In her previous works, the photographer Hazel Mphande would focus the camera on herself to shoot discomforting black-and-white self-portraits. But after a recent trip to the Karoo, a semi-arid region in South Africa’s Western Cape where she took photographs of the desolate terrain, Mphande pondered if those works could be likenesses as well.
“When I got back home, I was like, ‘Could a landscape possibly also be self-portraiture?’ and I started to take that idea and break it down, because I identify with the land that I come from,” Mphande, 35, said in a video interview from Johannesburg, where she lives and works. “I’m always confronted with my identity: where I come from, how I grew up and also the psychological impact that a place can have on you.”
Berman Contemporary, which represents Mphande, will show these topographical “self-portraits” from May 9-11 at the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in New York, along with self-portraits by a fellow South African artist, Athenkosi Kwinana.
This concept of place playing a significant role in revealing and influencing experiences is something that resonates with Touria El Glaoui, the founder of 1-54, who named the fair after the 54 countries on the African continent. With three fairs held annually in New York, Marrakech and London, these diverse locales shape the feel of each event.
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