Billy Monk, (South African, 1937-1982)

Ten photographs from 'The Catacombs' series paper size 28 x 40.5cm (11 x 15 15/16in) each.

Ten photographs from 'The Catacombs' series
with accompanying certificates of authenticity signed by Jac de Villiers
silver gelatin prints
paper size 28 x 40.5cm (11 x 15 15/16in) each.
(10)

Provenance
Artist's Estate.

In the 1960s, Billy Monk was working as a bouncer at the notorious Cape Town nightclub, the Catacombs. The underground venue was a popular hang out for revellers of all creeds and colours; a hideout from the restrictive and punitive Apartheid legislation. In this environment, Monk had a rare opportunity to photograph scenes of uncensored joy, passion and debauchery that could never have taken place 'above' ground.

This collection of photographs that Monk snapped with his 35mm Pentax camera reveal the permissive atmosphere of the club: Sailors still in uniform mingle with sugar babies attired in new mod-length hemlines, teased beehive hair and thick lipsticked lips. Drunks loll at tables next to sophisticates. Men and women lock lips regardless of colour or gender, openly flouting the Immorality Act that forbade cross-racial fraternisation.

The photographs first came to light in 1979 when Paul Gordon, who had once shared a studio space with Monk, handed the negatives to the photographer Jac de Villiers. He was intrigued by the images and took them to the famed photographer, David Goldblatt. Goldblatt was highly impressed:

"The Catacombs was a dark, dark place. It could not have been easy to get a clear sense of the subject, compose the photograph and focus the camera before releasing the shutter and flash. Yet there is never any doubt about who the subject is. The composition is always coherent, the focus sharp."

With Goldblatt's assistance, de Villiers exhibited Monk's photographs at The Market Gallery in Johannesburg in 1982. The show was a critical success, and the Johannesburg Art Gallery purchased six for their collection. Monk took leave from his job as a diamond diver in the north of the country's shoreline, to attend the opening. Tragically, the photographer never made it to his exhibition. En route to Johannesburg, Monk was shot in a drunken row. Following his death, exhibitions of his work were held at the South African National Gallery and the University of Stellenbosch.

Art critic Ashraf Jamal describes the legacy of these remarkable images:

"Monk was able to capture the lives of people redeemed from apartheid's scrutiny, for in these hidden worlds no one cared about status, caste, sexual preference. One senses too that Monk's subjects knew and trusted him, for with him they could be themselves. If I consider Monk as one of South Africa's greatest photographers it has everything to do with his humanity - he was no voyeur, no connoisseur, no brittle collector of others' lives.

Monk's pictures evoke the singularity of the moment, the humanity of his men and women, the pleasure of lives freed - if only for a moment - from the burden of history. His image-repertoire speaks to a greater vision regarding what we truly are and what we may become."