“Today, the history of Drum is a pivotal point for African social history and black photography in the 20th century," Candice Jansen writes of Jürgen Schadeberg's legacy in the Mail&Guardian. "It counters the dominant history of the medium on the continent, which was fixated on tribe and biology at the time. Schadeberg helped to make the visual argument that blacks were not inferior to Europeans.”

The Finest Photos from the Old Drum 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.

27.5 x 27.2cm | 130 pages | hardcover

The photographer Jürgen Schadeberg (b. 1931, Berlin) was instrumental in covering the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, and winning the trust and respect of Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress. As the picture editor and chief photographer for Drum Magazine, the leading South African publication reporting on black issues and figures, he covered many of the significant events in the country’s history. He died in 2020.