[21 Icons Season 3] Mikhael Subotzky

9 Dec 2015

"Success is about pushing yourself to experiment and make better work." - Mikhael Subotzky

Mikhael Subotzky has been selected for 21 ICONS South Africa Season 3 for communicating open-ended photo-journalistic narratives that tell the stories of characters against the backdrop of architectural structures portraying the historical, spatial, and institutional structures of the time.

In 2000, the 18-year-old backpacker bought his first camera with the intention of documenting his travels through South East Asia. When he returned to South Africa, he shared the images with his mentor and uncle, a fellow photographer, whom encouraged Subotzky to continue taking pictures.

He says, "My uncle was a big part of my life and he uttered the words that changed everything for me. He saw some of my travelling photographs and said, 'some of these are quite good. You should take more pictures."

He returned to UCT and enrolled at Michaelis School of Fine Art where he developed his flair for capturing the still, unchanged moments through documentary photography.

For his thesis and first body of work, Die Vier Hoeke (The Four Corners) a photographic enquiry into crime and punishment in South Africa, he captured the public's attention with his depiction of the unseen lives of prisoners. The series debuted at an exhibition in a maximum security jail in Cape Town called Pollsmoor Prison in April 2005.

During a portrait sitting he tells Van Wyk that the question of whether those incarcerated should have the right to vote first came to his attention during the 2004 elections and the 10th year of our democracy, a time when social issues such as crime, poverty and unemployment were on the rise.

Subotzky also obtained permission to host photographic workshops and managed to get a small group of male and female prisoners together to teach them basic photographic skills. He managed to host an exhibition in Mandela's cell at Pollsmoor and invite over 300 members of the public to the working maximum security prison to view the work.

In 2007, he was accepted as a nominee member of cooperative photography agency, Magnum Photos. Subotzky describes the elements of a good photograph as, "The unseen quality of a photograph punctures through and grabs the viewer emotionally - for me the best photographs have this quality."

The photographic narratives Umjiegwana (The Outside) and Beaufort West extended this investigation to the relationship between everyday life in post-apartheid South Africa. Beaufort West was included in the exhibition New Photography 2008: Josephine Meckseper and Mikhael Subotzky at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

About the portrait

For the portrait 'What Meets The Eye', Van Wyk describes the visual elements, "Shot inside the old, abandoned zoo below Rhodes Memorial in Cape Town, Subotzky is photographed seated and staring directly into the camera. Making a rare and brief switch to the front of camera, his stare is intense but his pose is kept simple. Chosen because of its prison-like appearance, the location is a reference to Subotzky's famed Die Vier Hoeke series."

View the video

About 21 Icons Season 3

The short film-series documents the conversations between Gary Van Wyk as the photographer and filmmaker and the icons. Each short film provides insight into both the subject and photographer's creative approach to the portrait.

Behind each portrait lies a carefully planned concept that captures not only the essence of each icon visually, but also in spirit and in terms of their unique legacy.

Season three of 21 ICONS South Africa is proudly sponsored by Mercedes-Benz South Africa.