Gallery F, the space that archives and preserves photography from South Africa and beyond – the story of the Furlongers
By Marcia Elizabeth Greyling
On a crisp Monday morning, I set off to explore a number of photography exhibitions across the city as a part of the Cape Town Photography Festival. I found myself walking through Cape Town City Centre, and down Shortmarket Street, the home of Gallery F, to view Beyond The Lens | The Inside Story. I walked up to a rustic black door and rang the bell, a voice on the intercom greeted me – the voice of Gavin Furlonger, photographer, preservationist and founder of the gallery. As I gauged the exhibition and wondered about the men behind the scenes, we struck up a conversation, and I realised that they ran the gallery as father and son. Peaking my interest, I would return to interview them on their story.
Gallery F’s aims to honour the richness of South Africa’s photographic heritage and offers an attentively selected collection of photographs from gone by eras (from the 1940s –) as well as the present day. The gallery was founded in 2002 by the Photographic Archival & Preservation Association (PAPA-SA) and features works by established as well as emerging South African photographers.
I inquired how it was that PAPA-SA and Gallery F came to be as Gavin told me the following story. At the start of the new millennium Gavin was running the PPSA (the Professional Photographer’s Association) and heard frequently about photographers who were passing away, effectively leaving their work lost to time. This would occur as family members were unsure of what to do with or how to take care of the photographs. Photographic materials would be left to fend for themselves ultimately succumbing to the wear and tear of weather conditions. Left neglected in old boxes in garages and attics. “I thought this was ridiculous, every time someone dies their work disappears”, Gavin told me.
Taking this to heart he started considering how this could be prevented. He decided to go and speak to some of Cape Town’s oldest photographers including Ginger Odes. “I used to think that Ginger was like the Ken Russell of Cape Town”, Gavin expressed.
He spoke to Odes and asked him what would happen to his work after he passed on. Odes admitted that he had no idea. Gavin proposed that he could work with Odes’ wife Catherine to keep 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”, stated Gavin. He wondered what he would call his initiative and came 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 never wants 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 father and son duo, there is much to be done with boxes still in storage waiting for their decisive eyes to find the magic, “the treasure” as Gavin coined it.
Gavin told me more about the photographers in their collection as I held an image he was showing 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 feelings about 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 present and Sean his son, as the future of their initiative. Talking about one of the triumphs of working together, Sean expressed their shared passion for photography and storytelling which he believes goes hand in hand. He shared that for them, it’s about a larger picture in which they have taken on the responsibility to continue telling the stories of photographers of old and new. “It is important, it feels good to do that”, he told me. “Starting to work with Gavin it worked naturally. I just felt like it was the right thing to do”.
Continuing the conversation 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 goal that they are working towards inevitably always draws them back to systems that allow them to figure things out together.
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 joy in working with his son as he realises that their work will live on through Sean, going further than he had ever imagined.
As I probed the pair on what they hope their work will mean to future generations they each shared their perspectives. “I think that I don’t think about it very often…”, Gavin stated. 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 reminded me of their efforts to continue history’s reach through the digitisation of their archives and making them accessible online. These works are time stamped and the information behind them meticulously noted. “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 terms of contemporary photographic investment, Gallery F is working towards the inclusion of photography from West Africa and other African countries. A prospect that Gavin is excited about and he shared his anticipation of the new energy that will translate from these images.
In concluding our open dialogue the pair told me about what’s next for them – a solo exhibition by David Lurie titled, ‘At the Water’s Edge’. They described the show as being a break away from previous exhibitions they have done. Lurie’s project began during covid and spans a period of five years of documentation. The body of work is about connection, disconnection and isolation. Sean told me that, “That’s what he’s playing with [David Lurie], the turmoil and the peace of the images”.
As a final sentiment Gavin shared a wish 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 until 18 December 2025.