nearesttruthworkshops.com

Pieter Hugo

Ambient and Environmental Portraiture Part II:

Zine-Making addition Nearest Truth Editions and Zoetrope

Athens, JUNE 15 - 20th, 2025

Location: Zoetrope Gallery in Kipseli

©Pieter Hugo

Based on the success of our first workshop with Pieter Hugo this January, the eminent South African artist returns to Athens this June for his second event in collaboration with Nearest Truth Workshops. We will be continuing our investigation of portraiture in Athens, but this time will work with Zoetrope and Nearest Truth Editions to create an experimental zine in which the participants and Pieter Hugo will come together to produce a limited-edition publication with their work.

©Xiaofu Wang

What role will portraiture play in 2025? What considerations exist for photographing people with whom we have not previously associated? How do we photograph people without directing our focus to one individual? How do you frame an environment to suggest a portrait of the people that live there?

Many new questions exist about how we photograph people on the street in the post-COVID era. There are more and more rules about how we are to accomplish this feat, some of which feel counterintuitive to the history of the photographic medium. How do we navigate the new world of environmental portraiture in a time when facial recognition software and CCTV capitalize on our image when lawmakers rule against the interpersonal making of street portraits? What role does consent play in making portraits, and what deviation might we embark on to circumvent these impositions?

©Vanja Vascarac

Pieter Hugo is an artist highly regarded for his ability to find incredible portraits wherever he is. His methodology suggests more significant questions about identity and culture. His books Hyena and Other Men, Nollywood, and, more recently, Californian Wildflowers are notable examples of how portraiture functions in the 21st Century. They are celebrated for the artist’s skill in navigating environments to capture portraits that resist the urge to be easily classified and are strategic examples of interconnectivity through photographic portaiture.

©Emmanuel Coupe

Please join us for this five-day workshop in Athens, Greece. With Pieter, we will explore the role of portraiture in conte

mporary photography and create work reflecting the highly delicate politics involved in photographing others in 2025. This is an active workshop, and participants are expected to make work on the ground in Athens.

We highly encourage digital capture due to the speed of assignments. Analog photography is possible so long as the participant can show work daily.

Price is 525 euros + VAT

June 15-20th 2025