Pieter Hugo

The Hyena & Other Men

Pieter Hugo is a South African photographer from Cape Town who works mainly within the realms of portraiture photography which takes on both documentary and art traditions, he mainly focuses on African communities. He is a self taught photographer, generally known for using his Hasslebald camera shooting in the 4x5 format, with one of his main influences being South African photojournalist Daivd Goldblatt. 

Although Pieter Hugo's work is said to be 'problematic', which is part of their power and resonance. Hugo's most famous works are of The Hyena & Other Men, which consists of a group of Nigerian men in an urban setting who have tamed Hyenas and Baboons. The photographs stirred up different reactions such as inquisitive, disbelief and repulsion. Of course most people in Europe were concerned about the animals welfare and several animal rights groups contacted Pieter Hugo, although the men had permits for the animals. People would often miss the point of the photographs as they were more focused on the animals, but of course why do these people feel the need to catch these wild animals in order to make a living. 

Over the past year Pieter Hugo has been photographing a dumping ground in Ghana for global electrical waste. The area is on the outskirts of the slums and is inhabited by cattle and people who walk over piles of motherboards, monitors and discarded hard drives. There is a pit in which they burn the discarded electrical's in order to harvest precious metals, when Hugo asked them what they called this place of burning they simply replied "For this place we have no name. Their response shows the situations forced upon marginal communities. It is stated that Western countries produce around 50 million tons of digital waste, 25% of this waste is collected and recycled effectively whilst the rest is shipped off to developing countries. Which is said to be used in order to help them and create jobs, when in reality its dumped on their land and they are left with discarded materials. 

Mikko Takkunen. (2011). Pieter Hugo's "Permanent Error". Available: http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/feature/2076648/pieter-hugos-permanent-error. Last accessed 24th Apr 2012.

Sean O'Hagan. (2012). This Must Be the Place by Pieter Hugo - review. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/08/this-must-be-the-place-review. Last accessed 24th Apr 2012.

The Hyena and Other Men Images found in book:

Pieter Hugo and Adetokunbo Abiola (2007). The Hyena and Other Men. -: Prestel. all.

Permanent Error Images found at: http://www.yossimilo.com/artists/piet_hugo/?show=0&img_num=12#title. Last Visited 24th Apr 2012