Aperture West Lecture Series comes to Seattle

On Saturday, November 3, 2007, South African photographer Pieter Hugo will participate in an Aperture West Collaborative Lecture Series at the Henry Art Gallery. This lecture follows performances at Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, November 1, and PhotoAlliance in San Francisco, November 2. Located in the center of the University of Washington campus in Seattle, there are few venues that are as ideal for hosting photographic exhibitions and lectures by the artist. Even when the subjects are African tribesmen who keep hyenas as pets. The Henry Art Gallery has hosted all kinds of exhibitions, from installation to sculpture to erotic Japanese illustration.

Pieter Hugo was named the Standard Bank Young Artist for 2007, and won first prize in the Portraits section of the 2006 World Press Photo competition. His photographs of African albino children received a great deal of acclaim, and one image, Wonderful Nokukhanya, was used on all promotional materials for photo l.a. 2007.

From the artist's website:

"The first series of pictures had caused varying reactions from people - inquisitiveness, disbelief and repulsion. People were fascinated by them, just as I had been by that first cellphone photograph. A director of a large security company in the USA contacted me, asking how to get in touch with the 'hyena group'. He saw marketing potential: surely these men must use some type of herb to protect themselves against hyenas, baboons, dogs and snakes? He thought that security guards, soldiers and his own pocket could benefit from this medicine."

The Seattle and Los Angeles lectures are free and open to the public. The San Francisco installment, with introductory presentation by Leon Borenzstein, will cost $10 for admission.

Click here to read more about Apertures West Collaborative Series.