Cedric Nunn Explained

Cedric Nunn (born 1957) is a South African photographer best known for his photography depicting the country before and after the end of apartheid.

Career

Nunn was born into a mixed-race family in Nongoma, KwaZulu, in 1957. He was raised in Hluhluwe, Mangete and Baynesfield.^[1] He attended school in Ixopo KwaZulu-Natal up until standard eighth (Grade 10), when he was fifteen.^[2] He moved to Johannesburg in 1982 and began working as a professional photographer at the age of 25.^[3] Nunn became one of the prominent photographers to document apartheid resistance in the 1980s.^[4] He went on to co-found Afrapix, a photographic collective that supplied newspapers outside South Africa with images of apartheid, with Paul Weinberg, Peter Mackenzie and Omar Badsha.^[5] He served as the director for Market Photo Workshop, a photography school, gallery, and project space in Johannesburg, from 1998 to 2000.^[6] Nunn was also a member of the national executive of the Professional Photographers of South Africa (PPSA).^[7]

Nunn has worked for many nonprofits, newspapers, wire agencies, PR companies, and magazines.^[8]

He has taught at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, the University of the Witwatersrand Wits School of Arts, and The School for International Training.^[9]

Website: https://cedricnunn.co.za

Publications

In 2012, Nunn published the photography book Cedric Nunn: Call and Response. The book accompanied an exhibition of the same name that opened in Mozambique, New York, and various galleries in South Africa and Germany.^[10]

Awards

• 2011: First National Bank Joburg Art Fair Award.^[11]

Exhibitions

• 1983 Nichts Wird Uns Trennen (Germany) Group.
• 1984 Bosmont (Johannesburg, South Africa) Solo.
• 1984 Women at Work (Johannesburg, South Africa) Group.
• 1985 South Africa: The Cordoned Heart (USA & South Africa) Group.
• 1987 Stop the Killings (University of Durban Westville, South Africa) Solo.
• 1987 History Workshop. Wits University. Johannesburg. South Africa. Group.
• 1988 Children (Johannesburg, South Africa) Group.
• 1988. Ten Years of Staffrider (Market Photography Gallery, South Africa) Group.
• 1989 Beyond the Barricades (Market Photography Gallery, South Africa) Group.
• 1989 Culture for Another South Africa (Amsterdam, Holland) Group.
• 1989 Health (South Africa & Germany) Group.
• 1990 Zabalaza (London, United Kingdom) Group.
• 1994 This Land is Our Land (Bloemfontein, South Africa) Group.
• 1995 The Hidden Years (KwaMuhle Museum, Durban, South Africa) Solo.
• 1995 Black Looks, White Myths (1st Johannesburg Biennale, South Africa) Group.
• 1996 Colours (Berlin, Germany) Group.
• 1997. Malhawu, Macufe Arts Festival (Bloemfontein, South Africa) Solo.
• 1997 NGO Coalition (Johannesburg, South Africa) Group.
• 1997 Blood Relatives (Playhouse, Durban, South Africa) Solo.
• 1997 South African National Gallery Contemporary Collection (Cape Town, South Africa) Group.
• 1998 3rd Festival of African Photography (Bamako, Mali) Group.
• 1998 Democracy's Images, Bildmuseet (Umea, Sweden) Group.
• 1998 National Development Agency, Workers Library (Johannesburg, South Africa) Group.
• 1999 Democracies Images (Johannesburg Art Gallery) Group.
• 1999 Lines of Sight, The South African National Gallery (Cape Town. South Africa) Curated the exhibition "Photographs Denied"
• 1999 Workers, The Workers Library & Museum (Johannesburg, South Africa) Group.
• 2000 Every Child Is My Child, African Window Museum (Pretoria, South Africa) Group.
• 2000 Capitals, Espace Matisse (Lille, France) Group.
• 2000 Living In A Strange Land (Parliament, Cape Town) Group.
• 2000 Emotions and Relations (Sandton Civic Gallery) Group.
• 2002 Group Portraits, Nine South African Families, Tropen Museum (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
• Bamako, Maison's Descartes. Amsterdam Photography Biennale (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
• 2002 Group Portraits, Nine South African Families (Tropen Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands)
• 2004 Fatherhood Project (Johannesburg, South Africa)
• 2005 Blood Relatives (Constitution Hill, Johannesburg) Solo.
• 2007 Then and Now (Rhodes University, Durban Art Gallery) Group.
• 2009 In Camera (Wits University, Johannesburg) Solo.
• 2012 Rise and Fall of Apartheid, International Center for Photography (New York) Group.
• 2012 Cedric Nunn: Call and Response (International) Solo.^[12]
• 2013 Cedric Nunn, Call and Response (international) Solo
• 2014 US Museum Stellenbosch with Seippel Gallery, Unsettled
• 2014 Albany Museum, Fort Selwyn, Grahamstown, Unsettled
• 2015 Cedric Nunn: UNSETTLED at UNISA Art Gallery, Pretora; Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg; KZNSA - KwaZulu Natal Society of Arts; Galerie Seippel, Cologne, Germany; David Krut Projects, New York, NY, USA; Landesmuseum Hannover. Solo
• 2016 Cedric Nunn: UNSETTLED at Iwalewa-Haus Bayreuth, Germany. Solo

