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South Africa is proud of an exceptionally vibrant artistic tradition. Some of these artistic practices date back to pre-colonial times, for instance the production of household goods, such as clay pots, grass baskets and gourd vessels. In general these crafts, both old and new, are practised by women living in rural areas, who need to generate income to raise their families. Today clay pots, grass baskets and other items are produced both for the tourist market and for domestic use, and in this way local artistic traditions have been revitalized.

About the Author(s)
Sandra Klopper
Professor Sandra Klopper is head of the department of Fine Arts at the University of Stellenbosch. She lives in Gardens, Cape Town.

Peter Magubane
Peter Magubane is an internationally acclaimed photographer, whose long and distinguished career spans over 45 years. As one of South Africa's most distinguished photographers, he began his illustrious career with the Brownie camera his father gave him when he was a boy. The young Peter took photographs of his classmates and set himself on a path to becoming a photographer of world renown. Working first with the illustrious Drum Magazine during the fifties and later for the Rand Daily Mail, Magubane routinely covered political assignments.

As a result he was detained, kept in solitary confinement and later banned by the nationalist government of the time. Despite the harassment, his photographs recorded much of the violence and pathos of the apartheid era and his pictures of the 1976 Soweto riots defined his reputation as a first-class social and political photographer.

Peter Magubane boasts an impressive career that spans nearly half a century and he has received numerous accolades for his contribution to the world of photography.

He has received a number of prestigious accolades for his courageous and outstanding contribution to the world of photography, including the Robert Capa Award (1986), Special Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism (1992), Martin Luther King Luthuli Award (1995), Lifetime Achievement Award from Mother Jones Foundation and Leica Cameras (1997), Fellowship by the Tom Hopkinson School of Journalism and Cultural Studies, University of Wales, Cardiff (1997) and Order for Meritorious Service Class II from President Mandela (1999). He has published 12 books, among them Black Woman's Federation (1975), Magubane South Africa (1978), Black as I am (1978), Soweto (1978), Soweto Speaks (1979), Black Child (1982), I'Gradi Fotografi (1982), June 16 (1986), Soweto - Portrait of a City (Struik, 1990), Women of South Africa (1993), Mandela, Man of Destiny (1995), June 16 1976 - Never Never Again (1995) and Vanishing Cultures of South Africa (Struik, 1998). He is based in Johannesburg.

96 pages
Author: Peter Magubane