Omar Badsha was born in Durban in 1945. His grandparents immigrated to South Africa from India in the late 1890’s. He is a self-taught, award wining artist and photographer. Badsha played an active role in the South African liberation struggle, as a cultural and political activist and trade union leader.
Badsha and his family moved to Cape Town in 1987 to establish the Center of Documentary Photography at the University of Cape Town. In 1979 “Letter to Farzanah”, his first book of photographs was published to commemorate the International Year of the Child and was banned.
In 1982, he was active in establishing Afrapix, the now legendary independent photographic agency and collective. The collective played a leading role in shaping the social documentary photography tradition.
In 1984, his book about life in the massive settlements of Inanda, outside Durban, was published. In the 1980’s, Badsha headed the photographic unit of the Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in Southern Africa and then edited the seminal book on life in South Africa in the 1980’s, titled "South Africa: The Cordoned Heart".
Since 1965, he has exhibited widely at home and internationally. His paintings and photographs are found in all major public collections in South Africa and leading galleries and institutions abroad.
Badsha lives in Pretoria with his family. He is presently working on a retrospective exhibition and an Internet education project on South African history.
The exhibition will run through until August 10, at the center on Mozaffar St., Felestin Square.
RM/DWN/IS
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MNA
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