Bang-Bang Club
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bang-Bang Club was a name primarily associated with four photographers active within the townships of South Africa during the Apartheid period, particularly between 1990 and 1994, from when Nelson Mandela was released from jail to the 1994 elections. While a number of photographers and photojournalists worked alongside the Bang-Bang Club (such as James Nachtwey and Gary Bernard), Kevin Carter, Greg Marinovich, Ken Oosterbroek, and Joao Silva were the four main men associated with the name.
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[edit] History
The name "Bang-Bang Club" was born out of an article published in the South African magazine Living. Originally named the Bang-Bang Paparazzi, it was changed to "Club" because the members felt the word paparazzi misrepresented their work. The name comes from the culture itself; township residents spoke to the photographers about the "bang-bang" as reference to violence occurring within their communities, but more literally, "bang-bang" refers to the sound of gunfire and is a colloquial form of nomemclature used by conflict photographers.
On April 18, 1994, during a firefight between the National Peacekeeping Force and African National Congress supporters in the Tokoza township, cross-fire killed Oosterbroek and seriously injured Marinovich. An inquest into Oosterbroek's death began in 1995. The magistrate ruled that no party should be blamed for the death. In 1999, peacekeeper Brian Mkhize told Marinovich and Silva that he believed that the bullet that killed Oosterbroek came from them.
In July 1994, Carter committed suicide.
In 2000, Marinovich and Silva published The Bang-Bang Club, a book documenting their experiences.
[edit] Awards
Two members won Pulitzer Prizes for their photography. Greg Marinovich won the Pulitzer for Spot News Photography in 1991 for his coverage of the killing of Lindsaye Tshabalala in 1990. Kevin Carter won the Pulitzer for Featured Photography in 1994 for his photograph of a vulture that appeared to be stalking a starving child in southern Sudan.
[edit] Films
A film adaptation of Marinovich and Silva's book is being shot on location in Tokoza township by South African documentary film-maker Steven Silver.[1] Marinovich is working as a consultant on the film [2] which is due to star Ryan Phillippe as Greg Marinovich, Taylor Kitsch as Kevin Carter and Neels Van Jaarsveld as Joao Silva. [3]
A documentary entitled "The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club" was nominated for an Academy Award in 2006.
[edit] References
- ^ "Akerman & Phillippe Join Bang-Bang Club". Empire Online. http://www.empireonline.com/news/feed.asp?NID=24338. Retrieved on May 5 2009.
- ^ "South Africa's Bang Bang Club goes Hollywood". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8032251.stm. Retrieved on May 5 2009.
- ^ "Akerman, Phillippe & Kitsch Join Bang Bang Club". comingsoon.net. http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=53549. Retrieved on May 5 2009.
- Marinovich, Greg and Joao Silva. The Bang-Bang Club. Basic Books: United States of America, 2000.
