A scene set in blue: the sky and river and road. Even the house is cast with a tint of azure. The road is pictured at a point from which it inclines into a bend. When you round the corner, you arrive at the house, from which you can stare down at the river, which looks back up with tides of omniscience. The scene is blue with a predawn darkness, against which the lit rooms shine with a dangerous hint of solitude, and now you’re alone on an island. 

This photograph was taken on Robben Island, 11km off the coast of Cape Town. This infamous island is most known for the detaining of political prisoners during Apartheid and the place where Nelson Mandela spent the majority of his 27 year imprisonment. Prior to this it served as a leper colony and a mental hospital, amongst other things. 

I spent many nights on the island, staying with some of the residents of the island. I was curious about the island at night, how it presented itself in the dark and during a state of flux—dusk and dawn—like the changing of a tide. I explored the island at its most isolated hours and took this photograph just before dawn. This building is “Alpha 1,” the island's only shop and cafe which is situated at the south, facing the mainland and Cape Town's big city lights. 

Those nights on Robben Island, alone and free to roam as I liked, were both eery and magical—a very intimate experience. The history of the island weighed heavily on me and seeing this one lonely building gazing back at the mainland as dawn broke, felt poignant.

My approach to photography is strongly informed by my background in the History of Art and is rooted in research. It can be a bit of a tug of war between the slowness of this approach and the impulse of visual intuition.

I think that visual language is global and the way we communicate through images is always evolving. 

Verity FitzGerald is a Cape Town-based photographer whose work is deeply rooted in history and research. “I’m curious about spaces that hold memory and the interconnectivity between individual and collective memories,” she says. “In all of my work I consider the evolution of cultural landscapes, and with a multilayered approach I play with the fluidity of time and memory.” See more of her work on her website, and Instagram.