Dillon Marsh : Diamonds Aren’t Forever

Gallery MOMO Cape Town also presents Diamonds Aren’t Forever, a solo exhibition by photographer Dillon Marsh. In this body of work, Marsh turns his lens to the former mining areas on the Diamond Coast of South Africa and Namibia.

In recent years, declining yields of diamond ore have forced the mines to retrench large numbers of workers and move their operations offshore. The small towns that serviced the mines are now showing signs of neglect as residents leave to find work elsewhere. In the Namibian town of Oranjemund, houses lie empty and unused, their gardens gradually laid bare by the harsh, arid climate. Across the border, in Alexander Bay in South Africa, crosses and numbers have been painted on stripped and abandoned cars, marking them as scrap metal to be collected later. These photographs examine how homely places become defamiliarized and reclaimed by their landscapes. In a culture where images of political and economic upheaval are oriented around action and movement, Marsh’s photographs reexamine the simple and haunting nature of what is left behind. Marsh’s continuous attention to landscape illustrates our engagement – both deliberately and unintentionally – with the world around us.

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