Crime scenes David Goldblatt

Heriotdale, Johannesburg – Hennie Gerber, where he tortured and then murdered Samuel Kganakga. April 14, 2010.

The origins of David Goldblatt’s new book, Ex Offenders at the Scene of Crime, lie in the photographer’s observation that many of his fellow South Africans, regardless of their race and class, are the victims of often violent crime.

“I have asked myself”, says Goldblatt, “not least in the fear and fury of holdups with knives and guns, who are you? Are you monsters? Are you ‘ordinary’ people – if there are such? How did you come to do this? What are your lives?”

And so began in 2008 Ex Offenders at the Scene of Crime, for which Goldblatt photographed criminal offenders and alleged offenders at the place that was probably

C r i m e s c enes

Ex offenders a he s ene of r e Photographs by David Goldblatt

Published by Steidl / www.steidl.de US $65 / Can $90

life-changing for them and their victims: the scene of the crime or arrest. Each portrait is accompanied by the subject’s written story in his or her own words, for many a cathartic experience and the first opportunity to recount events without being judged.

To ensure the integrity of his undertaking, Goldblatt paid each of his subjects R800 (about $70) for permission to photograph and interview them, any profit from the project donated to the rehabilitation of offenders.

Ex Offenders also features Goldblatt’s portraits and interviews of subjects in England, made in collaboration with the community arts project Multistory.

The essay introducing the book by Erwin James, a journalist who served a life sentence for murder in England. CT

Above: Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa – Bridget Makhomza and her former partner Nomsa Mlambo at the house where a man attempted ‘corrective’ rape on Bridget and stabbed Nomsa. May 26, 2012

Left: Lakeside, Benoni, South Africa – Paul Tuge where he hid after a shootout with a policeman. February 18, 2010

Above: London, England – Jonathan Aitken in his Earl’s Court home, which he almost lost to bankruptcy after going to jail for perjury. May 8, 2015.

Right: Dudley, England – Yasin Ali Mohammed was carrying a bag with 14 kilograms of heroin and a Harry Potter book to read on the train when he was arrested in 2003. October 11, 2012.

Above: Harrow, Middlesex, England – Richi Ellis served 11 years after being convicted of joint enterprise for a murder that happened here. September 17, 2014.

Left: Bushbury Lane, Wolverhampton, England – Gerry Byrne went through the roofs of pharmacies many times to rob their dangerous drugs safes. October 18, 2012