A Lens in Exile presents a rare and powerful look into the work of Ernest Cole, the renowned South African photographer. This exhibition marks the first display of Cole’s New York City photographs, taken during the height of the civil rights movement in America. Known for his uncompromising images of apartheid’s brutality, Cole fled South Africa in 1966, becoming stateless by 1968. 

In New York, Cole shifted his focus to Harlem and Manhattan, capturing the everyday realities of Black life in a racialised America. His lens documented both protest and daily existence, intertwining the personal with the political against the backdrop of the civil rights struggle. These images reveal a profound disillusionment as Cole grappled with the realisation that the segregation and systemic racism he sought to escape remained present in America. 

Taken between 1967 and 1972, this collection offers just a glimpse of the 40,000 images Cole created while in exile. In 2017, a significant discovery of his lost negatives in a Stockholm bank vault led to the formation of the Ernest Cole Family Trust, dedicated to preserving his legacy.

Opening Hours :  Wed – Fri 11 – 6pm | Thu  11am – 9pm | Sat  12.30 – 6pm

Harlem, New York, c. 1970 · Ernest Cole