© All content Andrew McIlleron
Paradise Island
2015 - ongoing
A quarter of a century has passed since South Africa had its first democratic election in 1994, but it remains an unequal and deeply fractured society. The fissures are fuelled by high crime rates. Those who can afford it, live behind high walls and electric fences. Many live in fear. The wounds of the past still fester, amplified by a floundering economy. Tensions run high. South Africa is at a crossroad.
Walking in a graveyard I was approached by a woman. She wanted to know what I was doing there. Her hostility was palpable. ‘Im a photographer’ I said. She replied in Afrikaans, “Dis onse plek die.” (This is our place - not a place for a white person to be). She was still visibly suspicious and unhappy, I was once again flooded by feelings of hurt, sadness and frustration. How long does it take for a country’s wounds to heal?
Paradise Island describes two small, isolated villages in South Africa, about 3 km apart. Natures Valley is built on prime seaside property, historically reserved for whites. The other, Covie was for people of colour. Officially foundered in 1867 Covie was originally a multiracial community of woodcutters. Trapped in poverty, it is a ramshackle assembly of dwellings hidden in the the hills.
Covie in its Garden of Eden setting wallows in abject poverty, Nature’s Valley relies on Covie for some of its labour force.
I have deep historical ties to this area, and regard it as home. My Grandfather purchased land here in the 1950s and built a retirement home, he and his wife retired here at the end of 1972. My grandfather became the first municipal superintendent of Natures Valley. Three months later he died. Throughout my childhood once a year in winter my family would migrate to the coast for a holiday at the seaside.
The Barnado’s, a family of colour, were one of the first woodcutter families in Covie. Hendrik Barnado owned the land on which Natures Valley township lies. In 1943 he sold the land to a wealthy white developer, ever since there have been rumours circulating that the sale was concluded under disingenuous circumstances.
The villages are surrounded by pristine subtropical jungle which is renowned for exceptional biodiversity. The climate is agreeable. It is arguably the most beautiful place in South Africa, a place where innocence has the space to thrive. Far from the security issues that haunt most South Africans on a daily basis. Kids can move around freely without adult supervision. Adults are able to lower their guard. During school holidays people from all over South Africa flock to the area because of its natural beauty and safe environment.
On the other hand, it could be seen as a microcosm for South Africa with all the historical societal ills that plague us. The extreme juxtaposition of privilege and poverty is commonplace. Failure to adequately address the economic and social ills arising from colonisation and the apartheid-era forms the backdrop to violent protests and sporadic waves of xenophobic violence against economic migrants from the African diaspora, who are perceived by some as stealing jobs from native South Africans. Festering mistrust, and resentment sow bitter divides - not only between whites and blacks - but also along ethnic lines.
It is the paradox of poverty in paradise, how it came to be, and my relationship to it, that interests me.Themes of race, home, identity, truth, trust, and land emanating from South Africa’s legacy of discrimination and abuse, which continue to plague social cohesion, run through the work.