New Pictures 10: David Goldblatt, Structures of Dominion and Democracy

August 21–February 10, 2015 | Perlman Gallery (368) | Free exhibition

Minneapolis, MN, August 19, 2014—This month, the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) presents a selection of photographs from 1973 to 2014 by David Goldblatt, a celebrated artist who has dedicated six decades to photographing and examining race relations in his native South Africa. “New Pictures 10: David Goldblatt,  Structures of Dominion and Democracy,” on view August 21, 2014 through February 10, 2015 in the Perlman Gallery (368), is the latest installation of the museum’s contemporary photography series, “New Pictures,” featuring new work by international artists.

According to the artist, the photographs explore  “the quiet and commonplace, where nothing ‘happens’, and yet all is contained and immanent,” rather than the political violence that have defined visual narratives of South Africa in international media. Goldblatt documents his country through the lens of “structures,” the physical forms that support a society’s values—monuments, buildings, and landscapes. For the artist, these structures shape the way that people live and are foundations of their beliefs and morals.

The exhibition is loosely divided among Goldblatt’s photography before and after 1991, four years after Nelson Mandela became president after the first democratic election. “The photographs exhibited,” writes Goldblatt of his exhibition at the MIA, “are from these two separate yet intimately connected bodies of work.”

The photography featured in “New Pictures 10: David Goldblatt, Structures of Dominion and Democracy” is accompanied by extended captions written by the artist, providing a precise context for understanding the art. The captions encourage viewers to take a closer look at the pictures and consider a complex history that in many ways is still unknown.

One of the preeminent photographers working today, Goldblatt has exhibited his photographs internationally and received numerous honors, including the Hasselblad, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and the Lucie Lifetime Achievement awards. The artist will make his first appearance in Minnesota on Thursday, October 2 to discuss his exhibition at the MIA. An opening event will follow the lecture in the Perlman Gallery (368) and African art galleries (250 and 254). $10; $5 for MIA members. To register, call (612) 870-6323, or register online at artsmia.org.