STEVENSON CAPE TOWN presents new photographs by Daniel Naudé.

For the past two years Naudé has focused on photographing cattle in societies where these animals are revered and venerated. This is a position far removed from the Western world where they are mostly seen as productive sources of milk, meat and skins.

In his portraits of cattle, Naudé brings into our time the long tradition of depicting the natural world with its rich references to classification and comparison. The heightened presence of the animals in his images allows us to experience the awe and wonder that accompanied the reception of images and reports of exotic animals when they reached Europe in previous centuries. Yet, those images were invariably composites – drawings brought together elements that were unlikely in reality to be seen in the same frame. In our present day, the wide use of Photoshop continues the use of multiple images to create a single, often unusual image. In Naudé’s case however, within a single photographic frame, he inexplicably captures a strong presence of the animal, usually in a sculptural pose, set within an apt descriptive landscape, and lit naturally, despite having very little control over all these elements. Thus the images seemingly defy reality and heighten the sacred status of the cattle. When seeing them for the first time, after an initial wonderment at the animal’s presence, the mind grapples with the understated improbability of the image and is compelled to look again and again for clues to its composition.

The exhibition opens on Thursday 10 April, from 6 to 8pm. 

Naudé exhibits concurrently with Anton Kannemeyer.

Naudé was born in 1984 and lives in Cape Town. He has had solo exhibitions at Stevenson Cape Town and Johannesburg (2011 and 2010) and showed photographs from Animal Farm in the print room at the Photographers’ Gallery in London (2013). He was festival artist at the Aardklop National Arts Festival, Potchefstroom, in 2012. Notable group shows include the upcoming Apartheid and After  at Huis Marseille, Amsterdam (15 March to 8 June 2014); Neither Man Nor Stone at the Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town (2012); Lagos Photo Festival (2011); the 9th Bamako Encounters African Photography Biennial (2011); Breaking News: Contemporary photography from the Middle East and Africa, works from the collection of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena, in Modena, Italy (2010) and Peekaboo: Current South Africa  at the Tennis Palace Art Museum, Helsinki (2010). His first book, Animal Farm, was published by Prestel in 2012.

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