Photography essays

The following are photographic essay by Nunn.^[13]

• Blood Relatives – An essay begun in the early eighties documenting the struggle against apartheid
• Cuito Cuanavale – An essay on the site of a military battle in the late eighties that brought about profound change in South Africa's political landscape
• Farm Workers – Documenting farm workers in South Africa's rural areas.
• Hidden Years – A photo essay included in Nunn's first solo exhibition at the KwaMuhle Museum in Durban in 1996. The photos were all taken in the Natal, Nunn's birthplace.
• In Camera – Photos from post-Apartheid South Africa, created in collaboration with the Apartheid Archive Study project.
• Jazz – An essay of Jazz musicians.
• Johannesburg – Photos taken in 2000 during the height of transformation in Johannesburg.
• Rural Development – Documenting rural life under democracy.
• SANPAD – A series of portraits of young parents in South Africa (part of an academic study).
• Struggle – Photos documenting South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy
• Then and Now – A project where eight South African photographers contribute photos from before and after the end of apartheid.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Cedric Nunn Photography. About Cedric Nunn. 7 May 2013. 14 August 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130814063756/http://cedricnunn.co.za/about.html. dead.
2. Web site: South African History Online – Cedric Nunn. 6 May 2013.
3. Web site: Reker. Judith. Cedric Nunn: Call and Response. Fourth Wall Books. 7 May 2013.
4. Web site: South African History Online – Cedric Nunn. 6 May 2013.
5. Web site: South African History Online – Cedric Nunn. 6 May 2013.
6. Web site: Cedric Nunn. South African History Online. 9 May 2013.
7. Web site: Kznsa: Kwazulu Natal Society of Arts. Artists: Cedric Nunn. 7 May 2013.
8. Web site: About Cedric Nunn Clients. Artists: Cedric Nunn. 7 May 2013. 14 August 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130814063756/http://cedricnunn.co.za/about.html. dead.
9. Web site: Kznsa: Kwazulu Natal Society of Arts. Artists: Cedric Nunn. 7 May 2013.
10. Web site: Reker. Judith. Cedric Nunn: Call and Response. Fourth Wall Books. 7 May 2013. 978-3-7757-3250-5.
11. Web site: Kznsa: Kwazulu Natal Society of Arts. Artists: Cedric Nunn. 7 May 2013.
12. Web site: Nunn. Cedric. About Cedric Nunn. Cedric Nunn Photography. 7 May 2013. 14 August 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130814063756/http://cedricnunn.co.za/about.html. dead.
13. Web site: Nunn. Cedric. Essays. https://web.archive.org/web/20211222145956/https://cedricnunn.co.za/essays/. dead. 22 December 2021. Cedric Nunn Photography. 8 May 2013.