Beaufort West

At the half-way point along South Africa's great highway - the N1 running from Cape Town to Johannesburg - lies the small town of Beaufort West. With its prison in the middle of town, on an island in the highway, it's a surreal road-stop that offers everything a traveller might want - food, gas, a place to stay, an hour of sex...
Mikhael Subotzky considers the town, its vivid characters and poignant social landscapes, in a photo essay that confronts central issues of contemporary South African society.
His first photobook, it is exquisitely produced on a large portfolio scale. With an introduction by leading South African writer Jonny Steinberg and Subotzky's own commentary on the photographs, the book is both a document of social evidence and the visual manifesto of the best of the new wave of South African art photographers.