New work from Jonathan Hindson has entered the collection. Here are a few words from the artist: …
For a first visit to Constitution Hill, the weather was perfect; cold, damp and very misty. I could hardly see the buildings around me, the Post Office Tower was completely lost in the mist. If I understand correctly, at the end of the apartheid period, the infamous awaiting-trial wing of the old prison was knoched down and the bricks from that were then used to build the Constitutional Court. The wall on the photo, with the loud speakers, would be (I think) a small part, left over of the awaiting-trial wing. I was interested by the very graphic aspect of the wall when I saw this fellow coming up. I thought I could wait for him to get into the picture so I tarried a bit, trying no to show too ostentatiously that I was going to take a photo of him. But he had seen through me. When I got ready to shoot, the auto-focus made a noise and the passer-by threw me that canny glance, meaning “I new all along you wanted to get me in your picture”.
I like the contrast between the guy’s relaxed, self-assured attitude and the rather decrepit wall with it’s old loudspeakers, that once was frightening, but no more.
Writing this, I thought that “Même pas peur” may be a better title. But I don’t see how I could translate it. (something like : not even scared anymore, but it doesn’t feel right). The advantage with a more loconic title is that it leaves more space for the spectator’s own interpretation.