Ian Berry’s Sharpeville images exposed apartheid violence to the world
The influential veteran photojournalist Ian Berry passed away on 13 September 2026. He covered conflicts across the world, but is best known for the photographs he made that documented the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa.
Veteran photojournalist Ian Berry, who passed away on 13 September 2026, made a significant impact with his images of the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa. The tragedy occurred on 21 March 1960 when police opened fire on a crowd of protesters, killing 91 people and injuring over 230. Around 5,000 people had gathered in response to a call to protest against passbooks, which were documents that restricted and controlled the movements of Black South Africans under apartheid.
Berry, a British photographer employed by Drum magazine, captured the events of the massacre. The renowned South African photographer Peter Magubane was sent elsewhere on assignment, leading to Berry taking the only existing images from the moment the shooting began. His photographs would play a crucial role in building support for the anti-apartheid movement and exposing the brutal violence of the apartheid regime to the world.
The apartheid regime declared a State of Emergency following the Sharpeville massacre, leading to widespread arrests and the banning of opposition parties. Berry's images were initially intended for a special edition of Drum but were ultimately published by Camera Press and circulated globally, appearing in publications like Paris Match, Stern, Time, and Life magazine. Berry's work served as a powerful visual record of the struggle against apartheid, which ultimately ended in 1994.
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