South African photographer Pieter Hugo explores the state of post-apartheid South Africa today in this series, which portrays the fragile kinship of a country constantly compromised by its conflicted past.
Hugo’s photographs have a gripping visual strength. In these images, posters for sorcerers and abortionists cover the city walls, homeless people camp out on the streets and chaotic slums are juxtaposed with wealthy settlements. They create a strong (if rather obvious) sense of old and new worlds colliding and uncomfortably coexisting.
The highlight of the exhibition is a series of portraits, a patchwork of faces that live in the shadow of a tormented past. Apartheid may be over, but the nation is still licking its wounds.