Marc Shoul
Brakpan
August 5–30, 2015
Brakpan, a once-prosperous mining town, is situated approximately 25 miles outside of Johannesburg. In his series of the same name, South African photographer Marc Shoul presents a stark yet intimate portrait of what (and who) remains decades after the luster of wealth and industry has dissipated. Within these square, black-and-white frames, Shoul expertly captures the grit of the everyday alongside spontaneous moments of joy in a place that is still in many ways far-removed from the rest of twenty-first century South Africa that surrounds them.
“Despite being known as a gold, platinum, and uranium producer, Brakpan is now a settlement of diminishing fortunes, showing little evidence of its mining ‘glory days,’ which spanned from 1911 until the mid 1950s. Recent economic developments have centered on the construction of the Carnival City Mall and Casino–a world away from the central business district which has been left untouched, undeveloped, and economically stunted. And so, while the nearby metropolis of Johannesburg grows and changes, Brakpan still lies comfortably in its vessel of formaldehyde.”
Marc Shoul (b. 1975) is a photographer living and working in Johannesburg, South Africa. He completed his undergraduate studies in photography at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and he has exhibited solo shows at the Pretoria Art Museum in South Africa, as well as international venues in Italy, Switzerland, and France. His work has been published in Camera Austria and OjodePez magazines and online via Burn magazine and the Leica-Camera blog. His photographs are housed in the collections of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Museum in South Africa and The Memmo Foundation in Rome.