Notes

In 1994, Guy Tillim moved to Hong Kong, marking the start of an itinerant period as a news photographer working in international conflict zones. Taken in February 2002 near the city of Kuito in central Angola, Tillim’s Kunhinga Portraits describe refugees who, in the months before the end of Angola’s civil war (1975-2002), had walked for five days from Monge, in the north-eastern province of Lunda Norte, to seek refuge in the small town of Kunhinga where foreign aid agencies were stationed. The refugees came from a region that had provided cover for rebel UNITA soldiers and were subject to government retaliation. Mostly portrayed in groups and positioned against a neutral backdrop, Tillim unusually used colour for this project – previously he had only worked in black and white, even for his portraits of child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone. An early review in Art South Africa, which illustrated this lot, praised Tillim for the “immense dignity” of his portraits: “Shaded ochres, browns and greys serve to emphasise the key focus of each portrait, which in most cases is centred on eye contact.”1

1. Karen Rutter, 'Guy Tillim', Art South Africa, volume 2.1, Spring 2003, page 78.

Exhibited

Michael Stevenson, Cape Town, Guy Tillim: Kunhinga portraits,  18 June to 19 July 2003.

Literature

Karen Rutter, Guy Tillim; Art South Africa, volume 2.1, Spring 2003, illustrated on page 78.