{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1795232"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1795232/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PF4652/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PF4652/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PF4652","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1795232","accessionNumber":"PH.442-2025","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Harlem, New York","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"Ernest Cole is best known for his radical, visceral, and unflinching images of black life in his native country of South Africa, and his adopted home of the United States. Documenting the realities of Apartheid (the racial segregation of black and white citizens), Cole was initially inspired by the American Civil Rights Movement, and from the 1950’s went to work documenting the racial oppression evident across the nation. \n\r\nLimited by travel restrictions unfairly enforced upon black citizens, Cole had his legal records reclassified as ‘Coloured’ (Mixed Raced). This new ethnic classification allowed for freer movement and eventually catalysed the photojournalist to apply for a passport. While under pressure from police authorities, he undertook a self-imposed ‘exile’, travelling first to the UK before landing in the United States. There, he continued his documentation of black life. \n\r\nCole arrived in New York City in 1966. Informed by his home nation’s racial struggles, He turned his lens to a country battling for its own equality. He documented protest, daily life, city scenes and a rapidly shifting political landscape. \n\r\nMuch of Cole's exile images, including this photograph from Harlem in 1969, were thought to be lost for more than 40 years, until a collection of negatives were discovered in a Stockholm bank vault in 2017. \r\n","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Ernest Cole","id":"A11537"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"},{"text":"Black history","id":"THES48989"},{"text":"Photography","id":"THES394546"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"DOP","id":"THES291628"},"images":["2025PF4652"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"X","shelf":"916","box":"A"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Harlem","id":"x30702"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"New York","id":"x29030"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"America","id":"x29333"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1969","earliest":"1969-01-01","latest":"1969-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased through the Cecil Beaton Royalties Fund","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph by Ernest Cole, 'Harlem, New York', Silver Gelatin, 1969, printed 2024.  ","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"Edition of 30 plus 6 artist proofs.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["PH.442-2025"],"accessionNumberNum":"442","accessionNumberPrefix":"PH","accessionYear":2025,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-07-01","recordCreationDate":"2025-01-27","availableToBook":false}}