“Two young men, one black, the other white, walk side by side with their cameras around their necks. In a country long divided by apartheid, the duo stood out. It all started with a desire to explore this unknown territory, this Afrikaner neighborhood that seemed so difficult to penetrate. ” Cyprien Clément-Delmas
On the occasion of the PhotoSaintGermain festival, Rubis Mécénat presents “Daleside”, an assignment to French photographer Cyprien Clément-Delmas and to South African photographer Lindokuhle Sobekwa, member of the Of Soul and Joy project and partner of Magnum Photos. This photographic assignment initiated by Rubis Mécénat in 2015 documents Daleside, an Afrikaner suburb located south-east of Johannesburg in South Africa.
In the space of a decade, Daleside has become a place of isolation, a ghost town. Together, the two photographers painted a portrait of Daleside, approached the places and the inhabitants, mostly minors or small peasants, awakening their dreams or revealing their distress. In front of the lens of Cyprien Clément-Delmas, the characters offer a worthy presence nourished by a dream disconnected from reality. In Lindokuhle Sobekwa’s landscape portraits, there is no escape from the reality which, beyond the implacable black-white binarity, grasp the same poverty for whites or blacks, forgotten in our societies, lost in the dead end of a non-future. This mirrored portrait of Daleside constitutes a substantial corpus, the striking reading of which is accomplished in pairs of images or in isolation.
Cyprien Clément-Delmas was one of the mentors of young photographer Lindokuhle Sobekwa as part of the Of Soul and Joy project led by Rubis Mécénat in Thokoza, South Africa.
The latter has since become a partner of the Magnum Photos agency.
This exhibition is also the opportunity to unveil an eponymous book, published by GOST Books and Rubis Mécénat. The original format favors the double reading of the photographs, in a dialogue in which the sensitive and relevant perceptions of the two photographers respond to each other, echoing our contemporary world.
CYPRIEN CLÉMENT-DELMAS (born in 1986)
is a French photographer and filmmaker, he lives and works in Barcelona. Through his documentary approach, he delves into the universe of communities, of which he creates an intimate and realistic portrait over several years. He made his first feature documentary, Boy of War, which follows a young Ukrainian soldier who goes to the front lines.
Several of his short films have won awards at festivals (Intrusion, Day One, The last Tape).
At the same time, he was hired alongside Rubis Mécénat to conduct photographic workshops for young people in the townships of Johannesburg (South Africa) with Of Soul and Joy and of Kingston (Jamaica) with InPulse. He also takes part in workshops in prisons.
LINDOKUHLE SOBEKWA (born in 1995)
is a South African photographer and associate member of Magnum Photo since 2020, he lives and works in Thokoza. He discovered photography thanks to Of Soul and Joy in 2012. Since then, the project has supported him by granting him study grants, by accompanying him through residency programs, exhibitions, editions and mentoring with international institutions and photo agencies.
In 2017, he received the Photography and Social Justice grant from the Magnum Foundation,
with the help of his two mentors and active members of the Of Soul and Joy project, Bieke Depoorter and Mikhael Subotzky, also members of the Magnum agency.
In 2018, he was again awarded by the Magnum Foundation for “Nyaope”, a photographic series on the use of drugs in South African townships. Since 2012, his works have been exhibited in South Africa, France, the Netherlands, Norway and Iran.
Exposition
Daleside
Cyprien Clément-Delmas et Lindokuhle Sobekwa
Curator Valérie Fougeirol
From 07 to 23 January 2021
Festival PhotoSaintGermain Rubis Mécénat hors-les-murs
12, rue Guénégaud 75006 Paris
Book
Daleside
Cyprien Clément-Delmas et Lindokuhle Sobekwa
2020 – GOST Books
Text by Sean O’Toole
187 x 253 mm
