Gallery F, the area that archives and preserves pictures from South Africa and past – the story of the Furlongers

By Marcia Elizabeth Greyling

On a crisp Monday morning, I set off to discover various pictures exhibitions throughout the town as part of the Cape Town Photography Festival. I discovered myself strolling by means of Cape Town City Centre, and down Shortmarket Street, the house of Gallery F, to view Beyond The Lens | The Inside Story. I walked as much as a country black door and rang the bell, a voice on the intercom greeted me – the voice of Gavin Furlonger, photographer, preservationist and founding father of the gallery. As I gauged the exhibition and questioned in regards to the males behind the scenes, we struck up a dialog, and I realised that they ran the gallery as father and son. Peaking my curiosity, I’d return to interview them on their story.

Gallery F’s goals to honour the richness of South Africa’s photographic heritage and affords an attentively chosen assortment of pictures from passed by eras (from the Forties –) in addition to the current day. The gallery was based in 2002 by the Photographic Archival & Preservation Association (PAPA-SA) and options works by established in addition to rising South African photographers.

I inquired the way it was that PAPA-SA and Gallery F got here to be as Gavin advised me the next story. At the beginning of the brand new millennium Gavin was working the PPSA (the Professional Photographer’s Association) and heard often about photographers who had been passing away, successfully leaving their work misplaced to time. This would happen as members of the family had been not sure of what to do with or the way to deal with the images. Photographic supplies could be left to fend for themselves finally succumbing to the wear and tear and tear of climate circumstances. Left uncared for in previous bins in garages and attics. “I thought this was ridiculous, every time someone dies their work disappears”, Gavin advised me.

Taking this to coronary heart he began contemplating how this might be prevented. He determined to go and communicate to a few of Cape Town’s oldest photographers together with Ginger Odes. “I used to think that Ginger was like the Ken Russell of Cape Town”, Gavin expressed.

He spoke to Odes and requested him what would occur to his work after he handed on. Odes admitted that he had no thought. Gavin proposed that he may work with Odes’ spouse Catherine to maintain his legacy alive. Gavin elaborated, “I did get all Ginger’s work and I now own it because his wife left it to me in her will. So Ginger was number one, the man who started all this and in 25 years, we built this all up”.

“PAPA was the original founder, this was a lightbulb moment”, acknowledged Gavin. He questioned what he would name his initiative and got here up with the title, Photographic Archival and Preservation Association, PAPA. “What to do with my work? – Give it to Papa”, he states as he gestures to himself. Gavin shared with me that he by no means desires PAPA to be influenced by commercialism. As his son Sean chimed in stating, “PAPA is about saving and preserving and Gallery F is the platform to sell the work that we archive”.

“Everybody that comes to the collection, has a history, and a lifetime and a story to tell”, Gavin expressed. As Gallery F is solely run by the daddy and son duo, there’s a lot to be completed with bins nonetheless in storage ready for his or her decisive eyes to seek out the magic, “the treasure” as Gavin coined it.

Gavin advised me extra in regards to the photographers of their assortment as I held a picture he was  exhibiting me by Ginger Odes. “These people were the real deal and their motivation was sincere and absolutely given to what they believed in”. He shared his emotions in regards to the photographic medium. “I love photography, for me it’s like music. It is like a symphony of music. As you walk around you get the high notes and the mid notes”.

Talking about working with Sean, Gavin describes their collaboration as “the perfect match”, delving into how he regards himself as the current and Sean his son, as the way forward for their initiative. Talking about one of many triumphs of working collectively, Sean expressed their shared ardour for pictures and storytelling which he believes goes hand in hand. He shared that for them, it’s a couple of bigger image through which they’ve taken on the duty to proceed telling the tales of photographers of previous and new. “It is important, it feels good to do that”, he advised me. “Starting to work with Gavin it worked naturally. I just felt like it was the right thing to do”.

Continuing the dialog about their working relationship Gavin expressed, “I think that the adjustment was that I’m older and he’s younger. Heads would bang…”. As Sean added that the shared aim that they’re working in the direction of inevitably all the time attracts them again to methods that permit them to determine issues out collectively.

Gavin elaborates, “We do come from the same genes so there’s got to be patience, a lot of patience. He’s got to be patient with me, because I am what I am. I’m not changing, I’m nearly 80-years-old. I rarely take on a new track but I am happy to learn”. He added that he finds pleasure in working along with his son as he realises that their work will stay on by means of Sean, going additional than he had ever imagined.

As I probed the pair on what they hope their work will imply to future generations they every shared their views. “I think that I don’t think about it very often…”, Gavin acknowledged. He continued in saying that, “This country by and large, does not have a great trend for looking after its history and a lot of it just gets thrown away. …we [do] have a footprint in this country. In sixty years, so many changes have come upon us and somehow it’s translated through these pictures. [They show] what that journey was all about. It’s the social awareness of how the times have changed through Paul Alberts to Pierre Crocquet, Jodi Bieber. All of them. Billy Monk is a story all of its own, he was an urban myth. The stories are unending. I think that if you care, then it’s of interest”.

Sean poignantly jogged my memory of their efforts to proceed historical past’s attain by means of the digitisation of their archives and making them accessible on-line. These works are time stamped and the data behind them meticulously famous. “Whether we pass away tomorrow, the work lives on. We make sure that we can tell these stories. On a historical level firstly, South Africa is learning more than they realised even happened, but also young creatives and photographers can look back on this work, study, learn from”, Sean shared.

In phrases of latest photographic funding, Gallery F is working in the direction of the inclusion of pictures from West Africa and different African nations. A prospect that Gavin is happy about and he shared his anticipation of the brand new vitality that may translate from these pictures.

In concluding our open dialogue the pair advised me about what’s subsequent for them – a solo exhibition by David Lurie titled, ‘At the Water’s Edge’. They described the present as being a break free from earlier exhibitions they’ve completed. Lurie’s mission started throughout covid and spans a interval of 5 years of documentation. The physique of labor is about connection, disconnection and isolation. Sean advised me that, “That’s what he’s playing with [David Lurie], the turmoil and the peace of the images”.

As a closing sentiment Gavin shared a want that, “Hopefully we will survive all that is necessary in order to deliver the final picture, the ongoing story”.

.View At the Water’s Edge at Gallery F till 18 December 2025.