Margaret Mcingana, Sunday afternoon, Soweto

Goldblatt’s photograph of Mcingana (later known as the singer Margaret Singana) was the first of a series the photographer made in Soweto (South Western Townships), a sprawling series of towns outside of Johnannesburg to which black Africans were removed after the implementation of apartheid. The series was originally intended as a photo essay about life in Soweto that Goldblatt suggested to Optima magazine. His portrait of Mcingana, which is a study in contrasts between the young woman’s relaxed self-assurance and the ravaged stone wall, became an icon of Soweto life for Goldblatt, and is one of only a few photographs that he displays in his home.