Laura Leonelli

In this series of photographs Pieter 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. This beautifully presented book is published by Punctum and contains an essay by Antjie Krog. "In the early 2000s, while living in Italy, I started photographing people with albinism in various parts of the world. I was travelling as an assignment photographer and used the opportunity to explore my own interests while meeting professional obligations.

My earliest portraits featured people naturalistically posed in ambient environments. As the project developed, I opted to narrow the focus to South Africa, as well as limit myself to producing only head-and-shoulders portraits taken with the aid of studio lights against a neutral backdrop. A lot of the people I photographed had poor eyesight – it is one of the side effects of albinism – and worked in institutions for the visually impaired. This led me to extend the scope of my project to include people who were blind or partially sighted. The same feelings of discomfort I encountered photographing people with albinism arose when I photographed people with poor or no eyesight. The discomfort at encountering an unreciprocated gaze is, I think, self-imposed. It is not something the subjects feel." -Pieter Hugo… (altro)