Paul Weinberg
"For most of my adult life I have been a nomad with a camera. I have embarked on journeys that have taken me from the city to the bush and all that lies between. Travels in pursuit of questions, curiosity, or stories I have felt should be told. Some of these stories have finally ended up as books, exhibitions and films.
Some of these include :-
In Search of the San is an in depth documentation of Africa's first people, the changing lives of one time hunter gatherers who live predominantly in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa - a journey that continues
Once We Were Hunters is an exploration of how indigenous groups in southern and eastern Africa with strong roots to the land live today. The journey examines conservation, eco tourism, wildlife management and how they benefit in a modern and the challenges they face
The Fisherfolk of Kosi Bay is an exploration of this fishing community under threat at the time, who live on most the northern part of Kwa Zulu Natal, bordering with Mozambique
Moving Spirit- is a personal spiritual journey celebrating the diversity faiths and spiritual practice in our country
Travelling Light - is a kind of retrospective and a witness of the country that turned full circle. The full circle is a metaphor for living in times of apartheid to living in times of freedom. Full circle from the city to the land and all that is between.
Many of these images in Here and There are about life that fell between the cracks." Paul Weinberg
Between the cracks, life continues with its pain and joy. During the 'dark days', apartheid shadowed me on all these journeys. It was always there consciously or not. It was in the lines of people's faces or in the fascist bravado of military parades. Agricultural shows and numerous events echoed their presence. But it was the people I was looking at and watching how they reflected themselves and how I absorbed their reflections, how they danced with reality, how they made light in a dark space, how they embraced each other at great risk. (Travelling Light)
Key in Paul Weinberg's narrative are moments that he has cherished both photographic and emotional, "The images presented here have taken me on a long ride from city to the bush and all that lies between, metaphorically and literally. Each image is a little caught moment, a vivid reminder of my own inner journey and my privileged interface with the reality of other people's lives. Each photo wakes a particular memory, a recollected smell, taste and sense of the moment that was captured. But it is the experience of travelling that keeps the spirit alert and driving. It is the fleeting impression of things - that particular point on a river as your boat drifts down it, that subliminal response when you are walking in the bush, that ignites the creative spark before the shutter goes. That is the flicker that 'gets there' long before the physical response. It is the imaginative trigger that reacts instantaneously to the promise of the moment and energises the camera frame long before the finger touches the button. This is a collection of those moments." Travelling Light
Education:
1975 - 78: B.A. Natal University (Political Science and Economic History)
1978: Certificate in Photography Natal Tech 1978
2004-5: MA in Arts and Liberal Studies, Duke University, 2004-5
Awards:
Mother Jones Award (essay on the fishing community of Kosi Bay)
Poverty Exhibition (Sangoca), Johannesburg
International Focus on Women and Family Planning, Spain
MALS Program, Duke University award of excellence for final project
Photographic Books:
1986: Beyond the Barricades (Aperture), joint editor and participating photographer
1989: Shaken Roots (EDA publishers), the Bushmen of Namibia (text: Megan Biesele)
1995: An End to Waiting (Independent Electoral Commission), South Africa's 1994 elections
1997: Back to the Land (Porcupine Press), a book on the return to land of dispossessed South Africans
1998: Fault Lines (University of California Press), a book on South Africa written by David Goodman
1999: In Search of the San (Porcupine Press), photographs and text on the lives of modern Bushmen
2000: Once We Were Hunters (Mets and Schilt, David Philip), a book on indigenous peoples in Africa
2002: Durban: Impressions of an African City, (Porcupine Press) with David Robbins and Gcina Mhlophe
2002: The Church�s Secret Agent (Press), editor, anthology of South African photography, 1976-1994
2002: Group Portrait, a story of a Zulu family (Tropical Museum, Amsterdam)
2003: Let�s Eat! Children�s book on food, (Oxfam UK)
