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Beaufort West.
Photographs by Mikhael Subotzky.
Chris Boot,
2008.
80 pp.,
45 color illustrations.,
14x11".
Publisher's Description
At the half-way point along South Africa’s great highway – the N1 running from Cape Town to
Johannesburg – lies the small town of Beaufort West. With its prison in the middle of town, on an island
in the highway, it’s a surreal road-stop that offers everything a traveller might want – food, gas, a place
to stay, an hour of sex... Mikhael Subotzky considers the town, its vivid characters and poignant social
landscapes, in a photo essay that confronts central issues of contemporary South African society. His
first photobook, it is exquisitely produced on a large portfolio scale. With an introduction by leading
South African writer Jonny Steinberg and Subotzky’s own commentary on the
photographs, the book is both a document of social evidence and the visual manifesto of
the best of the new wave of South African art photographers.
The book is published to coincide with Subotzky’s first North American exhibition –
Beaufort West at the Museum of Modern Art, opening in September 2008.
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