Artist Kevin Mackintosh showcases modern African tradition in photographic portraits
Exhibiting locally for the first time in a decade, he draws on fashion to create snapshots of personhood in his ‘Hero’ series
South African-born, London-based artist Kevin Mackintosh rose to prominence around 2008, with the release a series of photographs that offered audiences a privileged window into the world of the Russian Bolshoi Ballet company. Now, for the first time in more than 10 years, Mackintosh is slated to exhibit in Cape Town, where Hero, his latest compilation, will be showing at the Deepest Darkest Gallery from February 22 to April 10.
The Hero series draws on some of the tenets of modern West African portraiture – in the colloquial, photo-booth style of artists such as Seydou Keita, Malick Sidibé and Sory Sanle – while incorporating elements of contemporary fashion photography. Mackintosh’s lurid hybrids are slightly surreal, reminiscent of stylized magazine editorials but with a great deal more emphasis on human subjectivity – the makeup and garments Mackintosh features are only an extension of the characters he conjures up from behind the camera. The finished images take on the quality of old-fashioned portraiture, insofar as they are markers of time and place, operating as snapshots of personhood for posterity.
If you are in Cape Town in late February, March or early April, I urge you to seek out this collection. Mackintosh rarely exhibits locally and Hero might well be the series that reifies his reputation as one of this generation’s more notable African voices.
• Hero will be showing at the Deepest Darkest Gallery, Cape Town, from February 22 to April 10 2020.