Book Description

In Unsettled, South African photographer Cedric Nunn (best known for his photographs of apartheid resistance) turns his lens to the landscape of the Eastern Cape, site of the longest and most complex anti-colonial confrontation in South Africa’s history: The 100 Year War of Resistance. Spanning a century and encompassing nine discrete Frontier Wars, the resistance of the Xhosa against the Boer and British colonizing forces was an incredible feat that has been all but erased from the history books. Nunn’s photo essay attempts to reclaim that lost history, capturing colonial scars in the form of ruins, environmental damage, and displaced people. Complemented by the critical essays of Zakes Mda, Jeff Peires, and M. Neelika Jayawardane, Nunn’s photographs present a context for and witness to the Xhosa’s reclamation of the Eastern Cape. The photographs were previously exhibited at David Krut Projects, in New York City.

Unsettled: The 100 Year War of Resistance by Xhosa Against Boer and British is published in collaboration with the Pirogue Collective.