DF Bleek Fieldwork

DF Bleek Fieldwork

Over 100 individual photographs and an album of photographs taken by D F Bleek at Van Wyksvlei, Prieska, Gordonia, Nossop, Lake Chrissie, Bechuanaland and Angola were lost in the fire of 2021 that destroyed UCT's African Studies library. These photographs are printersproofs of photographs of Bushmen taken by DF Bleek during her various expeditions. Some of the lost photographs were digitised by the UCT library and can be seen here: https://ibali.uct.ac.za/s/uct-photography/item-set/121681 Photographs taken by Dorothea Bleek and in studios for WHI Bleek will, today, in many cases be seen as offensive, racist or otherwise demeaning. By presenting these images here we do not endorse, in any way, the ideas of the time that gave rise to them. While we have not included some of the images in which people were made to pose in objectifying ways we have included other collections of images, acknowledging that scholars and the general publics may want to consult these images in order to understand the condition of the time.