Pieter Hugo - Photographs New York Saturday, April 9, 2011 | Phillips

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  • Catalogue Essay

    Peter Hugo’s The Hyena & Other Men series chronicles the lives of the Lagos-based Gadawan Kura, or the ‘Hyena Handlers’, a travelling group consisting of a family of entertainers with their hyenas, monkeys and rock pythons. The photographs reflect the artist’s fascination with the myths surrounding the individuals and their wild animals. This series centers on the complex and somewhat paradoxical relationship that exists between animals and their keepers, at times affectionate and tender, and at other times ruthless and cruel. The works are not meant to be read as exotic mementos, but rather as genuine, intimate portraits. Hugo not only brings to light issues of codependence, submission and poverty but also of socio-economic strife that has become increasingly prevalent in Nigeria.

49

Dayaba Usman with the monkey Clear, Nigeria

2005
Digital color coupler print.
59 1/2 x 59 1/2 in. (151.1 x 151.1 cm).
Signed, titled, dated and numbered 1/7 in ink on a label affixed to the reverse of the flush-mount.

Estimate
$15,000 - 20,000 

Sold for $27,500

Photographs

9 April 2011
New York