Pieter Hugo was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1976.
He now lives in Cape Town with his wife and kids and works as a self-taught
documentary photographer. He feels
photography is democratic. A lot of his work reflects his upbringing during
South Africa’s apartheid policy and he himself has in the past stated how he
feels African but many other people in South African would disagree with him. He
seems to still struggle with his identity in such a fractured and problematic
country and believes the legacy of apartheid still casts a long shadow over the
country. This has led to him questioning how to properly portray the country’s
issues through his photography. Hugo has in the past mentioned how his views
have changed since he has married and had children and is now more troubled by
the issues in society. His feeling of
not being fully accepted as an African person has fuelled his desire to become
a photographer. This has also led to the type of people he photographs and he
likes to hold a personal interaction and connection with his subjects. He
primarily focuses on the lower classes and people throughout Africa who have
been marginalized in some way. His subjects tend to be victims of poverty,
genocide, AIDS or environmental disasters and films most of them going about
their day to day lives. His work can also be very varied with him snapping
landscapes, portraiture, still life and documentary style.
Despite Hugo being a relatively young photographer he has received
his fair share of criticism. The main criticism has been of the nature of his
subject, with it being described as sensational and exploitative of the “exotic
other”. He responded to the criticism by saying; “My intentions are in no way
malignant, yet somehow people pick it up in that way. I've travelled through
Africa, I know it, but at the same time I’m not really part of it. I can’t
claim to have an authentic voice, but I can claim to have an honest one.”
While he has received criticism, he has also been praised as
an award winning photographer. In 2005 his portrait of a man with a hyena won
first prize in the Portraits section of the World Press Photo. He then received
the Standard Bank Young Artist Award in 2007. His photography has given him
great recognition and led to him working with music artists to direct their
videos. He also photographed models for Italian luxury label Bottega Veneta’s
spring/summer campaign 2014. Famous musicians have also referenced Hugo’s work
with Beyoncé Knowles using it for her “Run the World (Girls)” and Nick Cave’s
video featuring the hyena handlers.
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Hugo became the beneficiary of a changed political attitude
toward South Africa. He has gained the trust of some of the world’s most disadvantaged
people. He shows respect to his subjects by photographing them at eye level and
portrays them as he would portray people he already knew.
His Works
Pieter Hugo has had his work exhibited in some of the
biggest galleries throughout the world such as ‘Kin’ at the Yossi Milo Gallery
in New York and ‘Apartheid & After’ at the Huis Marseille in Amsterdam.
He
is best known for ‘The Hyena & Other Men’. It contains photographs of hyena
handlers, known as Gadawan Kura, from Lagos in Nigeria. Pieter’s interest was piqued
when he received an image of some of the Gadawan Kura taken on a mobile phone.
The men were starting to become known throughout Africa as drug dealers, debt
collectors and thieves who used the hyenas as muscle in support of their
criminal activities. Hugo investigated the men and found them in a shantytown
outside Abuja. Hugo described the men as “itinerant minstrels…a group of men, a
little girl, three hyenas, four monkeys and a few rock pythons.” (Pieter Hugo).
Hugo spent a lot of time with the group over the course of two years. He discovered
that them being debt collectors was a myth and in fact they were street
performers. He travelled with them as they staged performances and took
portraits of them posing with the animals. While taking the photographs Hugo
considered the animals to be just as much the subject as the Gadawan Kura were.
He showed this by including both the men and the animals’ names in the titles
of the photographs. Hyenas weren’t the only wild animals the men kept with some
photographs showing baboons dressed in human clothes and children holding
snakes. The choice of hyenas is an unusual one considering they have seldom
been domesticated. Some of the men are seen holding clubs and most of the
hyenas are muzzled to suggest they are not completely domesticated.
Another notorious piece of work from Hugo is that of ‘Nollywood’.
Nollywood is the world’s third biggest film production centre, only behind
Hollywood and Bollywood. The industry produces around 2,000 movies a year and tells
stories that appeal to and reflect the lives of its audience. The film
production centres in the southern Nigerian cities of Enugo and Asaba,
where Hugo shot the portraits in his series. The actors tend to be local people
and the plots confront the audience with familiar situations of romance,
comedy, witchcraft, bribery and prostitution. The films are usually criticised
for being over-dramatic with tragic endings. A lot of the films tend to be horror
as they can be made low-budget and tend to appeal more to the makers of the
film and the audience. They also contain a lot of black magic, zombies and
occults.
My Thoughts
“I am of a generation
that approaches photography with a keen awareness of the problems inherent in
pointing a camera at anything.” (Pieter Hugo)
I found Pieter Hugo to be a very interesting character and
photographer. I like how although he grew up in a middle to upper-class house,
he was still aware that the society he was growing up in needed to change. His
work is very much related to his experiences in South Africa with a government
holding an apartheid policy. It’s impressive that he hasn’t allowed academics
to influence his work by dictating to him that he should be politically
correct. He gets accused of being racist, when in fact his work reflects the complete
opposite.
My favourite piece of work by him is ‘Hyena & Other Men’.
I like how the photographs are shot and although the images are fearsome, I
still found myself gaining warmth for the people in them. I find myself
conflicted in that the animals are chained up and seem to be quite suppressed,
yet the men clearly hold great love for their animals. The fact Hugo
photographed the hyenas could have something to do with them being marginalised
by the world, much like his other subjects. They tend to scavenge the leftovers
of prey other animals have killed and are portrayed as cowardly. I think the photographs ask the viewer
a question on morality. As an animal lover I feel sad for them as these images evoke
not only the power of these creatures, but also the desperation of their owners
who depend on them to earn the money they need to survive.
I also really enjoyed ‘Nollywood’. The piece of work is one
of Hugo’s more controversial works but I think he is trying to portray
something that a lot of people don’t understand. He has been accused of sensationalism
and spreading racial stereotypes but I believe his intention is to speak to
people and shock them as much as the Nollywood films do. He pays homage to the
Nollywood film industry by photographing people made up as zombies and poses
racial questions by snapping black children covered in white paint.
