During the 1970s, South Africa was governed by white supremacists who ruthlessly enforced the apartheid system of racial segregation. People who were not classified as 'white', were stripped of many of their basic human rights. In 1976 widespread protests erupted against the injustices and apartheid began to crumble. Twenty-three-year-old photographer Steve Bloom set out to capture the intense mood of the time.
A major touring exhibition of fifty-five prints from the series was at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery from 4 February to 14 May 2023, accompanied by artefacts from the era, such as publications and posters from the British Anti-Apartheid Movement. Previous galleries include the Guardian Gallery and Canterbury's Beaney Museum of Knowledge. Click to read the promo brochure (opens in a new window). Hard copy available for galleries on request.

Cape Town. Racial segregation was strictly enforced.

Green Point, Cape Town, 1977; a residential suburb close to the city centre. The effect of apartheid was to engender feelings of indifference across the colour line.

A policeman jumps out of his van and chases a man selected at random.

Police patrol the streets of Cape Town.

Man being arrested during protests against apartheid.

Tear gas outside Cape Town City Hall

Woman being arrested, Cape Town 1976.

Grand Parade, Cape Town

Cape Town's Grand Parade, 1975

Street corner, Johannesburg

Man with plaster on nose, Cape Town

Frightened boy, Grand Parade, Cape Town

Homeless women, Cape Town

Woman collapses after drinking methylated spirits. Sea Point, 1976

Homeless man, Cape Town.

Homeless couple, Cape Town.

Man with unlit cigarette

Man outside segregated toilet, Cape Town

Children taunt a homeless woman

Man walking 500km to be reunited with his family

Man walking 500km to be reunited with his family

Crossroads shanty town near Cape Town was built illegally when black city workers were prohibited from living with their dependants. People were determined not to be separated from their families

Woman in her shanty at Crossroads. Black families faced the constant threat of eviction and demolition of their homes for living as family units near cities

Crossorads

Girl with baby brother, Crossroads

Crossroads

Crossroads, near Cape Town

Crossroads

Farm worker's son, the Karoo

Farm worker and children, the Karoo

Man at home, Clanwilliam. The can of Doom insecticide above his head adds a visual element of dark prophecy in a country at the crossroads of its history.

Family, Clanwilliam, 1976

Many white children were cared for by their black nannies

Manenberg, 1976

Whites-only beach, Milnerton

Sea Point beach - a 'whites only' segregated beach.

District Six, a mixed race part of Cape Town, was reclassified as a white area, most building destroyed and residents evicted.

A man stands by the remains of his favourite cinema in District Six.

Angry woman, District Six

Dog with his man, Sea Point

Sea Point, Cape Town

Sea Point, New Year's Day.

Lost doll and gulls, Sea Point

Watching parade from dog toilet, Sea Point

Khalifah performance, symbolic of the power of flesh over steel through faith.

An Idi Amin look-alike, adorned with fake medals, takes part in a parade. The brutal Ugandan dictator was often mocked and cited as a justification for white rule

Woman sick in bed in her makeshift room, a garage. She faced eviction for living in a white area because whe was not working as a 'servant'.

Pensioner in shared accommodation, Sea Point

Tony, aged 23, shortly before he took his own life.

Afrikaans couple going to church on Sunday, Stellenbosch

Woman, Western Cape

Woman at home. Western Cape, 1976

Stroke patient, Manenberg

Woman, Swaziland

Man, Clanwilliam

Young woman, Swaziland

Crying baby, Swaziland, 1976

Woman with her husband, a stroke patient. Manenberg 1976.

Stroke sufferer and his wife, shortly he fell ill. Manenberg, 1977.

Cape Flats

Woman at home, Cape Flats

Cape Flats

Father and daughter. Manenberg, 1975

Family at home, Manenberg.

Family heading to a wedding.

Couple at home, Cape Flats

The card game, Cape Flats

Woman under hat, Tygerburg Zoo

Selfie, Cape Town

Sea Point Beach

Cape Town

Cape Town
