Sunday 5 February, 2023 12.30 - 13.30 | Koninklijke Foyer, International Theatre Amsterdam
Joumana El Zein Khoury, Els Barents, Farren van Wyk. Host: Ikenna Azuike
House of Bondage became an instant bestseller when it was first published in 1967. The photographs by Ernest Cole, himself born in South Africa, pictured how life really looked in apartheid’s cruel systems of legal racism, humiliation and exploitation. The book was immediately banned in South Africa and Ernest Cole fled into exile, spending many years in Sweden and the United States.
Despite its initial success, the book was not republished during Cole’s lifetime, and he died a week after Nelson Mandela was released from jail. Now, at last, House of Bondage has finally been republished in a new edition released at the end of 2022. As part of FACE FORWARD, broadcaster Ikenna Azuike will join the director of World Press Photo, Joumana El Zein Khoury, Dutch/South African photographer Farren van Wyk, and Els Barents, the former director of the Huis Marseille Foundation for Photography, for a discussion of the book’s enduring significance and Cole’s legacy.
World Press Photo’s director, Joumana El Zein Khoury was formerly the director of the Prince Claus Fund and the Lutfia Rabbani Foundation for Euro-Arab exchange. Born in Lebanon, she studied art and law in New York and Paris. She has a long track record of cultural exchange, developing programs and nurturing new talent.
Farren van Wyk was born in South Africa and partly raised in the Netherlands. She has a truly dual perspective on her country, which is visible in her work. Her photographs show how she tries to come to terms with two sides of facing colonialism, the slave trade and apartheid. Van Wyk was the first recipient of the PH Museum Women Photographers Grant. Her work has been featured at the Melkweg Amsterdam, Through The Lens Collective in Johannesburg and Photoville in New York, among other venues.
Els Barents is a curator, historian, writer and collector. She studied art history at Leiden University. She worked as the photography curator for the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the deputy head of exhibitions at the Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst in The Hague and an advisor at the Dutch Department of Foreign Affairs.
Ikenna Azuike is a lawyer turned journalist and filmmaker. He focuses on sustainability, social justice, human rights and democracy. Azuike is known for his satirical and pop culture show What's Up Africa, which is broadcast on BBC World. His documentary series Planet Nigeria was broadcast by BNN VARA, and he also created The Post Racist Planet for VPRO.
