Early Life and Formation of a Critical Eye David Goldblatt, born in Randfontein, Gauteng Province, South Africa, in 1930, emerged as one of the most profoundly insightful documentary photographers of the twentieth century. His lineage—descended from Lithuanian Jewish immigrants who sought refuge from persecution around 1893—deeply informed his perspective. Growing up in a society rigidly stratified by apartheid, Goldblatt’s early life was marked by an awareness of social injustice and the complexities of belonging. While his father managed a men's outfitter shop and his mother worked as a ty…