The unusual narrative of his life and work has often been related and embellished upon, and has become entwined with our perceptions of the images. In essence, he was born in 1937, and worked as a nightclub bouncer for Les Catacombs Club in Cape Town in the late 1960s when he was around 30 years of age. He later moved to the West Coast and lived in Port Nolloth periodically until his death in 1982.
Jamie put me onto Billys book we had in the library. It was a work that Martin Parr had asked if we had when he visited the college. A truly unique and intriguing collection of works by a previously unknown to me photographer.
The forward in the book makes some comments of how it could be mistaken for just snap shots at first glance. I disagree with that sentiment and feel its a little patronising to the viewer who would have to be interested in this kind of photography if you were to search the book out yourself.
"His close and long friendships with many of the people in the images allowed him to photograph them with extraordinary intimacy in all their states of joy and sadness"
No comments:
Post a Comment