Well, I am truly amazed ....I popped into the Photographer's Gallery just over a week ago to check out the Deutsche Borse 2015 Photography Prize and I guess for the first time in a while, agreed with the judges!
And I was very interested
to see Rineke Dijsktra amongst the list of judges - perhaps not
surprising as the shortlist for the prize revealed a strong emphasis on
portraiture. I later called into the Tate to see some of her work by way of ending the day with another take on portraiture.
I really liked the work of the winners, Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse. They were nominated for their publication Ponte City ( Subotzky, M. and Waterhouse,P. (2014) Ponte City. Steidl / Walther Collection)
This is a visual and narrative exploration of Ponte City, a Johannesburg building, its residents, life and history, between 2008 and 2014.
The actual presentation of the work at the Photographer's Gallery combines photography within a collage of anthropological material, multi-media and large light box sculptures displaying windows, doors and TVs from each apartment of the fifty-four floors. The winners explored the quality of lived experience with the building, inside,beneath and around - a building that was originally conceived as an urban space with a promise of glamour and the hi-life for young white 'urbanites'.It failed to deliver its 1970s aspirational ideals becoming a dilapidated refuge for the urban poor, immigrants and dealers. Subotzky and Waterhouse's work spans a period just after the building had experienced a failed regeneration project up to the current restoration work.
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| Mikhael Subotzky & Patrick Waterhouse |
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| Mikhael Subotzky & Patrick Waterhouse |
I really like the creativity and imagination that went into this work...the visual images have a strong,powerful impact on the viewer whether light box or a combination of photographic image and material found within the rooms after the residents had left (see below). There is, somehow, a feeling of engagement with the people who inhabited this building that comes across within the work, possibly derived from the actual interaction the winners had to have with the residents but it certainly resonated with me.
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| Mikhael Subotzky & Patrick Waterhouse |
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| Mikhael Subotzky & Patrick Waterhouse |
But what of the other three shortlisted photographers? I also found myself drawn to the work of Zanele Muholi who was nominated for her publication Faces and Phases 2006-2014 (Steidl / Walther Collection 2014 ) She identifies herself a visual activist and her compelling black and white portraits offer us an insight into the politics and identity of LGBTI communities in a post-apartheid South Africa. These are powerful images that draw you in to reflect on the impact of homophobia and violence within these communities.
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| Zanele Muholi |
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| Viviane Sassen |
I found myself less 'moved' by Sassen's exhibition 'Umbra' at the Netherlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam ( 8 Mar-Jun 2014). This was an experimental take on image making combining photography with sound,installation and other media - the 'umbra' or shadow being seen as a metaphor for the human psyche. That said, I did like the above installation using a mirror - Why? I think the idea and the resulting visual pattern just appealed - no more than that.
The last shortlisted photographer was Nikolai Bakharev. His black and white photographs combine private and public portraits, some informal, some staged. Taken at a time in the USSR when images of personal, intimate life were prohibited, these images offer up a glimpse of people who seem expressing a mix of uncertainty, bravado, insecurity and vulnerability. Whether this comes from the circumstances of the time or place of the individuals themselves is hard to say but they do remind me of Dijsktra's images of teenagers posing on the beach...
