Not dark nor light

Neither photojournalism nor visual art, Between Darkness and Light looks at Jodi Bieber’s work that defies categorisation.

Between Darkness and Light is an exploration of award-winning photographer Jodi Bieber’s work in the period following the advent of democracy in South Africa.

Taking place at the Goodman Gallery in Cape Town from 31 March to 30 April 2011, the exhibition showcase Bieber’s less frequently shown independent work from 1993 to 2004.

While Bieber’s idiosyncratic style defies the definition of both photojournalism and visual art, she explains that photography was a way for her to discover her country.

Between Darkness and Lightwas curated by Liza Essers and Storm Janse van Rensburg, who aimed to bring together works that revealed a strained shift between Bieber’s work for magazines and newspaper, and her own work at a time when she was in a very dark space. While Bieber was in a dark personal space in the early 1990s, the country was moving into lightness, evidence of which can also be seen in her work.