Read more
HOMELANDS explores life in South Africa through the experiences of Donald Banda, who resides in an informal settlement in Pretoria. Photographs and first-person accounts reveal the complexities of social and economic inclusion in contemporary South Africa. They also speak to the universal human desire for belonging. As Donald says, "There is no place like home. But if home no longer feels like home, we are lost."
About the author
Pieter de Vos is an award-winning documentary photographer, engaged academic, and facilitator. He has a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Alberta as well as a MSc in Public Health. He is interested in questions of home, belonging, and identity. He has explored topics ranging from: the lived experiences of homeless individuals; to the community response to HIV in Canada and Haiti; to place-making in South Africa. He has enriched his practice by using participatory and arts-based methods to expand the possibilities for dialogue and collective action. His work in South Africa has been recognized by the News Photographers Association of Canada in the 2017 National Pictures of the Year Awards Competition. The photos are also winners in the photojournalism category of the PDN Photo Annual 2018. Additional award recognition was provided by the 2018 Prix de la Photographie, Paris (Px3), Tokyo International Photo Awards 2017 (TIFA), the 2018 Siena International Photo Awards and the 2018 IPA.
Summary
HOMELANDS explores life in South Africa through the experiences of Donald Banda, who resides in an informal settlement in Pretoria. Photographs and first-person accounts reveal the complexities of social and economic inclusion in contemporary South Africa. They also speak to the universal human desire for belonging. As Donald says, “There is no place like home. But if home no longer feels like home, we are lost.”
Foreword
Andrea Smith, Publicist National print and online campaign Social Media campaign Promotion through: www.daylightbooks.org
Photo magazines: Aperture, Photo District News, Professional Photographer, B&W magazine, Rangefinder, ARTnews, Shutterbug, Lens Culture, The Photo Review, British Journal of Photography, Photographer’s Forum, Photo-Eye, among others.
Niche: South African media (print, online, blogs, radio)
General interest publications (art, culture, politics): The New Yorker, Harper’s magazine, Time, New York Review of Books, Smithsonian, Mother Jones, The Atlantic, Bookforum, Brooklyn Rail, etc.
Trade press: Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, Choice
Top Market Newspapers: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Independent, The Sunday Times (UK), The Telegraph
Blogs: Feature Shoot, Lenscratch, aCurator, ABCNews.com, NBCNews.com, MSNBC, The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast.
Broadcast: NPR programs (national and local), BBC, CNN
Additional text
“De Vos’s black-and-white photography generates a sense of unity within the cacophony of the makeshift dwellings and conflicting colors of the temporary community. His is a wonderful selection of portraits, landscapes and views from the pulse of daily life... De Vos’s point of view is intimate without being aggressive." - ZEKE Magazine, Spring 2019
