sat 12/10/2024

Photographic Gallery: Jillian Edelstein | reviews, news & interviews

Photographic Gallery: Jillian Edelstein

Photographic Gallery: Jillian Edelstein

Portraits, Affinities and Truth And Lies

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 2001All images @ Jillian Edelstein

Acclaimed photographer Jillian Edelstein's series of Portraits include images of significant figures from the world of arts, fashion and the demi-monde, but also politics: her portrait of Nelson Mandela, taken in Cape Town in 1997. There is also a delightful photograph of three South African boys mucking about by the water.

Affinities is a series of studies of professional and personal connections between like-minded. "After I had a bad break-up, I started to think about how friendships and relationships come out of creative partnerships," she says. "Gilbert and George chose their cleaner, Stainton Forrest. It was a lot of fun!"

The gallery finishes with Truth and Lies, the series of portraits taken in her role as official photograph at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. It is a captivating collection. perhaps the most remarkable image is of a mother pictured with the man thought to have killed her son. "Jerry Richardson, the man alleged to have murdered her son, was there carrying a football. She requested to be photographed with him. I just remember the silence as I was taking the photograph."

Read Sue Steward's interview with Jillian Edelstein.

 

I love the challenge of portrait work. When you're working with people who have business and time constraints,  you only have one chance. It's very much like performance

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