Pieter Hugo - Photographs London Friday, September 25, 2020 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Yossi Milo Gallery, New York

  • Literature

    P. Hugo, The Hyena & Other Men, Munich: Prestel, 2007, n.p.
    Pieter Hugo: This Must Be The Place, Munich: Prestel, 2012, p. 133

  • Catalogue Essay

    For his seminal series The Hyena and Other Men, renowned South African photographer Pieter Hugo documented Nigeria’s ‘hyena men’, a group of travelling performers who work with hyenas, monkeys and snakes. In his 2009 monograph, Hugo describes his image-making process:

    In Abuja we found them living on the periphery of the city in a shantytown – a group of men, a little girl, three hyenas, four monkeys and a few rock pythons. It turned out that they were a group of itinerant minstrels, performers who used the animals to entertain crowds and sell traditional medicines. The animal handlers were all related to each other and were practising a tradition passed down from generation to generation. I spent eight days travelling with them.

    The spectacle caused by this group walking down busy market streets was overwhelming. I tried photographing this but failed, perhaps because I wasn't interested in their performances. I realised that what I found fascinating was the hybridisation of the urban and the wild, and the paradoxical relationship that the handlers have with their animals – sometimes doting and affectionate, sometimes brutal and cruel. I started looking for situations where these contrasting elements became apparent. I decided to concentrate on portraits. I would go for a walk with one of the performers, often just in the city streets, and, if opportunity presented itself, take a photograph…


    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, holds another print from this sold-out edition of 7 + 2 APs.

66

Mallam Mantari Lamal with Mainasara, Nigeria from The Hyena and Other Men

2005
Chromogenic print, mounted.
Image: 152 x 152 cm (59 7/8 x 59 7/8 in.)
Frame: 176 x 176 cm (69 1/4 x 69 1/4 in.)

Signed, titled, dated and numbered 2/7 in ink on an artist label affixed to the reverse of the frame.

Estimate
£20,000 - 30,000 

Sold for £30,000

Contact Specialist

 

Rachel Peart
Head of Sale, Specialist


Yuka Yamaji
Head of Photographs, Europe


General Enquiries
+44 20 7318 4092

Photographs

London Auction 25 September 2020