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Pieter Hugo
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Pieter Hugo

Pieter Hugo. David Akore, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010
“This essay was photographed on a densely populated triangle of land in the Ghanaian capital of Accra. Bounded by the Abossey Okai Road and Odaw River, a polluted waterway that flows into the Korle Lagoon, Agbogbloshie is the second largest e-waste processing area in West Africa.
Old Fadama is an impoverished settlement that offers northern migrants to the city the cheapest rents and a convenient base close to the central markets, a major employer. Home to an estimated 80,000 inhabitants, this mixed-used area on a former wetland consists not only of formal and informal residences for disenfranchised migrants to the city, but a commercial bus depot, and a vast and differentiated marketplace that includes specialised e-waste markets. An irregular activity until a few years ago, large volumes of end-of-life computers and television are now handled by Ghanaâs port daily. Shipped under pretext of being reusable electronic goods, items that are not saleable end up at Agbogbloshie, nicknamed by locals as âSodom and Gomorrahâ.”
It is here that circuits, transistors, capacitors and semiconductors are reduced to their base metals. There is, one has to admit, something beautifully alchemical about whatâs happening there: these devices that are the pinnacle of cultural achievement get transformed back into their base elements. Of course, this is the sympathetic reading of an artist. The political ecologist Paul Robbins has described the dump as âa bizarre engine that maintains a self-replicating worldwide system of over-productionâ. I think it is fair to say that Agbogbloshie is a dark and dirty monument to the digital age, to our faith in technology and its built-in obsolescence. This idea of surplus and waste, which is key to our digital experience, is not one that many people seem comfortable addressing. Being in an environment like this, where geopolitical imbalances are being exploited to effectively dump waste on poor countries, it is hard not to take a political position. And so I have let my photographs be used by advocacy groups.
I first encountered the dump in a photograph published by National Geographic. This is a recurrent theme in my photography, how photographs prompt me to make my own photographs. The work was produced during two trips of two weeks each. I tend to photograph over two-week stretches. I find this is a period in which I can keep my eye fresh. After that you become too accustomed to a place. It was something I realised in Rwanda, how quickly one becomes desensitised and acclimatised to completely unacceptable situations, how the mind is capable of this.”
— Pieter Hugo
Details
Edition Size:
NFT 1/1
Resolution:
4k
Reserve Price:
1.5 ETH(From)
Works:
42 (33 available)
Sold:
9
Sales:
19.5 ETH
Pieter Hugo
Abukari Sani, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana 02:00, 2009
Pieter Hugo
Kofi Abanga, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana 02:00, 2009

Pieter Hugo
Al Hasan, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

Pieter Hugo
Al Hasan Abukari, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

Pieter Hugo
Ibrahim Sulley, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

Pieter Hugo
Ibrahim Sulley, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

Pieter Hugo
Naasra Yeti, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

Pieter Hugo
Al Hasan Fuseni, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010

Pieter Hugo
Mami Al Hassan, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010
On SuperRare

Pieter Hugo
Abdulai Yahaya, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010

Pieter Hugo
Kofi Abanga, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010

Pieter Hugo
Abdulai Yahaya, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010
On SuperRare

Pieter Hugo
Abdulai Yahaya, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010
On SuperRare

Pieter Hugo
Abukari Sani, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010

Pieter Hugo
Aissah Salifu, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010
On SuperRare

Pieter Hugo
David Akore, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010

Pieter Hugo
Manaf Ibrahim, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010

Pieter Hugo
Ibrahim Sulley, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana 02:00, 2009
On SuperRare

Pieter Hugo
David Akore, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana 01:48, 2010

Pieter Hugo
Manaf Ibrahim, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana 01:48, 2009
On SuperRare

Pieter Hugo
Yaw Francis, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

Pieter Hugo
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

Pieter Hugo
Omar Idris, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010

Pieter Hugo
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

Pieter Hugo
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

Pieter Hugo
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009
On SuperRare

