Jake Aikman, 2011
Bridget Baker, 2012
Dan Halter, 2011
Matthew Hindley (1), 2012
Matthew Hindley (2), 2012
Anthony Gird (1), 2012
Anthony Gird (2), 2012
Jim Harrington (1), 2011
Jim Harrington (2), 2011
Victoria Jane Peters, 2012
Anthea Duce, 2011
Porky Hefer (1), 2012
Porky Hefer (2), 2012
Anthony Smith (1), 2011
Anthony Smith (2), 2011
Anthony Smith (3), 2011
Anthony Smith (4), 2011
Anthony Smith (5), 2011
Kirsten Kuhn, 2012
Ray du Toit (1), 2012
Ray du Toit (2), 2012
Shamiela Seedat (1), 2012
Shamiela Seedat (2), 2012
Shamiela Seedat (3), 2012
Shamiela Seedat (4), 2012
Shamiela Seedat (5), 2012
Tamsyn Reynolds, 2011
Hayden Phipps, 2011
Yasser Booley, 2011
Wentzel van der Gryp (1), 2011
Wentzel van der Gryp (2), 2011
Ralph Borland (1), 2011
Ralph Borland (2), 2011
Tom Cullberg, 2011
Lebo Tlali (1), 2012
Lebo Tlali (2), 2012
Julia Rosa Clark, 2012
Celeste Horn, 2012
James Webb (1), 2012
James Webb (2), 2012
James Webb (3), 2012
James Webb (4), 2012
James Webb (5), 2012
Federica Angelucci, 2011
Chloe Essery (1), 2012
Chloe Essery (2), 2012
Bradley Abrahams, 2011
Carl Wessel, 2011
Montle Moorosi, 2011
Stacy Hardy, 2011
Ashleigh McLean, 2011
Michael Cleary, 2011
Nandipha Mntambo (1), 2012
Nandipha Mntambo (2), 2012
Nandipha Mntambo (3), 2012
Nandipha Mntambo (3), 2012
Pieter Hugo, 2011
Simon Wall, 2012
Rob van Vuuren, 2011
Michael Stevenson (1), 2012
Michael Stevenson (2), 2012
Marie van Niekerk, 2011
Oliver Kruger, 2012
Thabiso Sekgala (1), 2012
Thabiso Sekgala (2), 2012
Thabiso Sekgala (3), 2012
Thabiso Sekgala (4), 2012
Thabiso Sekgala (5), 2012
Peter Badenhorst, 2012
Sarah Raymond, 2011
Jon Day, 2011
Markus Blank, 2011
Themba Tshabalala, 2011
Brett Williams (1), 2012
Brett Williams (2), 2012
Neil Burton (1), 2011
Neil Burton (2), 2011
David Scholtz, 2011
Trasi Henen, 2011
Peter Eastman, 2012
Annebelle Schreuders (1), 2012
Annebelle Schreuders (2), 2012
Stefan Blank, 2012
Michael de Klerk, 2011
John Murray (1), 2012
John Murray (2), 2012
Adam Fenn, 2012
Simon Southwood, 2012
Vanessa Inggs, 2012
Brad Bird, 2012
Manuela Kacinari, 2012
Adam Lieber, 2012
Gregg Smith, 2012
THERE IS A PLACE IN HELL FOR ME AND MY FRIENDS
There’s a Place in Hell for Me and My Friends is a series of head and shoulder identikit style portraits of my friends and me, all of whom call South Africa home. Through a digital process of converting colour images to black and white while manipulating the colour channels, I emphasize the pigment (melanin) in my sitters’ skin so they appear heavily marked by blemishes and sun damage. The resulting portraits are the antithesis of the airbrushed images that constitute the canons of beauty in popular culture, and expose the contradictions of racial distinctions based on skin colour. As the critic Aaron Schuman writes, “although at first glance we may look ‘black’ or ‘white’, the components that remain ‘active’ beneath the surface consist of a much broader spectrum. What superficially appears to divide us is in fact something that we all share, and like these photographs, we are not merely black and white - we are red, yellow, brown, and so on; we are all, in fact, coloured.”
The title of the series comes from a Morrissey song. There is a verse in it that has particular resonance with me:
“All that we hope
Is when we go
Our skin
And our blood
And our bones
Don’t get in your way “
In these portraits one sees how the sitters’ environment, a place where there is incredibly harsh sunlight, has started to ‘corrode’ our epidermis. This speaks to me about the South African colonial experiment - all these people from all over the world, thrown together within the confines of a nation by the forces of history. The damage left by the sun and the environment becomes allegorical of the burden of South Africa’s tempestuous and fraught past. History leaves its marks on us. It eats away at us. We cannot escape its heavy weight.