This study is situated in a social documentary photography context, and is concerned to explore whether the collaborative interaction between photographer, subject (as collector) and material object (as collection) might enable a practice that presents a more mutual and subject-centred visual identity emerge. In particular, photographers Jim Goldberg and Gideon Mendel have focused more on the subject themselves, using collaborative processes such as photo-voice and photo elicitation, as well as the use of peoples’ handwritten captions on photographic prints themselves. Claudia Mitchell’s overview of visual methodologies is drawn on, together with Ken Plummer’s Documents of Life 2 (2001) and Gillian Rose’s Visual Methodologies (2001) to extend on these possibilities of conducting collaborative visual research.The practical component of this study focuses on personal collections and follows a number of theorists, including Susan Pearce, and John Elsner and Roger Cardinal. It follows Pearce’s identification of three major modes of collecting, and suggests that collections are essentially narratives of the self, and reveal experiences and expressions of personal desire. By drawing on these approaches and the various ways the twelve collectors were photographed, as well as implementing collaborative research processes (handwritten text, archival photographs and the re-staging of the collections), the study confirms Pearce’s three primary modes of collecting, and acknowledges that they are often interlinked or overlap one another. The study further found that a more subject voiced visual identity did indeed become apparent through the collaborative methods applied and discussed. The collaborative research equally demonstrated that these narratives of identity are not singular, but rather narratives of multiple, personal identities of the self.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partlal fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Fine Arts. / The research for this degree comprises a theoretical dissertation and a practical component of photographs. The theoretical research investigates the practice of documentary photography in America and South Africa. The photographs of Walker Evans, Robert Frank, David Goldblatt and Bob Gosanl are examined against the background of two organisations, the Farm Security Administration and Drum. These organisations influenced the documentary genre in their respective countries because of their socio-polltical concerns: their choice and presentation of subject matter for publication influenced both the photographar and the viewer. Documentary photographs appear, because of their seemingly candid and unmediated nature, to present historically factual images. Examples from the work of the four photographers reveal their distinction from, continuity with the confines of the documentary genre. Their respective approaches reveal the role of perception as it manifests itself in their work. Subjugation, attltudes towards subject matter, and the pictorial construction of images are analysed in relation to each photographer's work. The relationship of image and text in documentary photography is seen as an element of intervention by the photographer. The selection of these photographers was motivated for their partinance to the subject matter and to the pictorial considerations of the candidate. These issues are therefore examined in relation to the candidate's approach to photography. / Andrew Chakane 2018

Thesis (M. Tech.) - Dept. of Visual Arts and Design, Faculty of Human Sciences - Vaal University of Technology. / The digital manipulation of images that are presented as photographs in the media raises issues of interpretation and the possible deception of viewers. The central research question of this study was whether training in the visual arts improves awareness of digital image manipulation of photographs. Secondary aims of the research were to investigate correlations between visual production literacy training and awareness of digital image manipulation of photographs as opposed to general visual literacy training. Secondary aims also include the !investigation of attitudes to the manipulation of photographs in relation to different viewing contexts and various levels of manipulation. The literature review provides background information and theoretical frameworks on the nature of the photographic message and how it is read primarily from a semiotic perspective. A further investigation was done into literature regarding the use of attitudes towards and ethical issues surrounding digital manipulation of photographs. In addition, a review of literature on visual literacy supports the argument that awareness of digital manipulation of photographs should and can be improved. For the empirical component of the study, a total of 145 students at the Vaal University of Technology with low, medium and high visual literacy training participated on a voluntary basis. Both qualitative and quantitative data was gathered through a digitally administered questionnaire on six visual images, each manipulated to a different degree. The results show that production literacy, especially specific training in digital image manipulation software, emerged as the main variable to be significantly (beta coefficient = 0.051; Pearson's r value = 0.436) associated with awareness of manipulation techniques as opposed to general visual literacy (standardised regression coefficieFlt = 0.436; Pearson's r = 0.051 ). Findings regarding attitudes to manipulation and the impact of viewing context show no difference between groups. Emanating from these results possibilities for further research were formulated.

Submitted in fulfilment of the Degree of Master of Arts (Fine Arts) Johannesburg, March 2017 / This dissertation uses David Goldblatt’s seminal photobook, On the Mines (1973, revised 2012) to mediate a biographical conversation with Raymond Zavala, a migrant mineworker who left Mozambique in 1962 to live and work in Johannesburg. On the Mines was used as a vehicle to examine intimate details of one man’s life in the mines, focusing particularly on a mine in Roodepoort known as Durban Deep, where Raymond worked for 38 years. During my visits with Raymond, On the Mines was kept in hand as he and I walked through what once was a prosperous mining town. We would discuss his day-to-day life as a migrant, mineworker, husband and father, and began layering and inserting our own stories and photographs over and into On the Mines in an attempt to portray a more personal account of one person’s life on the mines. Goldblatt’s photographic archive is crucial to this process in that it enabled me to initiate conversations with Raymond about his personal history, memory and identity. This research, encompassed in the visual biography presented here, was created in collaboration with Raymond. He guided me through this process by directing the narrative of his own story, recommending specific landscapes and people for me to meet and photograph.  I have chosen to present this practice in the form of a photobook, so that its concept and content can be shared as a critical resolution of my visual and narrative engagement. / XL2018

This thesis is an attempt at understanding South African photography through the lens of Nontsikelelo “Lolo” Veleko, Tracy Rose, David Goldblatt, Jo Ractliffe and Santu Mofokeng. Through the works discussed this thesis intends to unpack photography as a complex medium similar to that of language and text, as well as attempt to understand how exploring South African experiences and spaces through the lens of photography shapes and mediates them. Furthermore it also attempts to understand how these experiences and spaces conversely affect the discourse of photography or at the very least our perception of it. Through these photographers and their works it is hoped that ultimately the interconnected relationship of exchanging codes that takes place between photography and society will be highlighted. The example of connectivity or dialogue I believe exists between the medium of photography and the physical/social and psychological spaces it photographs will be mediated through Deleuze and Guattari‟s conception of “the wasp and the orchid” where “the wasp becomes the orchid, just as the orchid becomes the wasp...an exchanging or capturing of each other‟s codes”. Other theorists I will be looking at include Vilém Flusser, focusing in particular on his book Towards a Philosophy of Photography, as well as Susan Sontag, Roland Barthes and others. The main aims and objectives of this thesis are to understand the veracity of the documentary image and whether or not the image harbours any objective truth, as well as whether truth, if it can truly be said to exist in the world, resides between the camera and the seen world. This dichotomy is further complicated by the matter of subject-hood and technical and philosophical understandings of the camera as an apparatus. At no point do I aim to be conclusive, rather it is hoped that by developing the dynamic tension between the theory and the image world that I will be able to bring fresh insight into the reading of a changing South African condition and the subject position of the photographer in relation to this condition.