During apartheid, Jurgen Schadeberg worked for the leading "black"
publications of the time. This way he had access to the likes of a young
activists, like the lawyer, named Nelson Mandela. Iconic pictures of
many future South African leaders followed. Judge Albie Sachs, an ANC
operative who lost an arm in an attack by the security police, says of
this collection: "Jurgen Schadeberg wrenches moments and people right
out of time, place and mood, so that we can engage with them here and
now, as we are, at the instant of looking. We gasp and feel a frisson of
delight at each picture. Was it really like that? Look at the faces as
they were then, the hairstyles, the clothes people wore, the way they
looked at each other. What is still the same, what has changed? There is
the honesty of values, the dignified and respectful treatment of the
subject matter and especially the people who might be involved. In this
respect Jurgen's photographs are extraordinarily sensitive."