Charting the photographic history of a country from colonialism to democracy, from the early European photographers to work today by young South Africans, Life Itself explores how people, events and places have been depicted in photographic images over the decades. Featuring images from the heyday of Drum magazine and Black emergence to Peter Magubane’s Soweto uprising pictures, David Goldblatt’s In Boksburg to the photographers' collective Afrapix and the struggles for freedom, the book concludes with post-apartheid documentary and art photography in the work of Andrew Tshabangu, Lindokuhle Sobekwa and others. Life Itself helps to fill a gap in our understanding of the role of the camera in South African society over time. Superbly illustrated, it is accessibly written for anyone curious about the visual representation of the nation.

Simon A. Clarke is Senior Lecturer at Falmouth University. His previous books include Print: Fashion, Interiors, Art. He has undertaken photography fieldwork and research in South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar and Madagascar.