Hereros - Klompching Gallery

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Portfolio
Jim Naughten
Hereros
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London-based photographer Jim Naughten first came across the Herero
tribe and their eclectic sense of fashion several years ago while travelling
in southern Africa. The images he captured on that trip were published in
Marie Claire, which funded an exhibition that in turn landed him a major
global advertising campaign. Yet Naughten knew he needed to return to
Namibia to continue photographing. “I always had it in the back of my mind
to go back and revisit the project with newfound skills in lighting and postproduction,” he says. “I went back in the summer of 2011 for four months,
working more or less every day, camping and driving for many thousands
of miles, from village to village, attending weddings and funerals.”
What interested him about the Herero tribe was their unique,
paradoxical history. When Namibia was colonised by Germany in the early
20th century, missionaries began converting the indigenous people and
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All images © Jim Naughten
encouraged them to wear european dress. When war broke out between the
tribesmen and the imperialists in 1904, during which more than half of the
Herero people were killed, it was their custom to take the uniform of a
slain German soldier and wear it as a symbol of their successful battle. The
tradition of wearing this clothing continues, with the Hereros still donning
uniforms and Victorian dress, embellishing it with, for example, a cow
horn headdress to honour their ancestors. “What I hope comes across in the
images is the resilience and defiance of the Herero people. It’s not a widely
known story,” says Naughten.
In his portraits of the Hereros, their dresses, suits and military
uniforms are set against the backdrop of the sun-bleached landscape of
the Namibian desert. Also included in the series are images of groups of
similarly clad people, incongruously marching and parading through the
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desert. While their poses seem highly constructed, Naughten maintains
that the Herero tribe are not used to being photographed. “They look
stunning; in a way, all I had to do was point the camera and take some
pictures,” says Naughten. “I had a Herero guide who would translate.
We would discuss the clothing and then ask them to face the camera.”
His last major personal work, Re-enactors, was also concerned with
the connection between history, people and costume, focusing on people
who take part in historical re-enactments from the first and second
world wars, concentrating on the performance aspect. “What really
interests me is history and trying to make a connection with it,” says
Naughten. “I read a great deal of history books and I suppose I’m trying to
make my own version with a camera. With Hereros (as with Re-enactors),
the clothes and uniforms are the story.” BJP
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In print and on show
Hereros will be published next month by Merrell Publishers
as Conflict and Costume, priced £30 (ISBN: 978-1-8589-4600-9),
accompanied by exhibitions at Margaret Street Gallery
(05 March to 13 April) in London and Klompching Gallery
(13 March to 04 May) in New York.
www.merrellpublishers.com
www.klompching.com
www.margaretstreetgallery.com
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