Omar Badsha
Encyclopedia
Omar Badsha is one of South Africa's foremost documentary photographers, artists, political and trade union activists and an historian. He is an award winning artist and photographer and has exhibited extensively in South Africa and internationally.
, KwaZulu-Natal
on the 27 June 1945. He is a third generation South African of Indian origin and comes from a Gujarati Sunni Vhora family. His father Ebrahim Badsha was one of the South African pioneer black artists and a founding member Bantu, Indian, Coloured Arts (BICA) organisation started by Durban artists in 1951.
in the 1970s and the independent left wing trade union movement that grew out of the famous 1973 Durban strikes. Badsha established and was the first secretary of the Chemical Workers Industrial Union. He was detained, harassed, had a book of his "Letter To Farzanah" banned in the late seventies. He was one of those who was denied a passport and never allowed to travel outside the country until 1990.
He is the author of a number of photographic books and was the co-founder of the famous South African photographers collective Afrapix. He is the founder of South African History Online, South Africa's largest history website.
Early life
He was born in DurbanDurban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
, KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....
on the 27 June 1945. He is a third generation South African of Indian origin and comes from a Gujarati Sunni Vhora family. His father Ebrahim Badsha was one of the South African pioneer black artists and a founding member Bantu, Indian, Coloured Arts (BICA) organisation started by Durban artists in 1951.
Contributions
Badsha is himself considered as one of the early pioneers of "resistance art" in the early 1960s. He became an anti-apartheid activist during his high schools days and he went on to play a significant role in that country's liberation history. He was one of the activists who revived the Natal Indian CongressNatal Indian Congress
The Natal Indian Congress was an organization that aimed to fight discrimination against Indians in South Africa. The Natal Indian Congress was started by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, later known as the Mahatma...
in the 1970s and the independent left wing trade union movement that grew out of the famous 1973 Durban strikes. Badsha established and was the first secretary of the Chemical Workers Industrial Union. He was detained, harassed, had a book of his "Letter To Farzanah" banned in the late seventies. He was one of those who was denied a passport and never allowed to travel outside the country until 1990.
He is the author of a number of photographic books and was the co-founder of the famous South African photographers collective Afrapix. He is the founder of South African History Online, South Africa's largest history website.