On the Mines

On the Mines is a redesigned and expanded version of David Goldblatt's influential 1973 publication. Goldblatt grew up in the South African town of Randfontein, which was shaped by the social culture and financial success of the gold mines surrounding it. When these mines started to fail in the mid-1960s Goldblatt began taking photos of them, which form the basis of On the Mines. The book features an essay on the human and political dimensions of mining in South Africa by Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer, whose writing has long influenced Goldblatt. The new version of the book maintains the original three chapters—The Witwatersrand: a Time and Tailings, Shaftsinking and Mining Men—but is otherwise completely updated, in Goldblatt's words, "to expand the view but not to alter the sense of things." There are 31 new mostly unpublished photos including color images, 11 deleted images, a postscript by Gordimer to her essay, as well as a text by Goldblatt reflecting on his childhood and the 1973 edition.