DBPFP 2023

This year’s prize differed, and perhaps disappointed a little, in that there was not much photography on show – all the artists were “pushing the boundaries” to quote the TPG website. This is also a learning point for me, perhaps in both direction – since to some extent that is what I am trying to do using 3D printing and modelling.

FRIDA ORUPABO

Orupabo is a sociologist working out of Oslo interested in the portrayal of black women. Her work uses found photographs to make colleges, initially on instagram as @nemiepeba. These have now been recreated as a few large cutouts on the walls of TPG, occupying more than 2 dimensions. The gaze of the viewer is returned, and the stark minimalist black-and-white effect of the show is certainly dramatic. Nevertheless it seemed a little one-dimensional for me, hitting the politically-corrected word bases without actually getting very far.

BIEKE DEPOORTER

The visual effect of this exhibition was almost the opposite of Orupabo’s, the walls strewn with hundreds of images and notes documenting her obsession with relocating a man called Michael, she had once met who left her several suitcases of his belongings. There was an element of the Sophie Calle about this, although the enquiry came from a respectful and more caring place as opposed to Calle’s angst. Indeed the power dynamic between subject and photographer is in a way the main subject here, refined by the way the photographer deliberately uses Michael’s own approach to try and find him, often asking herself “how would Michael do this” (TPG website).

This does not always end so well – although the exhibition is supposedly about two subjects, Michael and Agata, the latter withdrew her permission from the project and so there is only one picture of a pink room with an artist’s statement blocking the view of Agata. Again there is the power issue, since Agata does not have a voice, although the statement is also very respectful. This shows the risk of working in this way, but also nuances the work and hence provides a new dimension. At times it feels like the photographer is being manipulated by life, rather than the other way round.

The wall installation about Michael takes up 3 sides of the space, whilst on the fourth is a 30 minute video about Depoorter’s search. Spoiler alert, again this ends in disappointment – although the nature of the investigation and the relationship between the main characters, as two proponents in a way collaborating, is in fact the main focus. I found the use of stills uncanny at times, for instance during interviews where the subject is speaking but not moving.

SAMUEL FOSSO

Fosso was the most familiar artist to me. He says he still remembers the day he moved into his studio on 14 September 1975, site of some of his most famous self-portraits. The exhibition also contains images from his African Spirits series, self-portraits of himself as activists such as Angela David and MLK. His view on these are important, however – “I don’t do political. What I seek is peace. I want us to be equal; black and white. I want to be the voice of the voiceless.” (TPG website). Hence his photographs of great people, shown large on museum walls, go some way to rebalance or perhaps represent a future view of equality.

ARTHUR JAFA

Jafa picks up Fosso’s theme much more directly, often pairing images (such as this blog header of blues guitarist Robert Johnson – who according to legend sold his soul to the Devil to acquire his skill, and Miles Davis – who was beaten by police outside a club above which his name was up in lights) to point out that the black experience is ongoing and speaks of the human experience “it takes a lot of energy to be anti-black” (TPG website).

Jafa works largely with found photographs, although perhaps the most powerful image in the whole exhibition is one he took himself of a Murandi Memorial Site in Rwanda in 1999. The clothes of genocide victims are displayed strung out on lines across a room covered in what appears to be white dust, the image bleached of most colour apart from the occasional red (again red for danger, colour used sparingly with great effect). The photograph is a memorial to a memorial to genocide – a trace of a trace of the traces of what remains of the victims – a recurring theme.

Jafa also works with sculpture, using vacuum-molded plastic to create a 3 dimensional representation of the scarred black of ex-slave Gordon – an infamous image reworked and made even more visceral by coming out of the wall at the viewer. Shown next to the image of Robert Johnson and Miles Davis it again speaks of the repeated issue.

For me, Jafa’s contribution had a clear and strong voice presented with an aesthetic that could be looked at but not ignored. He would have my vote, although Fosso is perhaps the favourite for the announcement on 11th May.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS