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Past livestream
A livestreamed discussion on the cultural and historical impact of photographer Ernest Cole
These tickets are to join the online livestream of the event
You can also join us in person for the talk at Autograph's gallery in East London
Ernest Cole is best known for his radical images documenting the violence of apartheid in South Africa. After fleeing the country in 1966, he published House of Bondage, which became one of the most important photobooks of the twentieth century.
This year marks a significant moment in unearthing Cole’s legacy beyond his time in South Africa. Our current exhibition, A Lens in Exile, is the first to showcase his photographs from New York City, where he spent his early years in exile photographing Harlem and Manhattan. Cole's work during this period focused on the experience of living in a racialised America.
Also launching this year is Ernest Cole: Lost and Found, a new documentary by filmmaker Raoul Peck that seeks to reveal more about Cole’s life, particularly the period between his exile from South Africa and his death from cancer at age 49 in 1990.
Join us online to watch the talk livestreamed from Autograph's gallery, where Raoul Peck will be in conversation with our director Mark Sealy to discuss the cultural and historical impact of Cole's legacy.
Everyone is welcome to join, from any location. The language used will be English
Only our event speakers and host will be visible on screen
There will be an opportunity to ask the speakers questions at the end of the talk
Raoul Peck’s complex oeuvre includes the films The Man by the Shore (Competition, Cannes Film Festival 1993); Lumumba (Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival 2000); Sometimes in April (Competition, Berlinale 2005); Moloch Tropical (TIFF 2009, Berlinale 2010) and Murder in Pacot (TIFF 2014, Berlinale 2015).
Raoul Peck was a member of the Berlinale jury in 2002 and of the Cannes Festival jury in 2012. In 2001, the Human Rights Watch Association awarded him the Irene Diamond Lifetime Achievement Award for his commitment to human rights. In 2021, he is honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from DOC NYC and in 2024, with the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Hot Docs Festival in Toronto. In 2017, his documentary on writer James Baldwin, I Am Not Your Negro, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary and won the Audience Award at the Toronto Festival and the Berlinale. In 2018, it won the BAFTA and the Cesar for Best Documentary. This film was co-produced with ARTE.His film, The Young Karl Marx, was presented at the Berlinale the same year. Exterminate all the Brutes, is a groundbreaking four-part mini-series, produced for HBO with ARTE, which tells a counter-narrative to Euro-centric history. The mini- series won a Peabody Award in 2022.
His last film, Ernest Cole, Lost and found, was premiered at the Cannes Festival in Séance Spéciale, and won the Oeil d’Or in May 2024.
His company Velvet Film was founded in 1989 and operates in the United States, France and Haiti.
Dr Mark Sealy OBE, RPS Outstanding Service Award; Executive Director of Autograph (1991 -) and Professor, Photography, Rights and Representation at University Arts London - London College of Communication. Sealy is interested in the relationship between art, photography and social change, identity politics, race, and human rights. He gained his PhD from Durham University, England.
He has written for many of the world’s leading photographic journals, produced numerous artist publications, curated exhibitions, and commissioned photographers and filmmakers worldwide. In addition, he is an advisor (management + committees) to several leading cultural institutions, including Tate, Paul Mellon Centre for the Studies in British Art, Art Fund, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, World Press Photo, and the International Centre of Photography in New York, USA.
Lawrence and Wishart have published Sealy’s critical writings on photography. Photography: Race, Rights and Representation, published 2022 and Decolonising the Camera: Photography in Racial Time, published 2019.
The first exhibition of Ernest Cole's photographs documenting New York City during the height of the civil rights movement in America – capturing the vibrant expression of blackness and community during this time.
Read more
Limited edition print, edition of 30
An opportunity to collect Ernest Cole's photography at a special price and support Autograph
Autograph's new exhibition by the South African photographer
Read blog post | 6 min readErnest Cole: A Lens in Exile is realised in collaboration with Magnum Photos and the Ernest Cole Family Trust.
Curated by Mark Sealy.
Banner image: Ernest Cole, Harlem, New York, 1969 [detail]. © Ernest Cole / Magnum Photos
Images on page: 1) Raoul Peck. Photograph by Mathew Avignone. 3) Mark Sealy, courtesy of Steve Pyke. 3) Ernest Cole, Harlem, New York, c. 1970 [detail]. © Ernest Cole / Magnum Photos
Autograph is a place to see things differently. Since 1988, we have championed photography that explores issues of race, identity, representation, human rights and social justice, sharing how photographs reflect lived experiences and shape our understanding of ourselves and others.
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