Strauss & co - 16 February 2019, Cape Town

97 75 Pieter Hugo SOUTH AFRICAN 1976– John Addai (from ‘The Wild Honey Collectors, Techiman District, Ghana’ series) signed, dated 2005, numbered 4/5 and inscribed with the title in pencil in the margin archival pigment ink on cotton rag paper image size: 81,5 by 81,5 cm R90 000 – 120 000 EXHIBITED Stevenson, Cape Town, Pieter Hugo: Wild Honey Collectors, Techiman District, Ghana, 2005 , 22 February to 25 March 2006. ITEM NOTES In his landmark series, photographer Pieter Hugo captured a group of honey collectors in the Ghanaian jungle. Each sitter, shot singly and centrally, is dressed in the tools of his trade, with collars and sleeves stuffed with bee-repellent twigs and leaves. On each appears contemporary, western markers – Disney logos, gumboots and plastic masks, for instance – which haul the time-worn tradition very much into the present. John Addai, the focus of the present example, clutches a bundle of sticks and a bouquet of leaves: at a glance, he is both domestic provider and guerrilla soldier.