Dzhangal
By (Author) Gideon Mendel
GOST Books
GOST Books
30th January 2017
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
Photographs: collections
Refugees and political asylum
Social and cultural history
779.092
Hardback
80
Width 225mm, Height 280mm
In this new book, acclaimed photographer, Gideon Mendel, - performed a type of contemporary ethno-archaeology, evoking the camp resident's humanity through what was discarded. Visible ingrained dirt and ashes allow the viewer to sense the refugees' struggle to live ordinary lives under the most extraordinary circumstances. Mendel's alternative portraits of the Jungle residents are representative of the plight of displaced people across the globe. The book's title 'Dzhangal', is drawn from a Pashto word meaning 'This is the forest', the origin of the contentious term 'The Jungle'. The book will include over 40 photographs with texts by refugees, writer and broadcaster Paul Mason and art historian Dominique Malaquais.
Gideon Mendel is widely regarded as one of the world's leading contemporary photographers. Born in Johannesburg in 1959, he studied psychology and African history at the University of Cape Town. Following his studies he became a freelance photographer and was one of the young generation of struggle photographers documenting change and conflict in South Africa in the lead-up to Nelson Mandela's release from prison.
In 1990 he moved to London, from where he has focussed on social issues globally. He first began photographing the topic of AIDS in Africa in 1993 and in the past sixteen years his ground-breaking work on this issue has been widely recognized. His intimate style of committed photojournalism, whether in black and white or in colour, has earned him international acclaim. He has won six World Press Photo Awards, first prize in the American Pictures of the Year competition, a POY Canon Photo Essayist Award, the Eugene Smith Award for Humanistic Photography and the Amnesty International Media Award for Photojournalism.