Mohau Modisakeng

by LEN Contextual Research SP

All images © Mohau Modisakeng and taken from his monograph which I own.

I came across Mohau Modisakeng’s work at Unseen19 in Amsterdam. I found all that I saw really engaged me so I bought his monograph. I can’t stop buying photobooks but this one is special. He uses himself in his images so that interests me in relation to The Truth & Beauty of me. He is making a commentary about the continuing memory of apartheid that is still so strongly present in South African society. There is a powerful consistency to his work and it contains strong messages.

He uses the whip, machete, axe and gun as props to great effect.

The images in his series Ditaola using a gun and a white dove are breathtaking and conjure up so much in my mind. Each image he puts up is like a performance and contains so much.

He also performs some of his works as in this clip Ga Bose Gangwe which I find so moving. The stills from this clip are equally moving in his monograph. In my own work I am seeking to find ways of representing me and making meaning of me. Often i am drawn to simplistic metaphors. Mohau’s work shows me how much can be represented by my own body and a few simple props and acted out shots.

What tremendous fun it would be to have a go at producing this shot. However, the simple use of white powder, highlights in the lighting and the dark shadows are so dramatic. Again a whole book could be written from this image. Love it.

Insight

These images work so well with a simple use of self, a small number of props, a performance and amazing lighting. There is so much more I can do for my project and a seed of an idea begins for the FMP to ramp up the sophistication of my work. I would love to have a go at something like the hat and white powder shot above.

What would my simple props be? What is the appropriate lighting? What do I want to act out?

Reference

Modisakeng, M. Whatintheworld Publishing. (2018). Cape Town

Categories: Contextual Research SP, Sustainable Prospects

LEN

I am a Photographer. As well as taking many photographs I am currently studying for an MA in Photography at Falmouth University. I will direct my attention through the lens of my camera for the next couple of years and see what shows up. I see a photograph as a little bit of magic capturing a moment in time. If successful it surprises and engages your emotions. It tells a story about the wonders of being alive or tells us what we need to change to make it a better world to live in. That is enough for me to get going and then like walking a 1000 miles, which I did across the UK in 2010, or walking 200 miles across Cyprus, which I did in November last year, it is one step at a time.

I was a writer. The title of my unpublished book was ‘You Would Have Done The Same.' It is about a successful guy in love with his wife who lets her die when he discovers her in the process of committing suicide. The title gives a clue as to what I think you would have done. The book is 200 pages long. I found it cathartic to write it but after two years of work and reviewing with agents decided it probably needed another 2000 hours to get the whole book up to the standard of some of the pages. Writing is great but it is a lot of sitting down so I decided to get out and walk, play tennis, play bridge, go birding, watch football at Nottingham Forest, Arsenal and Valencia and anywhere else if I can, meditate, cook and eat. I was a writer who has so far failed to become an author.
I was a young man who loved Mathematics and thoroughly enjoyed getting a BSc at Liverpool University. While there I went often to Anfield and the Philharmonic Hall. I was all set on doing a PhD until I went for interview practice at BP and got seduced by the excitement of an International business career. BP was a great adventure building trading teams and businesses in London, Antwerp, Cleveland Ohio and Singapore. Fabulous people and some great challenges and also very hard work, constant jet lag and lots of fun along the way. I married Karen, my stunning wife, and had the most amazing time with her and our three boys Alex, Tom and Dan. She has multiple sclerosis and we have taken on many challenges together but somehow keep creating a new normal against the horrors thrown our way. She is the love of my life.

After BP I decided to coach senior executives and quickly realized I had a lot to learn
about what makes people tick. I had a fantastic 18 months on the International Programme of the Cleveland Gestalt Institute. A great faculty and a
wonderful group of people on the programme. We studied and worked in Dingle, Singapore, Holland, Cape Town and
Lisbon. This also got me interested in the way we think and make decisions so I studied for an MSc in Psychology atUniversity College London in 2010. The
Masters was in Cognitive and Decision Sciences and I found it fascinating what
we do know but also how much we don’t know about how we think and make
decisions.

I loved coaching and making a difference. I got a number of people to hear themselves, remove some of their own chains and free up the way they thought about the world. I remain fascinated by how people react to and engage with the world. My Masters thesis was why do two people given the same information make different decisions? Put simply, it is because each of us are unique in the way we are constructed.

Since returning from Singapore I found English winters tough so moved to Spain where I now live. The people are lovely, the scenery amazing, food delicious and the sun shines all the time. Almost.

All of these experiences will feed in to my time now as a Photographer. Three motivations I am lucky to have are enthusiasm, curiosity and a continuous interest in learning. All the time I look forward to meeting old friends and making new friends and experiencing this wonderful life together.