Bit by Bit, Mikhael Subotzky’s Destructive Collage Process Dismantles Depictions of White “Founding Fathers”
By: High Museum Of Art
Tags: Culture, Art, Photography, History, South Africa

In this Q&A, Subotzky shares his creative process and discusses the importance of breaking historical cycles of racism, violence, and oppression.

By Gregory Harris, Associate Curator of Photography, and Eva Berlin, Digital Content Specialist, High Museum of Art

Although the Live Lab Atlanta residency and exhibition couldn’t physically take place at the High Museum amid the pandemic, we’re still checking in with Magnum photographers Lindokuhle Sobekwa, Carolyn Drake, and Mikhael Subotzky to get their perspectives on an artist’s role during difficult times and to gain some insight into their current work and creative processes. After exploring their ideas on the blog, we’ll all get together for a conversation on Zoom at 12 noon EDT on June 18. Please join us and participate in the discussion by submitting questions.

Our final Q&A session is with Mikhael Subotzky (South African, born 1981), a multidisciplinary artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Subotzky works across multiple artistic media including photography, film, and painting. In his works, he composes narratives from the complex present-day, post-apartheid South Africa. Some topics he has explored in his art are the South African penal system, urbanism, and communal histories.

Q&A with Mikhael

What was your perception of Atlanta as you were preparing for the Live Lab?

I didn’t have a strong one, to be honest, just the usual cursory impression of MLK and civil rights history. And CNN. But I knew of the High and its incredible program and collection for quite some time too.

Photo by Mikhael Subotzky.

What were you originally planning to work on during the residency? How did you select the focus of your work during Live Lab?

My plan was to work on two projects. Firstly, I was going to carry on making works from my Gangster Series. This series of works examines various figures in Western history whose mythologized presence is deconstructed and disassembled through the sticky-tape process. Each portrait is treated to a smothering layer of tape; then the image is dissolved and picked away, revealing a degrading core.

It’s an attack on the history of portraiture as much as on the figures depicted, an attempt to make them appear far less comfortable in their poses of power. There are a number of candidates for the “gangster treatment” in the High’s collection.

Secondly, I was going to continue with a new long-term film project, entitled Disordered, and Flatulent: A Work In Progress. This is an animated film that is related to the Gangsters — a look at the transmission of both generational wealth and cycles of violence. The parallels between American and South African history, politics, social dynamics, and general state of mind are always so strong.

You were here in the US for a few days before returning home to quarantine. What did you do while you were here?

I passed through New York to see some friends, look at some art, and go to a few meetings. Then I went up to Boston to do some research at MIT Media Lab for a project on the relationship between the brain and the gut, which we are all learning are much more connected than commonly understood. I was about to fly from there to Atlanta when things shut down and I had to rush to get home.

When you returned home, you and Lindo went into quarantine in your home. What was that experience like? Did you continue to work? What kinds of conversations were you having?

Our conversations were limited by the fact that we were both having to self-isolate, and my wife was also in the house. But we started taking walks together, and that was great — a chance to talk about photography and our surroundings, and I particularly enjoyed watching Lindo work, giving him a few tips, and of course learning from him too.