period, such as Bob Gosani’s famous shot of the young Nelson Mandela boxing on a roof top in Johannesburg during a break from the Treason Trial in 1957, or Sam Nzima’s photograph of the young Hector Peterson dying in the arms of Mbuyiswa Makhubu after he had been shot by the police during the student protests on June 16th 1976. Alongside, photographs from Ranjith Kally, G.R. Naidoo, Paul Weinberg, and other DRUM photographers will be shown. The African DRUM Magazine was THE magazine created especially for and read by the black population. It was the means of documenting and communicating stories, highlighting news on sports, fashion, dance, music and politics.
As a second focus, we would like to display a selection of Cedric Nunn’s work from 1970 to the present-day with regard to his large solo show, a mid-life retrospective, touring throughout South Africa from autumn 2011. Subsequently the exhibition will be coming to Europe. Cedric Nunn, born in 1957 in Nongoma, Kwazulu. Mainly in black and white photographs, he documented the late years of Apartheid and the struggle in the 1980s. In his photographs he explores the different aspects of human society, behaviours, family trees and roots, life in the country and in the city. His motives are people.
What is your point of view on the financial side of the photographic market today ?
The art market in South Africa is quite young. It was established in 1994 after the end of apartheid and the cultural boycott. Since then the significance of photography in South Africa increased in the last few years. This is shown by a growing number of exhibitions and collectors being interested in photography.
As in the past the international market was focusing on work of contemporary photographers, today there is growing interest in historic photography from South Africa. This can be observed in major international collections.
Dr. Ralf-P. Seippel, BaileySeippel Gallery Johannesburg
Artists exhibited
Bob Gosani, Ranjith Kally, G.R. Naidoo, Cedric Nunn, Sam Nzima, Unknown Drum Photographers , Paul Weinberg
Bailey Seippel
Stand : A13
Arts on Main
2094, Johannesburg Afrique du Sud
T. +27 71 227 0910
