Mikhael Subotzky Samuel (standing). Vaalkoppies (Beaufort West Rubbish Dump), South Africa. 2006.
“This photograph was taken at Beaufort West’s municipal dump, Vaalkoppies, which in
Afrikaans means ‘grey hills’.
(...) And this is Samuel, who’s wearing a Spider-Man mask he found
in the rubbish. I was at the dump on a day when rubbish is collected in town, and a truck
would arrive every fifteen minutes. There’s a group of about thirty people who live at the
dump, and on collection days others come from town, too. I spent some time sitting in one of
the shacks talking to people. Someone would always be watching for the next truck, and
whenever they heard one coming, they’d call out something and everyone would run to be
on the spot as it dropped off its load. One time, I was confused because the lookout heard a
truck, and called out, but no-one moved. I asked why no-one was running after it. I was told
it was ‘die bene lorry’, the bones lorry. This was the truck with the rubbish from the
townships. There would be nothing but bones in it, so it was not worth bothering with.
Imagine that. Imagine living in a world where even rubbish is an expression of class
divisions, and where fellow humans pick through our trash to keep hunger at bay. We all do
live in that world, we just don’t see it, like Samuel does every day.”
– Mikhael Subotzky © Mikhael Subotzky | Magnum Photos
