Wounding Apertures: Violence, Affect and Photography during and after Apartheid.

Abstract

The article discusses the persistence of necklacing, or the extrajudicial killing of people by placing a tire around their necks and igniting it, in South Africa as a response to the injustices of apartheid. To do this, the author analyzes photographs depicting victims of South African vigilante justice, with focus given to the work of activist photographer Gille de Vlieg. It is argued that such photographs allow the viewer to witness the relationship between South Africa's 21st-century post-apartheid violence and the violence of the past.