Jason Larkin: Tales From the City of Gold

Jason Larkin is a British photographer recognized for his desire to forefront the subjects on the periphery of current affairs. Soon after finishing his studies Larkin worked as a documentary photographer across the Middle East and Africa, with his work published worldwide.

South-Africa

A city built on gold, Johannesburg was founded in 1886, when settlers and immigrants descended on the largest reef of the precious metal ever to be discovered. The area transformed quickly into a mining mecca. Within fifty years, over three hundred thousand people were working in gold mines across the city. This vast and rapid expansion reflected the increasing global thirst for gold as a commodity and helped fuel a government that changed South Africa forever.

Long after the mining has finished, its environmental and social impact is still embedded in the fabric of modern Johannesburg. Tailings dams, the by-product of past extractions, now exist as manufactured mountains of waste. Six billion tonnes of these ‘mine dumps’ form the backdrop of Southern Africa’s largest city. These vast monuments are a constant reminder of the productivity of the past, whilst attracting a plethora of contemporary activities. With around four hundred thousand people currently living around the six billion tonnes of toxic waste, the resurgence of re-mining the dumps for remaining gold is stirring an already fragile existence for many.

 

 

Tales From The City Of Gold explores these tailings as an integrated extension of the thriving metropolis that surrounds them. Anthropological in its approach, this project is the result of living in Johannesburg for two years, observing the ordinary and extraordinary nature of life alongside the dumps. Focusing on the coexistence between past and present allows a unique perspective on the actions of previous generations and reveals that impact on our society and environment today.

 

Authors: Julian Rodriguez, Mara Kardas-Nelson

Photography feature – Artists: Jason Larkin

Designed by Realise Creative (James Greenhow)

Hardcover – 24 x 28 cm

Pages – 96

Publisher – Kehrer 

ISBN 978-3-86828-416-4

Euro 39,90

Related Posts

Scoffing Pig : Nozomi Iijima

Japan –  I grew up as a farmer’s daughter. My home was sandwiched between a pigpen and a farmhouse and ...

Takeshi Ishikawa: HIJRAS – The Third Gender of India

THIS STORY CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT In Indian society, it is said that when a hermaphrodite baby is born in an ...

Vitaly Flomenko Riotbooks

Vitaly Fomenko: Revisionist Soviet Rules of the Road

Russia –   “In the Fall of 2014 the world witnessed with confusion, how, headed by the ambitious adventurer Putin, ...

Bertien Van Manen: Moonshine

USA –  Spanning almost three decades, ‘Moonshine’ published by MACK, is a portrait of the American Appalachian folk, a mythologised ...

Olga Matveeva: “FEUD” – Winner of the Vienna PhotoBook Award

Russia –  (Crimea 12.2013- 03.2014) Photography feature – Olga Matveeva’s Feud is the fraternal war in which the opposition parties ...

Colin Pantall on Melinda Gibson’s Miss Titus Becomes a Regular Army Mac

United Kingdom – Melinda Gibson’s new book, Miss Titus Becomes a Regular Army Mac is a book about a collection ...

Francois Hebel : The Arles Aesthetic

France –  Francois Hebel, one of the most influential man in photography today boasts of a prolific career, spanning 12 ...

Colin Pantall on Kevin Griffin’s Last Man Standing

Ireland –  Isolated islands off the Irish coast? There are a few that come to mind. Craggy Island is one ...

Daisuke Yokata: Site/Cloud

Japan – I see a photo. I took it. Although many decades have not passed since the shoot, I cannot ...