Renowned for his radical images documenting the violence of apartheid, Ernest Cole fled South Africa and spent the rest of his life in exile, arriving in New York City in 1966. Cole’s photographs from this period confront America in transition, framed against the struggle for civil rights and capturing moments of emergent black awakenings. These remarkably intuitive images – documenting protest, politics and daily existence – were forged through a transgressive challenge to the status quo of American society.
Many of Cole’s images taken during exile, including this photograph from Harlem in 1969, were thought to be lost for more than 40 years until a cache of negatives was discovered in a Stockholm bank vault in 2017.
Autograph is a charity, and this limited edition has been produced with the Ernest Cole Family Trust to raise funds for our work. Sales help us to preserve diverse photographic history, reach more people and support more artists.
This limited edition has been released for Ernest Cole: A Lens in Exile at Autograph, the first exhibition of Cole’s photographs documenting New York City during the height of the civil rights movement in America. Buy here https://autograph.org.uk/shop/ernest-cole-harlem-new-york-1969-1175
