From the publisher:

"Yasser 'Mierkat' Booley started producing photographs in 1993 on the eve of the 'new' South Africa. Raised within the tension of a conservative Cape Malay home in politically fraught South Africa, he soon became an observant apprentice, set on mastering the essence of the electric 'rainbow nation'. This book is a celebration, an indulgent vision. Booley's South Africa shows ordinary people caught at a crossroads, entangled in a dishevelled unity. He brings to light the beauty of humanity through all religious and cultural differences, through class and gender diversity. His character and style reveal an unbridled optimism, sprinkled with an accidental whiff of irony."

South Africa at Liberty is part of a selection of books available from proto~ that coincides with Sean O’Toole’s research exhibition Photo book! Photo-book! Photobook! at A4 Arts Foundation, from February 11 to April 29, 2022.

25.3 x 24.2 cm | 144 pages | hardcover

Yasser Booley is a self-taught freelance photographer who pursues images of dignity and understanding as opposed to the violence and crime that is a common occurrence in South Africa. "What amazes me," fellow photographer Pieter Hugo writes of Yasser, "is that he still makes pictures for the same reason he started out. In an era when photography has become preoccupied with questioning its own veracity, it is refreshing to still find practitioners who photograph purely for the joy of looking at the world, with a truly humanistic and sympathetic eye." Yasser has published multiple photobooks and has been featured in many magazines.