Untitled II, - Katlehong, South Africa

Cotton baryta archival print

Image and paper size: 297 x 420mm (A3)

Edition of 8 + 2AP

Being raised in a Christian household I grew up not being able to relate to the images I saw of Biblical figures, specifically the images of Adam and Eve. The idea of a black Adam and Eve once sounded too far fetched for me because so dominant is the Western representation of these biblical figures that I grew up thinking that the authentic representation of these figures was the one that followed a Western pictorial tradition and that later led to me feeling aggrieved by the lack of a black representation. With this series I became interested in exploring this idea of self-representation as I pose as Adam myself because I grew up not really seeing any representations of Adam and Eve that looked like me This body of work is meant to counter the dominant Western representation of Adam and Eve to normalize a black representation of these biblical figures. The nature of this series is performative as we also re-enact The Fall where Eve hands Adam the forbidden fruit (red apple) to eat.

The setting of the series references the garden of Eden as described in the book of Genesis with green pastures and livestock present. Both subjects (Adam and Eve) have the same hairstyle (cornrows) and Jewellery to symbolise the unity between the couple and create a positive representation of black love. The idea of “black love” has never really been a reality in my life as I was raised by a single mother so my understanding of black love is a separated love so that is why the subjects are always together in all the images because I wanted to image and create a strong bond and oneness between the black couple.

Prior to doing the shoot for this series, I composed most of the images myself, from the black and white profile shot of the subjects deeply gazing at each other to the portrait of the subjects intimately interlocking their bodies together. But I decided to have my friend and photographer Sibusiso Dhlongolo be in charge of the shutter button to help carry out my vision and together we improvised the rest of the compositions for the images.

Kamo is short for my full name Kamohelo and Spopo is a nickname derived from the female subject’s full name, Siphokazi and when you put those names together you get the title for the series, Kamo le Spopo. The title is in my mother’s tongue, Sesotho and I titled the series using our names because we are not Adam and Eve. We are Kamo and Spopo and this is our representation of Adam and Eve.