honorable mention
Justin Dingwall Roman Handt south africa
title
Rerouted
We face a choice for a different path, a new course, an unfamiliar way to get to our destination. We had plans, our journeys mapped out, until we were unexpectedly forced to change direction.
This art series is a commentary on our current situation, and the unexpected roads we must navigate. It focuses on travel, and how restrictions on our movement affects every aspect of our lives. From visiting loved ones, going to and from work, and many other activities, travel forms a predominant part of life. Without it, we experience separation and loneliness, financial loss, retrogression… society just stops.
Voyaging is largely how society progresses, as humans explore, learn, and find new pathways and livelihoods. We cannot move forward without travel.
Fashion is also an important feature in this series. The artworks are a collaboration between a fashion designer and fine art photographer, and became a visual journey for them both, as they each investigate what travel means to them. The element of fashion evokes ideas of self-identity and exploration. It can be something very personal. Here, the art series highlights not only themes of physical journey (in the objects of transportation), but also inner journey of the self.
His most recent project, a series of perfectly composed and lite portraits of Thando Hopa, a young lawyer-turned-model who has albinism, has attracted attention internationally. October 2013 sees the portraits on exhibition at the 1:54 African Art Fair in London, after debuting at the prestigious FNB Johannesburg Art Fair. Exploring the ambiguities of classical beauty is at the heart of an ongoing collaboration between Dingwall and Hopa.
Dingwall started a career in commercial photography after graduating with a BTech Photography Cum Laude from the Tswane University of Technology in 2004. During the next few years he won numerous awards, including gold in the Fuji Film Awards for portraiture. Exhibitions included a solo show of gritty portraits called Portraying Life in 2005 and a group exhibition called Positive, where he featured alongside established artists including designer Carrol Boyes, sculptor Guy du Toit and ceramicist Barbara Jackson in a global Aids initiative. His work has been published both locally and internationally.
The pull to create a collection of personal work led to his first major solo exhibition, called Incurious, in 2012. Featuring live sheep in unexpected human situations, the series aimed to explain “that we must be willing to take a stroll into other worlds in order to understand ourselves,” Dingwall explains.
He continues his journey of self-discovery through his lens…
“I do what I do for the love of new experiences. My imagery is not bound by language or culture. I want my work to speak for itself and for people to interpret it in their own way. I want people to be affected by my images.
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entry description
This is where we find ourselves, we are in the moment of being rerouted.We face a choice for a different path, a new course, an unfamiliar way to get to our destination. We had plans, our journeys mapped out, until we were unexpectedly forced to change direction.
This art series is a commentary on our current situation, and the unexpected roads we must navigate. It focuses on travel, and how restrictions on our movement affects every aspect of our lives. From visiting loved ones, going to and from work, and many other activities, travel forms a predominant part of life. Without it, we experience separation and loneliness, financial loss, retrogression… society just stops.
Voyaging is largely how society progresses, as humans explore, learn, and find new pathways and livelihoods. We cannot move forward without travel.
Fashion is also an important feature in this series. The artworks are a collaboration between a fashion designer and fine art photographer, and became a visual journey for them both, as they each investigate what travel means to them. The element of fashion evokes ideas of self-identity and exploration. It can be something very personal. Here, the art series highlights not only themes of physical journey (in the objects of transportation), but also inner journey of the self.
about the photographer
An eye for the unusual, a passion to explore avenues less travelled, and the desire to create images that resonate with emotion are what drives successful Johannesburg commercial photographer Justin Dingwall.His most recent project, a series of perfectly composed and lite portraits of Thando Hopa, a young lawyer-turned-model who has albinism, has attracted attention internationally. October 2013 sees the portraits on exhibition at the 1:54 African Art Fair in London, after debuting at the prestigious FNB Johannesburg Art Fair. Exploring the ambiguities of classical beauty is at the heart of an ongoing collaboration between Dingwall and Hopa.
Dingwall started a career in commercial photography after graduating with a BTech Photography Cum Laude from the Tswane University of Technology in 2004. During the next few years he won numerous awards, including gold in the Fuji Film Awards for portraiture. Exhibitions included a solo show of gritty portraits called Portraying Life in 2005 and a group exhibition called Positive, where he featured alongside established artists including designer Carrol Boyes, sculptor Guy du Toit and ceramicist Barbara Jackson in a global Aids initiative. His work has been published both locally and internationally.
The pull to create a collection of personal work led to his first major solo exhibition, called Incurious, in 2012. Featuring live sheep in unexpected human situations, the series aimed to explain “that we must be willing to take a stroll into other worlds in order to understand ourselves,” Dingwall explains.
He continues his journey of self-discovery through his lens…
“I do what I do for the love of new experiences. My imagery is not bound by language or culture. I want my work to speak for itself and for people to interpret it in their own way. I want people to be affected by my images.
back to gallery