Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Image of the Day

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John Dollar Emeka, Enugu, Nigeria, 2008, by South African photographer Pieter Hugo, currently on view at Yossi Milo Gallery in New York. Hugo's haunting photographs mimic film stills taken from the over-1000 low-budget, straight-to-video movies shot in Nigeria each year (making "Nollywood," as it's known, bigger than Hollywood, though not quite as big as Bollywood). From the press release:
[Nollywood] films lean toward the macabre and melodramatic, with narratives rooted in local symbolic imagery and traditional storytelling. Themes and subjects often include the supernatural, with plots centered on romance, extortion, prostitution, witchcraft, or religion. Produced for a primarily African audience, the films are a rare example of African self-representation in mass media.
See more in a [NSFW] slideshow at New York Magazine and visit Yosi Millo for info – the show is up through April 10th with a closing reception April 8th.

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