The Bang Bang Club

The Bang Bang Club was a group of photographers and photojournalists active within the townships of South Africa between 1990 and 1994, during the transition from the apartheid system to government based on universal suffrage. This period saw much black on black factional violence, particularly fighting between ANC and IFP supporters, after the lifting of the bans on both political parties.

Kevin Carter, Greg Marinovich, Ken Oosterbroek, and João Silva were the four associated with the name, although a number of photographers and photojournalists worked alongside them (such as James Nachtwey and Gary Bernard). A movie about the group, directed by Steven Silver and starring Taylor Kitsch, Ryan Phillippe and Malin Åkerman, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010.

The name "The Bang Bang Club" was born out of an article published in the South African magazine Living. Originally named The Bang Bang Paparazzi, it was changed to "Club" because the members felt the word paparazzi misrepresented their work. The name comes from the culture itself; township residents spoke to the photographers about the "bang-bang" in reference to violence occurring within their communities, but more literally, "bang-bang" refers to the sound of gunfire and is a colloquialism used by conflict photographers.

On 18 April 1994, during a firefight between the National Peacekeeping Force and African National Congress supporters in the Thokoza township, friendly fire killed Oosterbroek and seriously injured Marinovich. An inquest into Oosterbroek's death began in 1995. The magistrate ruled that no party should be blamed for the death. In 1999, peacekeeper Brian Mkhize told Marinovich and Silva that he believed that the bullet that killed Oosterbroek had come from the National Peacekeeping Force.

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