Pieter Hugo
Yakubu Al Hasan, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009
On SuperRare

Pieter Hugo
Saani, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

Pieter Hugo
Zakaria Salifu, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010

Pieter Hugo
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010

Pieter Hugo
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010

Pieter Hugo
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

Pieter Hugo
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010

Pieter Hugo
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

Pieter Hugo
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2010
On SuperRare

Pieter Hugo
Yaw Francis, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana 02:00, 2009
On SuperRare

Pieter Hugo
Saani, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana 02:00, 2009

Pieter Hugo
PE 01, 2009

Pieter Hugo
PE 02, 2009

Pieter Hugo
PE 03, 2009

Pieter Hugo
PE 04, 2009

Pieter Hugo
PE 05, 2009
Abukari Sani, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana 02:00
2009
1.5ETH
Kofi Abanga, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana 02:00
2009
1.5ETH
Al Hasan, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2009
2.5ETH
Al Hasan Abukari, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2009
2.5ETH
Ibrahim Sulley, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2009
2.5ETH
Ibrahim Sulley, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2009
2.5ETH
Naasra Yeti, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2009
2.5ETH
Al Hasan Fuseni, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2010
2.5ETH
Mami Al Hassan, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2010
2.5ETH
Abdulai Yahaya, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2010
Sold
Kofi Abanga, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2010
2.5ETH
Abdulai Yahaya, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2010
2.5ETH
Abdulai Yahaya, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2010
Sold
Abukari Sani, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2010
2.5ETH
Aissah Salifu, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2010
2.5ETH
David Akore, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2010
Sold
Manaf Ibrahim, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2010
2.5ETH
Ibrahim Sulley, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana 02:00
2009
1.5ETH
David Akore, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana 01:48
2010
Sold
Manaf Ibrahim, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana 01:48
2009
1.5ETH
Yaw Francis, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2009
Sold
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2009
2.5ETH
Omar Idris, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2010
2.5ETH
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2009
2.5ETH
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2009
2.5ETH
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2009
2.5ETH
Yakubu Al Hasan, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2009
Sold
Saani, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2009
Sold
Zakaria Salifu, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2010
2.5ETH
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2010
2.5ETH
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2010
2.5ETH
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2009
2.5ETH
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2010
2.5ETH
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2009
2.5ETH
Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana
2010
2.5ETH
Yaw Francis, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana 02:00
2009
Sold
Saani, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana 02:00
2009
Sold
PE 01
2009
1.5ETH
PE 02
2009
1.5ETH
PE 03
2009
1.5ETH
PE 04
2009
1.5ETH
PE 05
2009
1.5ETH
Artist
Pieter Hugo
1976 (RSA)
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Hugo is a photographic artist living in Cape Town.
Major museum solo exhibitions have taken place at Museu Coleção Berardo; the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg; the Hague Museum of Photography, MusĂ©e de l’ElysĂ©e in Lausanne, Ludwig Museum in Budapest, Fotografiska in Stockholm, MAXXI in Rome and the Institute of Modern Art Brisbane, among others. Hugo has participated in numerous group exhibitions at institutions including the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, Barbican Art Gallery, Tate Modern, the Folkwang Museum, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, and the SĂŁo Paulo Biennale.
His work is represented in prominent public and private collections, among them Centre Pompidou, Rijksmuesum, the Museum of Modern Art, V&A Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, J Paul Getty Museum, Walther Collection, Deutsche Börse Group, Folkwang Museum and Huis Marseille.
Hugo received the Discovery Award at the Rencontres d’Arles Festival and the KLM Paul Huf Award in 2008, the Seydou Keita Award at the Rencontres de Bamako African Photography Biennial in 2011, and was shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize in 2012. In 2015 he was shortlisted for the Prix Pictet and was chosen as the âIn Focusâ artist for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Press + Articles
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01
Deutscher Handy-MĂŒll vergiftet Kinder in Ghana
Der Spiegel (article)