Attached to the Soil is a collection of 50 photographic portraits conceived in partnership between Peter Glendinning and a number of South Africans of all ages and social backgrounds. It tells the stories of these individuals, capturing their hopes, fears, aspirations and disappointments. It speaks of a people who are distinguished by their diversity, emanating as they do from a variety of racial, cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds. All have been marked by the tragic history of racialised exploitation in this land. But all demonstrate in their activities, ambitions and voice how this tragedy did not scar their souls. All speak of a desire to belong to a cosmopolitan community, of an understanding that a political community is established not by where its inhabitants come from, but rather by their common intention to continue to belong to a community that resides in a specific geographical space.
Attached to the Soil indicates this in the most powerful and graphic ways, and in this sense represents a message not only for the nation but also for the world.
Attached to the Soil will be on show at the Nelson Mandela Foundation until August 2023. Visitors are encouraged to take advantage of the new Red Bus stop at the Foundation and the new opening hours on a Saturday morning.