South Africa is a country with a complicated past. Colonization, war and racial segregation have all left their mark. Remember that the first free elections following apartheid were held as recently as 1994. For its third exhibition, the young KijK Galerie, dedicated to South African photography, will present the work of Jillian Edelstein.
The photographer took a series of portraits just after the end of apartheid, when South Africans were being asked to forgive. The result of four years of work, Truth & Lies bears witness to this reconciliation and questions the idea of South African identity. It documents the Commission of Truth and Reconciliation, which aimed to take account of the human rights violations committed during apartheid, in the hope of reconciling the South African people. In exchange for public confessions, the perpetrators of the crimes were pardoned.
Currently based in London, Jillian Edelstein was born in Cape Town. She began started out as a press photographer before moving to the UK to study photography.
The series Truth & Lies has also been made into a book.
Juliette Deschodt
EXHIBITION
Truth & Lies
May 24th – September 12th (closed July 7th – August 24th), 2012
KijK Galerie
10, rue des Jardins Saint Paul
75004 Paris
France
BOOK
1996 – 2002 : Stories from The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa
Photographs by Jillian Edelstein, introduction by Michael Ignatieff
Published in 2002 by New Press
ISBN-13: 978-1565847415
