© Jac de Villiers

Billy Monk, "Untitled" (ca. late 1960s). Gelatin silver print, 14 x 9 in.

June 2009 Field Guide

Yinka Shonibare, MBE

Edward Tufte

Patricia Esquivias

No Sound

Richard Long

Irwin

Fleur Elise Noble

Julieta Aranda

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It might be hard to imagine that the photograph to the left was taken in South Africa during the 1960s, when apartheid was at its worst. Interior spaces, often dingy nightclubs in downtown Cape Town, became rooms of refuge — and protest — for prostitutes, transvestites, and passionate lovers, and a place to jol, which in local slang means "party" or "have a good time." Photographers like Billy Monk and Graham Goddard captured South Africa’s grimy underbelly, its occupants blithely partying despite the violence and hostility outside. This month the National Gallery presents a group exhibition of work by artists and photographers who documented the rare sparks of joyful defiance amid their nation’s harrowing instability.

iziko.org.za

"Jol" originally appeared in the Summer 2009 issue of Modern Painters. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Modern Painters' Summer 2009 Table of Contents.