Afterimages of Apartheid Photography and Resistance By Kylie Thomas. Published October 29, 2025 by Routledge.

Afterimages of Apartheid shows how photographs of the past can be mobilised as a critical tool for understanding the ongoing effects of apartheid in contemporary South Africa.

Through close readings of significant images made during and after apartheid, the book shows how photography works as a means of documentation, commemoration, and resistance. The book considers the ways in which photographs can be used to contest impunity for state violence. Afterimages includes chapters on the Sharpeville and Marikana massacres, on the re-opening of cases of human rights violations that remain unresolved in the aftermath of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and on contemporary protests against the post-apartheid state. The book makes a powerful case for the role of photographs in drawing the viewer into the past time they represent, issuing a call to the living to remember, respond, and react.

The book is free to download here.

The book launch and discussion with Gille de Vlieg, Jillian Edelstein, James Kapalo, Qanita Lilla, Enver Samuel and Kylie Thomas will take place online on 14 November.  Please register to join the online discussion about the book, and about Enver Samuel’s film “Truth Be Told: Room 1008” via this link.

To find out more about the book please go to the direct link.