Sam Nzima

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Masana Sam Nzima (born August 8, 1934 in Lillydale, Bushbuckridge , Transvaal , today: Mpumalanga Province , South Africa ; † May 12, 2018 in Mbombela ) was a South African photographer .

Life

Nzima was born in 1934 as the son of a farm laborer on a "white" farm near the Kruger National Park . One of his teachers showed him how cameras work. The boy bought a Kodak box and made his first living taking pictures of tourists and selling them to them.

Since Nzima did not want to be forced to farm work at school age, which was then stipulated in his father's employment contract, he fled to Johannesburg and hired himself as a gardener in Heiningham . While in Johannesburg, he completed middle school on correspondence courses. From 1956 he worked as a waiter in a hotel and learned more about photography from an employee of the hotel, Patrick Rikotso, and began to take pictures of colleagues. For the next six years he worked as a telephone operator at the Chelsea Hotel in Johannesburg's Hillbrow district . He read the Rand Daily Mail and learned about the work of photojournalist Allister Sparks . His activity fascinated him.

While driving home to his home district, Nzima began to write about what happened during those bus trips. One day he sent these reports to the “black” daily newspaper The World, along with photos taken during these trips . The newspaper's editors then asked if he wanted to become a freelancer for the newspaper. In 1968 he became a permanent photojournalist.

On June 16, 1976 began Soweto a student uprising , were shot dead while many students by the police. Nzima was there as a photographer in Orlando West in Soweto and took a series of photos . One of these photos became world famous. It shows Mbuyisa Makhubo carrying the fatally injured student Hector Pieterson in his arms, followed by his 17-year-old sister Antoinette Pieterson.

The publication of the photo in The World the next day resulted in Nzima being interrogated by security police. He went to his home parish, where he worked in retirement as the director of a photography school until his death. He turned down offers from South African newspapers such as the Rand Daily Mail or The Star to Nzima to work for them as a reporter after The World was closed by the South African government, fearing reprisals.

The photo was voted one of the 100 Most Influential Photos of All Time by Time Magazine . Nzima only got the copyright for the photo after a long legal battle.

The head of government of the Bantustan Gazankulu , Hudson Ntsanwisi , appointed Nzima a member of the Legislative Assembly in 1979 . He was also a councilor on Lillydale Parish Council and Bohlabela District Council .

Exhibitions

  • 2010: Galerie Seippel, Cologne: South African Photography 1950–2010, Apartheid / Struggle / Freedom
  • 2011: Volkshochschule Hannover: South African Photography 1950–2010

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ South African photographer Sam Nzima has died. volksstimme.de from May 13, 2018, accessed on May 13, 2018
  2. ↑ South African photographer Sam Nzima dies aged 83 in: The Guardian , May 13, 2018, accessed May 13, 2018
  3. ↑ A photo that changed the world in: FAZ from June 18, 2011, page 36
personal data
SURNAME Nzima, Sam
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nzima, Masana Sam (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African photographer
DATE OF BIRTH August 8, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Lillydale, Bushbuckridge , Transvaal , South African Union
DATE OF DEATH May 12, 2018
Place of death Mbombela Province