Art Spot: An intimacy through a lens

08 April 2014 - 02:00 By Sydney Seshibedi
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HELPING: Art that emphasises beauty in small things
HELPING: Art that emphasises beauty in small things
Image: IRIS DAWN PARKER

Striking and yet so quotidian is the image of a child sitting behind strong metal bars with a bowl of food.

The toddler's face shows comfort in the presence of a stranger taking the photo from beyond the bars. The child sits on a large stuffed tiger while two, almost unnoticeable pot plants on either side of the child contain the only other living things in the frame.

Fading white paint on the wall behind the child and the polish-starved red concrete floor tell a story of the millions living in poverty on the margins of South Africa's developing economy.

American photographer Iris Dawn Parker settled in South Africa a few years ago. Her project, Quotidian Life: The importance of small things, culminated in the exhibition, now on at FADA gallery, University of Johannesburg. The 48 images depict ordinariness that most people would overlook on their daily business.

"The style in which each portrait is shot reflects the intimacy experienced with the people I photograph. And I choose, consciously, to shoot close and intimate portraits," says Parker.

The images are printed in both colour and black and white. The ordinary nature of the photographs ends with the subject matter. Most images cost at least R10000.

There is one of former president Nelson Mandela sitting in his comfortable chair; the others are of strangers. Young show horse riders at the equestrian centre in Soweto; a girl sweeping the veranda in her night gown with golden morning light falling on her; train commuters in overflowing carriages.

Parker takes her camera to the marginalised sections of South African society. Workers, RDP houses, traditional celebrations and hawkers have all been shuttered through Parker's lens. "In return, this has enabled me to make portraits that share the beauty, dignity and humanity I encounter," she says.

  • 'Quotidian Life: The importance of small things' is on until April 14 at FADA Gallery, Johannesburg. E-mail fadagallery@uj.ac.za
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