Woman poses with a “Photo on a Button” sign, Harlem, New York, 1968–71

Aperture is pleased to partner with the Ernest Cole Family Trust on a special limited-edition gelatin-silver print on the occasion of the publication Ernest Cole: The True America, the first publication of Ernest Cole’s photographs depicting Black lives in the United States during the turbulent late 1960s and early 1970s. Following his landmark publication House of Bondage, a survey of searing photographs documenting the horrors of apartheid, Cole fled from South Africa and resettled in New York. With the support of the Ford Foundation, Cole embarked on a project to photograph Black communities and cultures in the United States. These images remained largely unseen during his lifetime—thought to be lost entirely—until negatives for this project resurfaced in Sweden in 2017. The True America is the first publication of these never-before-seen photographs and provides an important window into American society. From the pulsating streets of New York’s Harlem, where Cole lived and made a substantial body of work, including this image, to cities across the United States, Cole photographed a nation on the brink of change. The work speaks to Cole's mastery of street photography and reflects the newfound freedom Cole experienced in America and his insightful eye for the inequalities of systemic racism. These pictures provide a deeper understanding of American society at a turbulent time and serve to solidify Cole’s enduring legacy. Don’t miss your chance to collect this important work by a visionary artist.  Cole’s US work travels this summer as the subject of a touring exhibition.

Gelatin-silver print
11 x 14 in.
Edition of 30 + 6 artist’s proofs
Stamped by the Ernest Cole Family Trust

Prints will ship starting July 15, 2024

Ernest Cole (born in Transvaal, South Africa, 1940; died in New York, 1990) is best known for House of Bondage, a photobook published in 1967 that chronicles the horrors of apartheid. After fleeing South Africa in 1966, he became a “banned person,” settling in New York. He was associated with Magnum Photos and received funding from the Ford Foundation to undertake a project looking at Black communities and cultures in the United States. Cole spent an extensive time in Sweden and became involved with the Tiofoto collective. He died at age forty-nine of cancer. In 2017, more than six thousand of Cole’s negatives—missing for more than forty years—resurfaced in Sweden.