Greg Marinovich — Marinovich Film & Photography

In my mid-twenties, the practice of journalism and photography offer me a way to both find and express myself during a time of tumult, both for me personally and my troubled country, South Africa. Immersing myself in documenting other people’s lives gave me a sense of purpose and a way to distance myself from whom the crass logic of apartheid determined I should side with. Along the way, an urgent need to divine the photographic process developed into a love of the craft.

Members of a Zioni church sect walk through summer grass on their way to their outdoor worship space - circular areas cleared and smoothed to allow for their ecstatic dancing, Melville Koppie, Johannesburg 2007. Photo Greg Marinovich

A Members of a Zionist church worship under trees, Melville Koppies, Johannesburg, 2006. photo Greg Marinovich

A member of a Zioni sect dressed in hand sewn church garb listens to a church leader on Melville Koppie, Johannesburg 2007. Photo Greg Marinovich

Members of a Zioni sect dressed in hand sewn church garb and carrying the charactaristic sticks listens to a church leader on the church's earthern ceremonial space on Melville Koppie, Johannesburg 2007. Photo Greg Marinovich

Members of a Zioni church sect drum as others dance in their outdoor worship space - circular areas cleared and smoothed to allow for their ecstatic dancing, Melville Koppie, Johannesburg 2007. Photo Greg Marinovich

Members of a Zioni church sect on Melville Koppies, Johannesburg, 2007. Photo Greg Marinovich

Zioni women pray atop a rock at Melville Koppies, Johannesburg 2007. photo Greg Marinovich

A female member of a Zioni sect reads a bible under a shelter of plastic sheet alongside rocks on Melville Koppie, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2007. photo Greg Marinovich

A candle and a twisted, knotted and charred cotton cloth remain on the high rocks of Melville Koppies in Johannesburg, South Africa., after a night ritual by members of a Zioni church sect, 2007. photo Greg Marinovich

Members of a Zioni sect heat the skins on drums used for worship ceremonies in which they participate in the charactaristic rapid, swirling dances on circular spaces cleared and smoothed at Melville Koppie, Johannesburg 2007. Photo Greg Marinovich

A Zioni church member sleeps on a rock among charred grass and bushes after a night of outdoor worship, Melville Koppie, Johannesburg 2006. Photo Greg Marinovich

Members of a Zioni church sect gather at their outdoor worship space under a tree with spring flowers at Johannesburg's Melville Koppies, 2006. Photo Greg Marinovich

Men alongside the plastic sheet they used for shelter at Melville Koppies, Johannesburg 2007. They said that participated in Zionist religious ceremonyies overnight. photo Greg Marinovich

A member of a Zioni sect undergoes a steam ritual under a plastic sheet at the Melville Koppies, Johannesburg, 2007, photo Greg Marinovich

PHOTOGRAPHY

Gangsters on their way to bury a gang member killed by vigilantes assault a delivery bike rider, Soweto, South Africa, 1996.

Films

education

FEATURED SET

Jan 11, 2021

Leeukraal

Jan 11, 2021

Women dressed as men, including painted-on beards, await the final ceremony of male initiates emerging from a traditional Ndebele initiatan school at Leeukraal in the former KwaNdebele, Mpumalanga, South Africa, 2008. photo Greg Marinovich

Jan 11, 2021

Jan 12, 2021

Sacred Space

Jan 12, 2021

Branches are laid over a thrown concrete floor by Zionist church members to (probably) show it is only temprarily not being used, Melville Koppies,Johannesburg, South Africa, 2006. photo Greg Marinovich

Jan 12, 2021

Jan 11, 2021

Hubcaps

Jan 11, 2021

Hubcaps that were retrieved by residents for resale along a potholed regional road on the Mpumalanga highlands after a veld fire, 2008, South Africa. photo Greg Marinovich

Jan 11, 2021

Jan 16, 2021

Johannesburg Park

Jan 16, 2021

A homeless man lays out his clothes in a. northern Johannesburg park. 1989. photo Greg Marinovich

Jan 16, 2021

Jan 11, 2021

Trap

Jan 11, 2021

A baboon is caught in an animal trap placed in the bush next to a citrus orchard by a farmer, Grobelrsdal, Sekukhuneland, South Africa, 2008. It seems likely that the baboon had managed to get its body out of the cage after being trapped while going into the steel cage for the food left as bait. The exotic fruits grown on commercial orchard are irresistable to baboons and monkeys. Photo Greg Marinovich

Jan 11, 2021

Jan 9, 2021

Stuffies, Thokoza

Jan 9, 2021

Stuffed wool animals, Thokoza, East Rand, South Africa, 2009. Photo Greg Marinovich

Jan 9, 2021

Yard, Soweto

Jan 9, 2021

Outdoor table and yard, Soweto, 1999. Photo Greg Marinovich.

Jan 9, 2021

Rhodes, Eastern Cape

Jan 9, 2021

Spaza shop sign, Eastern Cape, South Africa, 2003. Photo Greg Marinovich

Jan 9, 2021

Jan 21, 2021

A bakkie or pickup taxi settles in a marsh at Dobsonville, Soweto, after losing control while carrying several Zion Christian Church members, May 1992. Photo Greg Marinovich

Jan 21, 2021