Pieter Hugo

Pieter Hugo is the Standard Bank Young Artist for Visual Art in 2007 and has won the first prize in the Portrait section of the 2006 World Press Photo. He exhibited at the 2006 Sao Paulo Biennale. His work is pre-dominantly portraits. He looks directly at people whose appearances make us look aside; he forces us to confront ourselves, our preconceptions and prejudices.

His most recent published project tilted Messina / Musina looks at the northern most town in South Africa, that lies on the Limpopo River on the border with Zimbabwe. People are drawn to this town by the opportunities it offers, working in the diamond mines, on the farms, policing this porous border or smuggling contraband and illegal migrants.

Hugo’s landscapes and portraits of the people who live and work here reflect on the changes that are taking place within this town as it responds to the changes taking place both in Zimbabwe and South Africa.


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