LATEST WORK

• Nollywood  (2008)
• Messina/Musina  (Standard Bank Young Artist exhibition, June 2007 - July 2008)
• 'Gadawan Kura' - The Hyena Men series II (2005-2007)

RECENT PROJECTS

• Presence (2005-6, exhibition at Michael Stevenson 22 February - 25 March 2006)
  Hugo has photographed people in diverse contexts across Africa who he feels have a distinct presence and bearing. Hugo, in his photography, is willing to take the risk of confronting the troubled and entwined history of Africa and photography, and take images that are forthright and direct. His work is characterised by an unapologetic desire to look; at the same time, he negotiates a direct dialogue with the subject in his photograph. He looks, but what is equally significant is that he is looked at. Perhaps it is the combined energy of the photographer and the photographed that gives these images, and their subject, their commanding presence.

  → Boy Scouts, Monrovia, Liberia
  → The Hyena Men of Nigeria
  → In Spirit: Portraits of traditional healers in trance, communing with the ancestors
  → Wild Honey Collectors, Techiman District, Ghana
  → Orlando Pirates Football Club supporters, Rustenburg
  → Barristers and Solicitors, Supreme Court of Ghana
  → Judges, Botswana
  → Taxi washers, Durban
  → Boerseun: Portraits of young Afrikaans farm boys
  → Portraits of people with Albinism

• Looking Aside  (2004-5)
  In this series, Hugo looks directly at people whose appearance makes us look aside. In doing so, he forces us to confront ourselves and our preconceptions and prejudices, and question why we are so awkward when we encounter people who are unusual in some way, whether for reasons of albinism, blindness or a skin disorder. In these frontal portraits, we see what we usually choose to look at from the corners of our eyes.
  → Looking Aside

• The Bereaved  (2005)
  These photographs explore the spaces associated with mourning and the bereaved families of the deceased in South Africa where HIV and Aids-related illnesses are devastating many in the prime of their lives.
  → The Bereaved

PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS / WORKS

• Rwanda 2004: Vestiges of a genocide  (27 October - 26 November 2004)
• Malawi 2003: Tuberculosis and guardian care  (27 October - 26 November 2004)

PUBLICATIONS

• The Hyena & Other Men (2007)
• Messina/Musina (2007)
• Looking Aside: South African Studio Portraits 2003 - 2006 (2006)

BIOGRAPHY
Pieter Hugo was born in 1976 and grew up in Cape Town. He underwent a two-year residency in 2002-3 at Fabrica in Treviso, Italy. He has held solo exhibitions at Michael Stevenson in Cape Town; Yossi Milo, New York; Extraspazio, Rome; the Museum of Modern Art, Rome; Fabrica Features, Lisbon; Bertrand & Gruner, Geneva; Stephen Cohen, Los Angeles; and Warren Siebrits, Johannesburg. Recent group exhibitions include An Atlas of Events at Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon (2007); Faccia A Faccia: Il nouvo ritratto fotografico at FORMA, Centro Internazionale di Fotografia, Milan (2007); the 27th São Paulo Bienal (2006); and Street: Behind the cliché at Witte de With, Rotterdam (2006). Hugo was included on ReGeneration: 50 Photographers of Tomorrow, 2005-2025 (Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, and Aperture, New York), an exhibition identifying 50 young photographers who will be considered great by 2025, accompanied by a book published by Thames & Hudson. He won first prize in the Portraits section of the 2006 World Press Photo competition. Full CV

For more information, visit the artist's website: www.pieterhugo.com.

© 2008 Michael Stevenson. All rights reserved.