Pieter Hugo
[Photographer, b. 1976, Johannesburg, South Africa, lives in Cape Town.]
It’s not that hard to learn how to shoot—the hardest thing is to find a voice.
I’m quite a light person if you meet me but I’m quite heavy in my work, and in the process of making the picture you imbue that with a sense of gravity and urgency.
I don’t think art has a responsibility to be pretty.
Are straight people only allowed to photograph straights, are lesbians only allowed to photograph lesbians?
My work used to be incredibly confrontational: I wanted to point at things and say to society, “Look, look!” I wanted people to feel uncomfortable and be aware of their hypocrisy.
