Billy Monk

Not much is known about the early life of Billy Monk. Although he was born on January 11 it was never sure what year, and no one knew his exact age. He didn’t like to speak about his childhood, although it is clear that he came from a home that was less than whole- a drunk for a father and a stepmother. His early occupations consisted of surviving in any manner he could, largely through petty crime. He was sent to jail for two years as a teenager for stealing a safe, and there learned to become a receptionist. He then moved on to smuggling- be it across the Transkei or poaching fish off the coast of Cape Town. Throughout the course of his life, he held a variety of jobs- a Woolworths model, a photographers assistant, a diamond diver, a sandal shop owner, the proprietor of a vegetarian restaurant, and finally, a bouncer and photographer.
When Monk’s work as a bouncer didn’t work out he entered the world of photography. Still working in the Catacombs, he began to make his living taking pictures of the diverse clientele in what was a rather seedy bar. He used a Pentax camera, with a 35 mm focal-length lens, a small flash, and Ilford FP4 film. The bright flash easily illuminated not only the sordid underground life of the bar but also the vivacity and variety of the people who came there. Although he stopped taking pictures in 1969, there still remains a large collection of photographs for us to enjoy today. His photographs show a variety of the underbelly of Cape Town life at the time- ranging from old men with young wives and gay couples to midgets and mixed race. Monk’s work was discovered in 1979 by Jac de Villiers, in a studio that he had recently moved into. Not only were they already perfectly constructed by the photographer, they were also impeccably annotated with dates and names, which made curation a simple and enjoyable process. The first exhibition of Monk’s work took place at the Market Gallery in Johannesburg in 1982 and although Monk could not attend the event it was subject to much critical acclaim.
Monk’s work was discovered in 1979 by Jac de Villiers, in a studio that he had recently moved into. Not only were they already perfectly constructed by the photographer, they were also impeccably annotated with dates and names, which made curation a simple and enjoyable process. The first exhibition of Monk’s work took place at the Market Gallery in Johannesburg in 1982 and although Monk could not attend the event it was subject to much critical acclaim.
Monk was working in the depth of the Apartheid in South Africa a time when the colour of your skin was indicative of where you could live, work, who you could marry, and where you could drink. The underground lifestyle of The Catacombs, where Monk worked, were a breeding ground for what we today would call dissent. However, neither Monk nor his subjects considered themselves dissenters. Monk chose to take pictures originally as a way of making money, by selling them back to his clients while his subjects were merely out for a night on the town. However, the result, is that an observer looking from another time can see the subversive culture, the dark bars, and the daring of the men and women in the photographs as an outcome and a rebellion against the reign of the apartheid regime.
The off-beat appearance of the photographs, strikingly black and white against a dark background, reveal a variety of clientele, and a variety of nights.