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Each picture simply demands all your attention, passion and respect. The artistic
grace, emotional intelligence
and the self application to his talent is clearly seen
as he describes each one.
Despite numerous arrests,
harassment and detention Alfred continued to force
the world to acknowledge reality of South African politics
in the 1960’s.
His recipe for success: “Being able to sneak photo’s”
Believing determination brings reward and
being a perfectionist in
everything he attempts. Even if it meant scrubbing the kitchen floor as a
young boy,
or puttingyour camera in a vegetable bag in order to freeze frame
police arresting Winnie Mandela outside her
house.
“..the beauty that is life in South Africa.”
Alfred’s museum has been running for two years. He also runs a
photography school for people from
disadvantaged backgrounds. This is a
pilot project and will expand to Tanzania, Ethiopia and Swaziland.
Through sponsorships he has been able to provide these
opportunities to his community.
Company’s like
Daimler Chrysler, The Italian NGO’s, Movimodo
and IBM were pillars in the construction of his dream, and
he
extends a deep gratitude to these people who are willing to
pick up the flag and lead other companies
into the future
of our country.
Kumalo’s playful and
positive character shines through in his light blue eyes.
He is a man with a
contagious laugh and amazing
eye for the beauty that lies in ordinary things, the
beauty that is life in
South Africa.
By Izane Mynhardt
The Order of Ikhamanga in Silver Awarded to Alfred
Kumalo for his excellent contribution to documentary
photography and
journalism in South Africa. Alf Kumalo was born in Johannesburg and
matriculated at the
Wilberforce Institute in Evaton. He started his
working career as journalist in 1951, freelancing for
Bantu World.
As
young man, Kumalo had been captivated by the visual impact of the printed
picture, especially its ability
to capture permanently the essence of
what is seen or imagined, and to freeze moments in time, even trying
his hand at drawing scenes which caught his attention. Having experienced
the matchless facility of the
camera to capture the image, Kumalo’s
childhood obsession inevitably led him to follow the profession of
photography.
In the course of and illustrious career as a documentary photographer
for over half a century, Kumalo’s
has documented the life and times
of the evolving South Africa, both the common place and the historic.
Kumalo documented their inter alia, the Treason Trial, the resurgence
of the trade unions in the 1970s, the
emergence of Black Consciousness,
the Student Uprising of 1976, the state of emergency of the 1980s, the
unbanning of the liberation movements, the Codesa talks, the first democratic
elections and the inauguration
of the first democratic government. His
drive to capture the moment allowed him the privilege of witnessing
and recording extraordinary moments. Over the years, his work has been
published in most South African
newspapers and journals and in many
cross the globe, including the Observer (UK) New York Times, New York
Post, The Sunday Independent (UK).
Most recently, Khumalo was given
the singular honour of exhibiting a collection of his life’s work at
he 59th
Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in
September 2004, an exhibition that drew much
acclaim. Despite his age,
Khumalo continues to work professionally and to dedicate his time and
effort to
promoting his craft. In an effort to ensure that a new generation
of South African photographers emerge and
to make sure that aspiring
photographers do not face the same obstacles he did when he started
out, he has
opened photographic school in Diepkloof Soweto, which offers
nine-month courses designed to train
photographers from disadvantaged
back grounds.
South Africa will for all time be indebted to this outstanding
documentary photographer whose immense body
of work stands as a monument
to his perseverance and to the dedication to his art, as well as to
the struggles
that have won us freedom and democracy.
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