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In the dimly lit jazz clubs of Sophiatown, the soulful sounds of saxophones, trumpets, and double basses intermingle with the flicker of camera shutters, capturing a world where joy and struggle danced in unison.
This exhibition brings together the evocative photography of Alf Kumalo, Ernest Cole, Peter Magubane, Bob Gosani, Paul Weinberg, and the pioneering Drum photographers, who documented not only the brilliance of South Africa’s jazz greats but also the resilience and dignity of those who refused to be silenced.
From the 1950s to the 1980s, jazz in South Africa was more than music — it was defiance, it was sanctuary, it was freedom. The musicians who graced the stages of shebeens and underground clubs — Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Abdullah Ibrahim, and others — crafted a sonic language of resistance, drawing on global influences while staying deeply rooted in the lived experience of apartheid South Africa. The photographers who stood in the shadows, camera in hand, chronicled this world with unflinching dedication, bearing witness to the beauty, the pain, and the unbreakable human spirit of an era defined by both oppression and artistic triumph.
Through their lenses, we see more than performances — we see laughter, camaraderie, and the quiet strength of a community refusing to be erased. In these images, the elegance of a poised musician meets the urgency of an impromptu jam session; the sharp contrast of light and shadow mirrors the realities of racial segregation and creative brilliance coexisting. These photographers did not merely document history; they participated in it, and they created it, using their work as a weapon against forgetting. — Ruarc Peffers
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As Es’kia Mphahlele once wrote in Drum, jazz in South Africa was “hammered out on the anvil of South African experience: slum living, thuggery, police raids, job-hunting, shifting ghettos.” In this context, music became both sanctuary and subversion, and the photographers who documented it were active participants in a broader struggle for representation and self-determination.
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Back o’ the Moon was both a celebration and an act of cultural preservation – ensuring that the images, like the music, endure as homage to the brilliance, resilience, and defiance of a generation.
Partners:
Peffers Fine Art · Journey to Jazz · Bailey’s African History Archive · Blackman Rossouw
Installation images: Yoav Dagan
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ALF KUMALO
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Alf Kumalo (1930–2012) was an internationally recognised photographer who stood at the forefront of documenting South Africa’s liberation history — capturing moments of both tragedy and triumph. As noted in Through My Lens: A Photographic Memoir, his work reveals unique access to iconic figures, not only from the South African struggle but also from the global stage.
Born in Utrecht, KwaZulu-Natal, Kumalo moved to Johannesburg as a young boy and became a largely self-taught photographer. He began his career at Bantu World and Golden City Post in the 1950s, freelanced for Drum magazine in the 1960s, and joined the Sunday Times in the 1970s. In the 1980s, he became part of The Star in Johannesburg.
His photographs have been published in leading international newspapers including The Observer, The New York Times, New York Post, and The Sunday Independent, and his work has been exhibited at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. Kumalo’s publications include Mandela: Echoes of an Era, Alf Kumalo: South African Photographer, Through My Lens: A Photographic Memoir, and 8115: A Prisoner’s Home.
In recognition of his extraordinary contribution to photojournalism, Kumalo received the Presidential Order of Ikhamanga in Silver in 2004 and the Nat Nakasa Award for Media Integrity in 2005.
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BACK O’ THE MOON
Past viewing_room
