Our trip to Te Tuhi Art Gallery was fantastic.
The main exhibit by Pieter Hugo gave us an insight into the world of Nollywood, I know we were told that a lot of Nollywood films are limited when it comes to budgeting and resources. But the makeup used in a couple of the clips I have watched online is still pretty convincing, it just comes to show that you don't need mega millions to pull off something spectacular. But I'm not too sure if Hugo used his own make up artists for his work.
One photo that really caught my eye was the one of the woman sitting next to the barred window with coins resting over her eyes. I've seen it on the internet and in movies, where a person dies and somebody will place coins over the person's eyelids, but I never really thought too much about why they would do that. Whether this is a tradition that is also carried out in Nigeria, I'm not too sure, but it has been used in many other cultures around the world to honor the dead and to wish them well on their journey to the other side.
In Greek Mythology, coins are placed over the eyes of the dead to prevent them from opening. They were also placed in the mouth as payment for the ferryman Charon, who would take the corpse across the river Styx and into the underworld of Hades.
So what is Pieter Hugo trying to say with this image? It could have something to do with Nigeria and their struggle with human rights, health issues, crime, etc. Perhaps the woman is trapped and is waiting for death to take her, maybe the idea of dying and making it to the afterlife where she can be free is more appealing to her than being imprisoned in this world.
Ngozi Oltiri. Enugu, Nigeria, 2009
6 comments:
Hi Rose it seems to me the photographer Pieter Hugo is a skilled photographer but
I wonder if he used his own make up artists for his photos rather than the actual nollywood make up artists if so I would find his portrayal of Nollywood Inaccurate.
Would you feel the same about his work if indeed he had his own well paid make up artists for these photos?
food for thought
Oops, by "them" I actually meant I had watched a couple a couple of brief clips on YouTube from Night of Vultures...thanks for that, will have to go back for a quick re-edit!
He might have used his own make-up artists, I'm still not entirely sure. On his website http://www.pieterhugo.com/nollywood/ it says
"By asking a team of actors and assistants to recreate Nollywood myths and symbols as if they were on movie sets, Hugo initiated the creation of a verisimilar reality."
Even if he did use his own make up artists I would still feel the same way about his work. For me, (now that I think about about it,) it has to do with the characters as well as the location because it looks so remote and deserted..
Thats cool thanx for takin the time to answer so thoughtfully
Thanks Rose,
This is a great, in depth commentary on an image from the Nollywood exhibition. I love the way you have brought other cultural traditions into the mix.
I think it's interesting that Hugo "recreates" Nollywood, rather than simply shooting documentation of existing films. This means, I guess, that his work is "art" more than documentary (though there is a fine line that separates those two things anyway). But it also raises more questions about exploitation. He is not simply "recording", he is "orchestrating" which gives him a lot of power, and puts into question how much agency his models have. It's a really interesting subject!
TX
Maha,
it is great that your comment has incorporated a question, as it has gotten some dialogue occurring between you guys. Even better that you are adding extra comments on top of having done the blog homework that you were set! Nice to see you so actively participating.
Cheers Hobbs
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