Interpreting images from South African family photographic collections of the Anglo-Boer War period 1899 to 1902

Abstract

Photography’s truth telling technology enticed early photographers to capture images of war such as the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902. Many of these images include family photographic collections that were taken in and around the concentration camps. These images offer us valuable messages. Photography performs an important role in expressing people’s complex relationships in the identity of cultural groups and a national belonging. This study strives to unravel the potential reasons for the way that society chose to visually represent itself. The question of why a photograph was made involves an understanding of the social, cultural and historical relationships figured in the image, as well as a larger set of relationships outside and beyond the frame. The social aspects of a photograph incorporate the purpose of both the sitters and the photographers as reflected in their decisions to take particular styles of pictures. Posed photographs in particular, provide reliable evidence of how people want to express their identity. Many of the Anglo-Boer War family and portrait photographs are formally posed and could provide evidence of the sitters’ ambition, their dreams and their relationship with processes and people outside the picture frame. A heuristic interpretation of a sample of posed family photographs of the Anglo-Boer War indicate that the sitters sought an identity of respect, and projected a unified family despite their somber adversary. These images reflect a relationship between history and memory and present the past as it was. This research will contribute to our understanding of the value of photography in the lives of South Africans, why time and funds were spent on this activity and why family photographic collections were seen as valuable

Fotografie se waarheidsvertellingstegnologie het vroeëre fotograwe genoodsaak om beelde gedurende die Anglo-Boere-Oorlog 1899-1902 vas te vang. Baie van die fotobeelde sluit in familie versamelings wat in en rondom die omgewing van die konsentrasiekampe geneem is. Hierdie beelde bied aan ons waardevolle boodskappe. Fotografie voer ’n belangrike rol om mense se komplekse verhoudings in die indentiteit van kultuurgroepe en nasionale belang uit te beeld. Hierdie studie poog om die moontlike redes te ontbloot hoe en waarom die gemeenskap hulself visueel wou uitbeeld. Die vraag waarom die foto gemaak is, beklemtoon ‘n begrip van sosiale, kulturele en geskiedkundige verhoudings, verbeeld in ‘n foto, asook die breēr verhoudings buite en verby die raam. Die sosiale aspekte van ’n foto inkorporeer die doel van beide die gefotografeerde en die fotograaf en dit reflekteer hulle besluitneming vir die spesifieke aard van foto’s. Met spesifieke geposeerde foto’s word betroubare bewyse gelewer van hoe mense hulself en hulle identiteit wou uitdruk. Verskeie van die Anglo-Boere-Oorlog familie- en portretfoto’s wat geneem is, is amptelik formeel geposeer om die model se ambisies, hulle drome en hulle verhoudinge met mense buite die raam te voorsien. ’n Heuristiese interpretasie as ‘n voorbeeld en openbaring van opgestelde familie foto’s gedurende die Anglo-Boere-Oorlog, om aan te dui dat die modelle gehunker het na ‘n identiteit van respek, en ’n geprojekteerde verenigde familie ten spyte van hul somber teenstand. Die foto’s se verhouding tussen geskiedenis en herinneringe en met die verlede word hierin gereflekteer. Die studie sal bydra tot ons begrip en waarde van fotografie in die lewe van Suid-Afrikaners, hoekom fondse en tyd op die wyse aangewend is en waarom fotografiese familieversamelings as waardevol gesien is.