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Jodi Bieber is probably best known for winning the World Press Photo contest in 2010 for her Time magazine cover image of Bibi Aisha, a disfigured Afghani child bride. But she isn’t always to be found in the trenches.
She’s just as well known for photographing communities and South African life, particularly for her portraits of women. Now she’s turned her attention to diffusing her images in the form of posters for Youth Month, for instance a poster campaign called #i that will be one of the art shows happening at the fierce and indie Basha Uhuru festival.
“I found the 45 young people who feature in the poster campaign all over the place. I went to Theatre Week at the Hillbrow Theatre, which is attended by all the schools, and I got a moment on stage and told the young people what I wanted to do – to take their portraits, to interview them, to ask them what they want from South Africa, from the future,” she says.
“I went to Rosebank College and spoke to the security who fetched [the public relations spokesperson]. I ended up giving a talk to the students and then asked if they’re interested in being in the series...”
Young people’s voices are often not heard, Bieber told #Trending, “and with the elections coming up it’s important that we hear them”.
It goes without saying that technology is central to capturing the spirit of the youth.
“We communicated by WhatsApp and I used Google Maps to be directed to their homes. I was on time every time and never got lost,” she laughs.
“The hashtags on the work start with ‘I am’. I asked them to describe themselves in one word. It’s the time of the hashtag. Hashtags represent connection.”
Bieber’s natural, grownup portraits refuse to cutesify her subjects, who were photographed in their homes.
“The backgrounds are important, but the photos are just a small part of the project. Most of the time was taken by the interviews I did with the subjects. I also collected photos off their phones ... and I chose one quote from each of the interviews and sent it all off to Brenton Maart, who designed the posters.”
The quotes contain messages “and the posters, which you can get for free at the show, will be carried into other homes and the messages will spread.”
What was it that young people wanted to talk about?
“I guess the young people, who ranged from age 15 to 23, who chose to be part of the project are anyway quite ambitious, quite optimistic. They weren’t always politicised, but they knew what’s wrong in their communities. A young man in Hillbrow would say: ‘We want to have the same aspirations as people have in the northern suburbs, the same green lawns.’
“One young woman who lives in Joubert Park, in a room that houses three families, spoke about everything from saving water to the rape of children and xenophobia.
“Among the white youths – and actually also the black – was a sense of the need to come together as races rather than be apart. Another theme was self-love, self-care and hard work to realise your dreams, a sense that your power comes from within.”
She sums up the project: “I’ve always loved young people. It feels like as adults we can’t move out of the whirlwind of apartheid, but young people can bring South Africa into a new conversation.”
Basha Uhuru Festival takes place at Constitution Hill from June 28 to 30
#i is a public art poster campaign conceptualised and photographed by Jodi Bieber, and designed and curated by Brenton Maart. See it at the Women’s Jail at Constitution Hill on June 30 and 31
