Kevin Mackintosh

Kevin Mackintosh is a South African photographer currently based in London.

Hero, a series he describes as ‘styled and controlled’ portraits is a project created over a period of five years in various locations across Africa.

“I’m inspired by the way west African photographers like Malick Sidebe, Seydou Keita and Sory Sanle created ‘photo booth’ setups and used props, set design and styling. Their work has a real resonance for me in a modern stylization of portrait subjects.”

Within the work of Sidebe, Keita and Sanle whom Mackintosh references, subjects are more often than not not simply having their photograph taken, but self-style the narrative of how they wish to be remembered. The photographic portrait, unlike the self-capture pervading the mass of today’s sharing culture, elevates and assumes, in all primary aspects, the status of a formal portrait. Posed for perpetuity in fine clothing, street or sports regalia or traditional costume, and adorned with those items holding the deepest resonance. There is nothing simply fleeting in this moment. It is meant to bear testament. A proud proclamation of the subject and their known claim to the world. An African portrait.

Mackintosh modernizes this tradition of the portrait, creating a similar play on the image as styled testament. Combining a controlled studio environment with landscape elements shot in rural and urban African locales, the mechanism remains true to the spirit these photographers, but transforms further to a near hyper new reality. The addition of considered traditional objects, or those from the everyday either in their true form or as part of a recycled, repurposed new use claims the composition as distinctly that of Mackintosh.

Mackintosh collaborated with production designer Daryl McGregor and a small team of stylists, makeup artists, designers and creatives. McGregor, a highly regarded production designer has worked on worldwide campaigns and editorials for Louis Vuitton, Hermes, French and Italian Vogue.

“I see the work as very considered portraiture combining production design in a contemporary way. Street style, urban culture, casting and identity are key very to the narrative. It’s an exciting way to draw on the vast cultural history, diversity and cultures of Africa in a new way.

Hero is Mackintosh’s second series to be exhibited in South Africa. His previous project, a collaboration the Russian Bolshoi Ballet Company in Moscow opened at the Moscow State Circus (2008) to a crowd of 5000 guests. The series was shown also shown at Obert Contemporary in Johannesburg and 34 Long Gallery in Cape Town, receiving coverage in multiple publications including Architectural Digest, Vogue Italia, Vogue France, Vogue Australia and Marie Claire.

His work is featured in the Permanent Collection of the National Portrait Gallery (London) and in several books, among them Contemporary Fashion Photographers of the World by Daab, Sensation by Patrick Remy, The Bolshoi Ballet by Patrick Remy, as well as private collections worldwide.

Other notable projects include commissions for the New York Philharmonic (New York, 2017), Royal Opera and Ballet (London 2016/17)), The English National Ballet (London, 2017) and the first Christies worldwide campaign featuring artists and their work from around the world (2017/18).