A South African-born photojournalist living in London has turned to website crowdfunder.co.uk in an effort to get his book on the plight of white Afrikaners living in poverty published.
Diederick Engelbrecht, who moved to the UK with his parents while a teenager in 1997, spent 10 days photographing Afrikaner communities living in squatter camps in and around Pretoria last year.
He hopes to raise enough money through the website to publish his book Colour Me White and then donate the profits to charities working in the squatter camps.
Engelbrecht said the project was undertaken while doing his masters in photojournalism at the University of Westminster in London.
“These photographs are of my people; the Afrikaner nation whom I knew as neighbours, friends and colleagues,” he said. “On a recent visit to South Africa, I was shocked to find them living in such circumstances, begging and squatting.”
Engelbrecht said the end of apartheid was feared by many white Afrikaners who foresaw a possible civil war and the loss of a security blanket provided by a white government.
“While some adapted to the new democratic system, others fell through the cracks,” he said.
Unable to support themselves with low-paid menial jobs, they found themselves squatting in old buildings and small sheds.
“The book exposes the difficult life of white Afrikaner squatters who have slipped out of the gaze of other photographers,” he said.
The project has not come without criticism though, and he has been questioned on why he is focusing on white poverty in a country where most of those living below the breadline are black.
“I didn’t know that poverty and shantytowns have a colour,” posted Gugu Mhlanga in a Facebook discussion around the book.
But Engelbrecht defended the work, saying the phenomenon of white squatters was relatively new in South Africa.
“This is one of the first times their existence has been recorded as it’s mostly black people that have been photographed living in these circumstances in the past.”
The book, which features an essay written by Professor Peter Vale of the University of Johannesburg, contains a number of hard-hitting colour images showing individuals and sometimes families living in wooden shacks, old caravans and dilapidated buildings.
“In order to create a feeling of loneliness, poverty and a sense of struggle, I attempted to single out individual subjects in their environments,” said Engelbrecht. One photograph shows a white man carrying two water containers, an image he says challenges people’s views about Africa.
Another shows a couple’s hopelessness at their situation, but also their resolve to preserve their dignity. “They called me ‘sir’ despite being older than me, regarding me with the same look I remember in black people’s eyes from pre-apartheid years,” he said.
Anyone wanting to support the project should visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/colour-me-white-book-publication
Funding bid for poor whites book
Diederick Engelbrecht, who moved to the UK with his parents while a teenager in 1997, spent 10 days photographing Afrikaner communities living in squatter camps in and around Pretoria last year.
He hopes to raise enough money through the website to publish his book Colour Me White and then donate the profits to charities working in the squatter camps.
Engelbrecht said the project was undertaken while doing his masters in photojournalism at the University of Westminster in London.
“These photographs are of my people; the Afrikaner nation whom I knew as neighbours, friends and colleagues,” he said. “On a recent visit to South Africa, I was shocked to find them living in such circumstances, begging and squatting.”
Engelbrecht said the end of apartheid was feared by many white Afrikaners who foresaw a possible civil war and the loss of a security blanket provided by a white government.
“While some adapted to the new democratic system, others fell through the cracks,” he said.
Unable to support themselves with low-paid menial jobs, they found themselves squatting in old buildings and small sheds.
“The book exposes the difficult life of white Afrikaner squatters who have slipped out of the gaze of other photographers,” he said.
The project has not come without criticism though, and he has been questioned on why he is focusing on white poverty in a country where most of those living below the breadline are black.
“I didn’t know that poverty and shantytowns have a colour,” posted Gugu Mhlanga in a Facebook discussion around the book.
But Engelbrecht defended the work, saying the phenomenon of white squatters was relatively new in South Africa.
“This is one of the first times their existence has been recorded as it’s mostly black people that have been photographed living in these circumstances in the past.”
The book, which features an essay written by Professor Peter Vale of the University of Johannesburg, contains a number of hard-hitting colour images showing individuals and sometimes families living in wooden shacks, old caravans and dilapidated buildings.
“In order to create a feeling of loneliness, poverty and a sense of struggle, I attempted to single out individual subjects in their environments,” said Engelbrecht. One photograph shows a white man carrying two water containers, an image he says challenges people’s views about Africa.
Another shows a couple’s hopelessness at their situation, but also their resolve to preserve their dignity. “They called me ‘sir’ despite being older than me, regarding me with the same look I remember in black people’s eyes from pre-apartheid years,” he said.
Anyone wanting to support the project should visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/colour-me-white-book-publication
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