Land of the Free: Ernest Cole's Photographs of America

Ernest Cole photographed Black communities in the US during the late 1960s and early 70s, capturing a newfound hope and freedom and an incisive eye for inequality. His negatives resurfaced in Sweden in 2017, providing an important window into American society and redefining his oeuvre.

Format: Hardback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 18 January 2024
Publisher: Aperture

After the release of his groundbreaking 1967 book, House of Bondage, on the horrors of apartheid, Ernest Cole relocated to New York and received a grant from the Ford Foundation to document Black communities in cities and rural areas of the United States. He released very few images from this body of work while he was alive. Thought to be lost entirely, the negatives of Coles American pictures resurfaced in Sweden in 2017.

Ernest Cole photographed extensively in New York City, documenting the lively community of Harlem, including a thrilling series of color photographs, as he turned his talent to street photography across Manhattan. In 1968, Cole traveled to Chicago, Cleveland, Memphis, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, as well as rural areas of the South, capturing the mood of different Black communities in the months leading up to and just after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The pictures both reflect a newfound hope and freedom that Cole felt in America, and an incisive eye for inequality as he became increasingly disillusioned by the systemic racism he witnessed. This treasure trove of rediscovered work provides an important window into American society and redefines Coles oeuvre, presenting a fuller picture of the life and work of a man who fled South Africa and exposed life under apartheid to the world.

Weight: 1812g
Dimension: 352 x 618 x 31 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781597115346