This cross-generational presentation of work by three South African artists: Ernest Cole, Lindokuhle Sobekwa and Mikhael Subotzky, questions the (im)possibility of truly finding home in South Africa – a nation deeply afflicted by the dual forces of segregation and subjugation.

The Xhosa word Ukuzilanda describes an act of connecting to oneself: to one’s past. In South Africa, a nation living with the intersecting legacies of colonisation, slavery, indentured labour and racial segregation; the notions of self, identity and home are often fraught with uncertainty.

Magnum Photos presents a conversation between the three artists whose experience of Ukuzilanda manifests in distinct yet inseparable ways. Through an interrogation of the systems of work, and their twin burdens of migration and displacement, the images of Ernest Cole, Lindokuhle Sobekwa and Mikhael Subotzky lay bare the systemic uprooting which continues to be at the core of South African life. In such a landscape, to find oneself — to find home — is an enduring project.

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