Pieter Hugo at Michael Stevenson Contemporary
by Linda Stupart
'I got bored of taking pictures, I like making pictures' said Pieter Hugo on the walkabout of his new show, 'Presence', at Michael Stevenson. The process of reviewing his show may have been considerably easier if he hadn't said that. I'd also prefer it if he hadn�t told us that his wild honey collector photographs were taken out of honey season - becoming 'like a fashion show'. Photography is always complex in Africa, and with Hugo winning the portraits section of the 2006 World Press Photo competition with one of his Nigerian photographs shown here, it is reasonable to assume that his work should be classified as 'documentary photography'. In this light, the constructions to which he confesses sit a little uncomfortably in the mind of the viewer.
I am also aware, however, that this is a tired argument. Photography is inextricably mediated. Hugo goes out, finds and photographs people whom he finds interesting and exciting - faces with presence. Many of the photographs in this show are fascinating and beautifully executed. The works themselves do indeed have presence, and perhaps the artist should be praised for being brave enough not only to take pictures of black Africans, despite the ongoing debates around the colonial gaze (of which Hugo is undoubtedly aware) but for his honesty when discussing the 'truth' of said images. Certainly there is an intense engagement between subject and photographer - the wary look in the Nigerian men's faces, however, and the hint of noble savage in the barrister and judge images make me feel that perhaps this involvement is very heavily weighted towards the white male artist.
Again, however, the images themselves are clearly those of a world class photographer. In particular, Hugo's already iconic The Hyena Men of Nigeria series is deeply fascinating and disturbing on an unusually primal level. This series portrays a group of 12 travelling performers and muti sellers who traverse Nigeria with their hyenas, baboons and pythons. The images of these men standing, clearly unafraid of their potentially vicious pets - who are held by thick chains and, mostly, woven muzzles - though perhaps a little wary of their photographer, are potent expositions of machismo. In the same room of the exhibition, a photograph of an injured Nigerian boxer, with what remains of his hand secured very similarly to the jaws of the hyenas, and an image of a young white boy, barefoot, legs apart, staring straight into the camera lens with acres of darkest Africa behind him, too play out an interesting exploration of male bravado and modes of masculine identity on the continent.
Also in the main exhibition room is the Wild Honey Collectors, Techiman District, Ghana series. Here, the subjects are adorned by fantastical gear presumably worn to protect them from bees, who are in turn protecting their honey. Disquietingly reminiscent of photographs of guerrilla soldiers, the honey collectors stand as solitary figures in the Ghanain jungle, wearing leaves that could almost be camouflage (but apparently produce a scent which repels bees), faded t-shirts and homemade protective headgear that is rather eerily evocative of a gimp mask. How much of this gear is actually worn on honey collecting missions, however, is impossible to know.
As mentioned previously, Hugo arrived in Ghana out of honey season and thus, he says, the men began to attempt to outdo each other in their outfits, a 'fashion show' of wild honey collectors. A particularly fascinating image features a man in a faded Mickey Mouse t-shirt, red Superman type cape and black plastic wrapped around his head. Although I have suggested that this construction of identity and functionality might undermine this series of photographs, it is also notable that, through their selected dress and competitive posturing, these men are performing their own chosen identities for the camera. This leads me to consider that perhaps this mode of working is in fact more collaborative and less exploitative than the traditional documentary photograph.
In the entrance room to the gallery are two series, one of Orlando Pirates supporters in their fanatical garb, and one of white sangomas in trance states. The images of Orlando Pirates supporters are, again, provocative images of modes of masculinity, with one supporter dressed half in drag, and of hybrid African identity - with masks and dress that suggest colonial photographs of traditional African ceremonies. While Orlando Pirates paraphernalia is rather trendy amongst young white South Africans, Hugo is not apparently concerned with this. He took these pics while on assignment at the game working on a story on soccer in South Africa and the photographs only seem to draw attention to 'civilised' white South African's sick enthrallment with the sport and its Othered supporters.
The images of white sangomas in trance states, though iconic of the complexities of African identity, come off as a little too gimmicky. The black room in which they were shot and Hugo's formal portrait style strip the sangomas of their power. These could very easily be a fashion shoot of white models masquerading as traditional healers.
Hugo's series of black judges and barristers too falls short, mostly due to this formal portrait style. The glaringly white headdresses (in comparison to their wearers at least) on the subjects indicate their position of officially sanctioned importance as opposed to the mythical infamy with which the animals provide the hyena men, or the traditionally sanctioned power signalled by the sangoma's headdress, and is thus an interesting addition to the exhibition. The series, however, is considerably too large - comprising more elements than almost all the other series in the show - and too repetitive. Though Hugo captures the gravity and character of his subjects successfully, the static studio portraits and their subjects seem to drag a little.
During Hugo's walkabout, one woman stated 'many African people don't like having their photographs taken as they think you're stealing their souls', asking the artist how he had successfully countered this problem. Although Hugo succinctly answered that he had, in fact, never encountered this myth - that the people he photographs, enjoyed having their picture taken - these are myths that the art-going public still perpetuates and myths that, perhaps, are still allowed to exist through photographers' blatant exoticising and romanticising of the black African citizen and his traditions.
I am very reluctant, however, to condemn Hugo's exhibition, and perhaps that is indicative of my own desire for the exotic, the unknown and the brutally masculine - elements all represented here. These are undoubtedly excellent photographs: it is just very difficult to look at such images with the belief, as an early press release stated, that their subjects have the agency to look back at you.
Opens: February 22
Closes: March 25
Michael Stevenson Contemporary Gallery
Hill House, De Smidt Street, Green Point
Tel: (021) 421 2575
Fax: (021) 421 2578
www.michaelstevenson.com
Hours: Mon - Fri 9am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 1pm
