ISTD 2012 // It happened on this day
From the 2012 ISTD brief, I chose the topic 'It happened on this day'.
During the end of Apartheid in South Africa there occurred a hidden war in the Soweto hostels between the ANC voting Xhosas and the IFP voting Zulus. They murdered each other brutally within a blink of an eye. During these times the Bang Bang Club, a group of four photographers namely Joao Silva, Greg Marinovich, Ken Oosterbroek and Kevin Carter, came together to document this hidden war. I chose the photograph taken by Greg Marinovich on 15 September 1990. This photograph, Human Torch, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1991.
LindsayeTshabalala, a Zulu, got off the train at Inhalaze station in the Soweto township on 15 September 1990. The Xhosa residents immediately targeted him as an enemy spy, and dragged him into the township. The crowds attacked the Zulu with hitting, kicking and stabbing him with a bowie knife. After a while of beating he lied almost dead on the ground. Marinovich was present the whole time and tried to stop the beating but couldn't do much because he was an outsider who could very easily become the enemy too. A Xhose boy poured petrol from a molotov cocktail over the body of the Zulu and lit it. The Zulu jumped up and tried to run away from the pain. A Xhosa man ran in from the lefthand side and slammed a machete into the blazing skull of the Zulu. It is at this moment that Marinovich captures this horrifying event on film.
I only made use of this one image throughout the book, distorting and cutting it into pieces. I also only used orange with the black and grey to emphasize the color of the blazing human torch. In the photograph there are three parties present: The blazing Zulu, the Xhosa hitting the Zulu with a machete over the head and a young Xhosa boy running past. They represent the three parties on this event: the Zulu, the Xhosa community and the photographer only running by. For this reason I divided the book into three sections and used a three-column grid layout. I tried to emphasize the cut into the blazing Zulu's head throughout the book by cutting into type in different ways. I made use of Courier, to covey the feeling of documenting an historical event, and Akzidenz-Grotesk which was used on protest posters during the Apartheid.
I received a ISTD merit award for this project.
I received a ISTD merit award for this project.
Book cover
Into page
Content page
A representation of the Soweto township and the train rail from above.
The type on the righthand side is printed on see through waxpaper which reveals the township map underneath.
First section divider
I laid out the type on the righthand side to create the look of the casspir's tire tracks in the mud.
Second section divider
In this spread I tried to create the feel of the crowds in the township chasing the victim into the township.
The corner of the righthand page is cut off to emphasize the moment the machete is sung into the blazing skull of the victim.
Third section divider
The South African media industry didn't want to publish this photograph because it is to graphic. The moment it was sent over seas, it was published in almost every newspaper.
The black lines is metaphorical of South AFrica trying to cover up the events of the day, but the photograph is evidence of the happening on this day.
Throughout the book Totsitaal is used. Totsitaal is the local slang used by the Xhosa speaking people. Here I give the english translation of these words.
