Black and white photograph of four men seated on a bench wearing mining helmets and knee pads

Untitled (44UN-58-066), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), 1958

Todd Webb

Gelatin silver print

Courtesy of the Todd Webb Archive L2020.85.13

Not on View

Four miners in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) sit along a bench in their work clothes; three of the men have their headlamps on, the bright lights like third eyes gleaming into the camera lens. Webb was particularly adept at capturing the hard realities of working people’s lives. Although his assignment was to create images in accordance with the United Nations’ vision of a “changing Africa,” the impact of colonialism upon Black Africans’ economic prospects—not to mention segregationist policies against all non-white Rhodesians—is all too evident in this group portrait.

Image: In Copyright. Courtesy of the Todd Webb Archive

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