- From Ponte City Photo Studio, Johannesburg 2014
- From Ponte City Photo Studio, Johannesburg 2014
- From Ponte City Photo Studio, Johannesburg 2014
- From Ponte City Photo Studio, Johannesburg 2014
- From Ponte City Photo Studio, Johannesburg 2014
- From Ponte City Photo Studio, Johannesburg 2014
- From Ponte City Photo Studio, Johannesburg 2014
- From Ponte City Photo Studio, Johannesburg 2014
The Ponte City: Photo Studio
In August 2015, as a final chapter in our six-year project, Mikhael Subotzky and I organised a pop-up exhibition and book launch in Ponte City, the towering inner-city apartment block that was the subject of this project.
As a part of the exhibition, we collaborated with a young artist called Desire Seko who lives in the building by setting up a contemporary digital take on the traditional photo studio. We bought a standard studio lighting setup and added a green screen backdrop. Residents of the building and anyone else who attended the exhibition could have their photograph taken and choose a background to situate themselves.
The result was a playful and unmediated process that put the person in front of the lens in control. The studio has taken on a life of its own and has been great to watch from a distance as Desire has continued to post the pictures from his on-going venture.