Nollywood

Nollywood (2009)

Pieter Hugo Nollywood

Artist Statement (Hugo, 2019)

I became aware of Nigeria’s remarkable film industry while working on The Hyena & Other Men series. Everywhere I travelled, out of the corner of my eye, I would catch people watching these locally made films, in bars, hotel lobbies, anywhere there was a TV. The production values at the time were really poor, especially the sound quality, which may be why the films really irritated me at first. But then, at some point, I became more interested in the industry itself, which is the third-largest in the world after the United States and India. It wasn’t the economics of releasing between 500 and 1 000 movies each year that interested me so much as the cultural issues coded into a cinema made by local producers for local audiences. Here you have a local entertainment industry that enables massive self-representation through popular culture. I don’t want to overstate things: the Nigerian film industry dutifully produces a mix of banal, weird, interesting and occasionally profound films. What intrigued me was the authenticity at play, and, if you think through it some more, how this exercise of authenticity challenges western preconceptions of Africa.

With these big ideas in mind, I started off by photographing on film sets. It was an unproductive avenue. I wasn’t interested in making a documentary project showing the puppet strings – the film cameras, booms, microphones and countless operators behind the scenes. I was more interested in the cinematic ideas and stereotypes that were being fabricated for mass consumption. One evening I met a make-up artist who showed me his portfolio: photographs of actors in make-up. He worked in Enugu, which is much easier to work in than Lagos, and had many connections. We struck a deal whereby he would help me on my portrait series; the collaboration would be a showcase of his skills with make-up and wardrobe as much as mine with a camera.

The portraits were produced over four trips. The individual shots were no formal events on a movie set – I prefer to think of them as theatrical happenings that came together quite informally at times. Of course, I directed the final compositions – they were not spontaneous occurrences as such. I think it is important to recognise that my photographs offer a selective engagement with the ideas and visual culture of Nollywood. I chose not to engage the soap opera genre, which is big in Nigeria and typically set in upper-class houses. I had no interest in that. My taste is more towards the macabre; I loved horror movies as a child. There is still an element of that in the subterranean parts of my mind.

The arc of the project involved imagining a series of portrait subjects, making them up with actors, and then documenting these fictional subjects. In my development as an artist, this project was the first time I really questioned the veracity of the portrait. I became aware of how one can play with portraiture, that it can be much more than just the superficial depiction of a subject. For example, the portrait of the three enslaved women is easy to misread. But, factually, it is a photograph of three paid actors wearing costumes and chains. Working on this series, and later reading responses to it, I became more acutely aware of what the viewer brings to the image, which often exceeds what is depicted.

Annotations

This work is was done when Piter Hugo travelled around Africa and Shot film stars in the African film industry known as Nollywood which is Hollywood for African's.

What is denoted?

The work highlights actors and actress posing for Pieter Hugo,  the actors are from the African Film industry known as Nollywood.

What is Connoted?

The work communicates the emotion of laughter and happiness with them all being positioned to all look different and unique so the work can come together. My interpretation of the work is that he spent time to get to understand what the area is all about and how he can use this to his benefit.

How are you affected as a viewer?

On looking at the work it makes me laugh with the way they are all posed to the camera with the way they all dressed up. I think when looking at the book it makes you smile more when you get an understanding of what they are all about and how they can be worked to the viewer to make them stand out.

What makes this work significant to you (and or your project)?

The work is Significant to my Project Because of the style this all be photographed with it being at a set distance away from the subject. I like the way he has got a medium angle of view so he can use this to make the subject all stand out with them being a set distance away from the camera. I Like the idea of comedy in the work as it makes people laugh and have a smile on there face which I might take forward in the future.

What are the strengths of the source you are looking at? What are the weaknesses of the work? (How would you do things differently? What do you think can be improved?)

The strengths of this body of work are that it communicates what the industry that he is shooting in is all about and it can communicate emotion to the viewer. The weakness is that it was harder to understand what they are about without looking at the captions online. The work works well to promote the African Film industry of Nollywood.

What ideas (or visual styles) will you take forward to think about in your work?

My work is going to be different as I am not planning on taking forward the current work that he has produced because I am not going to Africa. I am going to fake forward the idea of the comedy and how I can have a series portrait and then make them stand out to the viewer.

Who is the intended audience?

The idea of this project is to highlight the idea of the African film industry and the audience is going to be people who want a deeper understanding of what the film industry is like in Africa. The work is contemporary with the way that Pieter Hugo has shot this and include the Nollywood confidential in the book that he has shown how it can look like when the work comes together. 

What context have you seen the work in?

I have only seen this work on his website and online, this only allows me to see it from a digital preservative and is harder to get the magnetite of the power in the main photographers that he has worked. I also have seen this work in the book about the project which gives the work greater understanding and making follow better than looking at the work online. 

Bibliography

Hugo, P., 2019. Nollywood. [Online]
Available at: https://pieterhugo.com/NOLLYWOOD
[Accessed 9 12 2019].