Artist inserts self into classic Hollywood film
Print Edition
TO the casual observer, the black-and-white stills of Al Pacino, Marlon Brando and Diane Keaton look like run-of-the-mill publicity shots for Francis Ford Coppola’s classic mafia caper “The Godfather.”
A closer inspection of the photo series reveals one important addition, however: black characters.
Nigerian artist Uche Okpa-Iroha has pasted himself into scenes from the 1972 movie for “The Plantation Boy,” a photo exhibition causing a stir in Mali — and bemoaning the paucity of African American actors in Hollywood.
“The intervention is a tribute, as well as an investigation, into how movies affect the individual and society,” he says in a blog post explaining the photo-essay. “Many movies are based on true stories and facts, but are replayed by actors who, by leaving traces of their own emotions and identities, blur out the differences between real, fantasy and fiction.”
Okpa-Iroha photographed himself in a studio in his home town of Lagos for the 2012 series and then added his image into the original film stills.
The work has earned the 43-year-old artist the prestigious Seydou Keita Grand Prize at the 10th African Photography Biennial, the continent’s premier photo show which opened in Mali’s capital Bamako last week.
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