Pieter Hugo, Untitled

The three edition works “CALIFORNIAN WILDFLOWERS” are part of an unpublished new series by Pieter Hugo. The artist photographed the series in Tenderloin, a neighborhood in downtown San Francisco. The Tenderloin has historically resisted gentrification, maintaining a seedy character and reputation for crime. At same time it serves as a mecca for the art scene in San Francisco.

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What does it mean to live in cities today? This question is central to the photographic works of Pieter Hugo (*1976). The South African photo artist, who travelled through Africa while only in his early twenties – then still as a photo journalist for the New York Times and other publications – captures above all the corporeal presence of people in their respective, often conflict-ridden cultures. His urgent portraits come together to form a social tableau that depicts the current and radically critical realities of life, not only in African cities.

Born in Johannesburg in 1976, Pieter Hugo now lives and works in Cape Town.