2004: Travelling Light, personal collection of 25 years photography (UKZN Press)
2006: Moving Spirit, personal journey on spirituality in southern Africa (Double Storey)
2007/9: Then and Now the work of eight photographers curated and edited by Paul Weinberg (Highveld Press)
Press and Magazine Publications:
From 1985-1998 worked regularly for Der Spiegel and Leadership magazines. Work published in South African and international publications, including: Newsweek, Time, The LA Times, New York Times, Du, The Christian Science Monitor, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Observer, The Sunday Times, The New Scotsman, Geo, National Geographic Children�s magazine, Marie-Claire, Red, Elle, Drum, Pace, Style, Sunday Life, Africa Geographic, Sawubona
Films:
1980: Dark City, about Alexandra Township, Johannesburg
1981: Part of the Process, about forced removal of the residents of Pageview
1998: Dancing with God, about the annual pilgrimage of devotees of Shembe Church, a syncretic Zulu Christian movement, KwaZulu-Natal
2004: Trancing in Dreamtime, about Aboriginal and San musicians
2005: Double Vision about the South African diasporic community in North Carolina
2008: The Road to Then and Now, a film with Roger Lucey about South African photography
Photography Exhibitions and Projects:
1982: Co-ordinated and participated in the photographic exhibition for the Culture and Resistance Festival, Gaberone, Botswana
1982: Founder member of Afrapix, a photographic collective
1983-5: Participated in and co-ordinated the Staffrider exhibition with Omar Badsha and Chris van Wyk
1983: Exhibition on communities under threat, with Omar Badsha. Essays submitted to the Carnegie Investigation into Poverty and Development,
some exhibited and published in The Cordoned Heart (WW Norton & Co., 1986)
1983: Essay on Mayfair, multiracial Johannesburg suburb, at the History Workshop
1986: Co-ordinated an exhibition on the Bushmen
Participated in Carnegie seminar on social documentary photography
Participant in the CASA exhibition, Amsterdam
1989: Going Home, joint exhibition with Santu Mofokeng on our hometowns, exhibited in Pietermaritzburg and Cape Town
1990: Participated in a Berlin joint exhibition of South African photographers
1992: Beyond the Headlines, co-editor of exhibition in Holland and elsewhere
1993: Through a Lens Darkly (six photographers), South African National Gallery
1994: A Shifting Landscape, curator, Foto Instituut, Netherlands
1995: The Forgotten People, Johannesburg Biennale, Market Gallery
1995: Kosi Bay: The survival of the fishermen, Durban Art Gallery
1996: Footprints in the Sand, exhibition on the San of Southern Africa, South African National Gallery
1997: Footprints in the Sand, exhibition on the San of Southern Africa, Museum of Ethnology, Rotterdam
1998-99: In Search of the San, solo exhibition travelled to Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Germany
1998: Kosi Bay exhibition, Oekemedia festival, Freiburg, Germany
1999: X-scape, co -curator, exhibition co-ordinated by the DCP/NSA Gallery with Nordic Countries
2000: In Search of the San, Venice, Italy
2001: The Fisherfolk of Kosi Bay, Month of Photography, Cape Town
2000: The Moving Spirit, Local History Museum, Durban; Bensusan Museum, Johannesburg (exhibition about religions and faiths)
2001: Once We Were Hunters, travelled to Namibia, Norway (Indigenous Peoples Conference, Tromso Museum)
2001: Great Photographers, curated by John Pilger, Barbican Gallery
2002: Once We Were Hunters and In Search of the San, W. Australian Museum (part of the Survival Concert and Perth Arts Festival)
2002: Once We Were Hunters, Month of Photography, SA Museum, Cape Town
2002: Durban: Impressions of an African City, NSA Gallery, Durban
2002: Group Portrait: South African Families, Tropen Museum, Amsterdam
2003: Fatherhood, essay on a father and his family in South Africa, organized by UNESCO and the HSRC
2004: Travelling Light, PhotoZA, Jo�burg, NSA Gallery, Photographers Gallery, Cape Town
2005: Travelling Light, Reynolds Theatre Duke University, Library, John Carroll University, Cleveland, USA
2006: Moving Spirit, NSA Gallery Durban ; David Krut Gallery, Johannesburg.
2007: Moving Spirit, South African Jewish Museum
2007: Moving Spirit, Noordelicht festival, Holland
2007: Then and Now, Albany Museum (curator and participant)
2008/9: Then and Now, Durban Art Gallery, Duke University, Ghent Festival Belgium, Castle Good Hope Gallery, Cape Town,
PhotoZA, Johannesburg, UNISA Gallery, Pretoria, Monarsh Gallery, Australia, Malmo Gallery, Sweden.