1986 Photo Contest, Others, Individual awards
Photographer

David Turnley

Detroit Free Press / Black Star

01 January, 1985

Student Matthew Pearce (16) waits for a train home from Bishops, a private school in Cape Town, watching black domestic workers cross a railway platform on their way back to their township. This image is part of Turnley’s project South Africans under Apartheid, which became a decisive documentation of South African life in a divided nation between 1985 and 1987. It was realized with the assistance of Detroit Free Press, Turner’s newspaper at the time, and Black Star agency, and photos were published in numerous magazines such as Life and National Geographic. In 1987, his residence and working permits were not extended and Turnley had to leave South Africa. In 1990, after Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, Turnley regained access to the country and could pursue his work in South Africa.

About the photographer

David Turnley

American photojournalist David C. Turnley (Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1955) is the winner of two World Press Photo of the Year awards, one Pulitzer Prize, and the Overseas Press Club’s...

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