What's On in Burgundy 2009?

american pictures

october 25 2008 - february 1 2009, chalon-sur-saone

An exhibition of pictures by Jacob Holdt, showing life in the American ghettos in the 1970s is on show in Chalon-sur-Saône. If you are in the area, don’t miss this powerful photo-essay 

© Jacob Holdt

In 1970, Jacob Holdt, the son of a Danish pastor, hitch hiked through America. He stopped off in Chicago and this began his long fascination with the plight of black Americans. He became interested in the black struggle and wrote home to his father describing life in the ghettos. On receiving these hair-raising letters, his parents sent him a 30$ Canon camera so he could send pictures home. He lived amongst the people and sold his blood plasma to pay for the film and food… 

The pictures are disturbingly powerful: the African- American kid looking into the filthy empty fridge; the crucifix-burning members of the Ku Klux Klan; impoverished blacks in rundown shacks. He sees his photographs as ‘show-and-tell aids’ for furthering his cause which is to ‘educate the whites in America in order to change their racism. There is no hope for the ghettos unless we change.’

© Jacob Holdt

Holdt became a man with a mission, an evangelical zeal. On returning to Denmark in 1975, he put on a slide show of his work in his father’s rectory, ‘to dispel rumours the minister’s son had become a junkie, a criminal and prostitute in the USA’.  Seen by the publication ‘Information’, the publicity resulted in queues to see the work and it was taken to the Frankfurt Book Fair and sold to a number of countries before a book had even been written. Holdt toured American universities giving lectures, started the Foundation for Humanitarian Aid to Africa, made a film, got broke again… Controversy dogged him at each turn.

The photographs are not posed and they are harrowing for sure, but this is one exhibition that will make a lasting impression so catch it if you can.

American Pictures 1970-1975 runs at the Musée Nicéphore Niépce, 28 Quai des Messageries, Chalon-sur-Saône until Feb 1 2009, entry free.