N1 #25, 2008

The players in this photograph have been described as having 'divided attention': nobody seems to be aware of each other, which lends a curious theatricality to this stage. Photoshopping subjects from different frames would have produced the same uncanny effect.

The N1 Highway slices South Africa North by South, from the Zimbabwean border to Cape Town. Its 2100 km are historically, socially, and politically charged; however, the road proper only appears at the front and end of this photographic series. Between these brackets, the N1 is presented through oblique scenes on and around the road that give a sense of the road's taut atmosphere.

The extended captions of Sean O'Toole, a Cape Town-based journalist and writer, augment this sense.

The N1 was exhibited at The University of the South in Tennessee, whatiftheworld in Cape Town and the Goethe Institute in Johannesburg.

See reviews here. 

Diasec-framed archival Lightjet print on 300 gsm paper

Signed on verso 1/2 AP, Edition of 8(3S,3M,2L) + 2 A/P

Digital C-print print on Diasec

Paper size: 70 by 60 cm