FESTIVAL SELECTEE 2025
JANSEN VAN STADEN
MICROLIGHT
"My father said in the letter that he went to the war because he wanted to kill people. And I needed to understand why a 17-year-old would be willing to do that. I needed to understand the psychology of what society he grew up in to make that normal. Why was violence his first choice?”
— Jansen van Staden
INTO THE LIGHT
In the aftermath of violence
Project: Microlight by Jansen van Staden
A family project with a psychoanalytic and historical lens, South African photographer Jansen Van Staden’s Microlight began when his father died in a microlight plane crash in Kenya. The project took flight years after the accident when Van Staden discovered a letter his father had written to his psychotherapist describing horrific accounts of cruelty and violence he had committed during his time as a conscript in the South African ‘Border War’.
At 17 years old, Van Staden’s father was conscripted alongside 600,000 men to protect Apartheid South Africa’s interests in the South West region. The elongated, intertwined, and complicated ‘Border War’ that began in 1966 and lasted 24 years is sometimes referred to as South Africa’s Vietnam. Van Staden’s project depicts the generational aftermath that still lingers in his life now as the son of a perpetrator of extreme violence. In the wake of a new democratic government and the fresh wounds the past has carved in South Africa, conversations like these are difficult but undeniably relevant.
Jansen van Staden // Microlight
Confrontation and understanding
Microlight was published as a book in 2022 and is based on three main events.
In the first, Van Staden and his brother traveled to Kenya to trace the last steps of their father’s life. The second chapter saw the letter accompany Van Staden all over the country to confront the family. The third part investigates how the ‘Border War’ is represented in war museums throughout South Africa and their lack of dissemination of the psychological aftermath of the war.
“I merely want to understand how we ended up where we are, in the familial context. This is where I am now. This is what happened in my family, and that’s it. I have no interest in playing the victim or pointing fingers.”
The struggle to emotionally manage is a well-documented fact for a large percentage of veterans from any conflict. Through the process of making this body of work, Van Staden came to understand why his father was the way he was. He found resolve in understanding what happened.
The generational aftermath of war trauma
Most museums in South Africa have focused on the political power dynamics and national pride stemming from the war, but the depictions in these museums lacked the psychological, ideological, and emotional nuance that Van Staden was beginning to uncover. By learning about his father and understanding the national context of the war, he now sees himself as fortunate. He now understands that had his parents not divorced, he would have been raised in just another home of violence. Another home of unquestioned ideologies. By not having a father growing up, he was free to make his own mistakes. The cycle has been broken.
“Through this journey, I discovered just how much my life has been influenced by my father’s trauma. How my father’s siblings are still affected by the ideologies of their father and by generations of trauma ignorantly passed on, perhaps even through our genes. My generation is the first in South Africa not to experience war. We have the opportunity and the responsibility to observe all this within ourselves. To ensure that it does not continue”.
Jansen van Staden // Microlight
The photo book – a path to emotional connection
The Microlight project marks a shift in Van Staden’s approach to photography, moving beyond his background in street photography to focus on developing a story tied by specificity. Microlight creates a cohesive narrative built on Van Staden’s family history. This transformation led Van Staden to understand photography as an entire language, where images can guide viewers through complex and emotional landscapes. The photographs are not merely displayed but orchestrated to be understood by anyone.
With the absence of page numbers and white borders in the book, Van Staden has created a claustrophobic layout reflecting the overwhelming process he went through uncovering his father’s past. Similarly, the lack of overt textual explanation lets the images speak for themselves. Microlight is a visual conversation, a back and forth, not only between the pages of the book, but between South Africa and Van Staden’s reconciliation of a personal history.
Initiating new conversations
Through this project, Van Staden started to let go of the shackles of the past. Microlight can function as a starting point for important yet difficult conversations, however, Van Staden believes that ultimately, people can only change themselves, and it is not his place to force this conversation onto someone else.
“I’m not going to force any reconciliation into a situation. That’s almost violent in itself. I’d rather just put it out there, let people relate to it in different ways. It’s crucial to understand that the project is not about my father, but about my process in dealing with new-found information. It is a story about relationships. It’s about grief. It’s about family life. It’s all these things together, and whatever the reader wants it to be.”
Jansen van Staden // Microlight
INTO THE LIGHT
“It’s a process that might be difficult, at times uncomfortable, awkward, emotionally draining, but inevitably one has to face it. Coming into the light is not magical. You have to swim through the river of shit to get to the other side. This book is my river of shit.”
— Jansen van Staden
Interview & Text · Gabriella Presnal and Gaitana Jaramillo · Proof & Edit · Hanna Tokaj and Christine Almlund
ARTIST BIO
Born in Potchefstroom and based in Cape Town, South Africa, Jansen van Staden (b.1986) is primarily a street photographer reflecting on personal imaginaries and microhistories. His works have been strongly influenced by his background in skateboarding and documenting his local community. Within his evolving practice he has been using photography as a conceptual entry point to investigate social belonging and disconnect.
Selected achievements
- – 2024 2024 Lenzburg Photo Festival, Solo show with Microlight.
- – 2023 Luma Rencontres d’Arles Dummy Book Award, shortlisted for Some.
- – 2023 Kassel Dummy Book Award, shortlisted for Some.
- – 2022 Rencontres d’Arles, If a Tree Falls in a Forest, group show with Microlight.
- – 2021 Charta Dummy Book award for Microlight.
