Marc Shoul (Part Three): Close-ups and portraits gathered across cities, countries and cultures

Biker, Kabega, Port Elizabeth, South Africa, 1999

By Maverick Life Editors

23 Dec 2020

"It’s difficult to conjure up more starkly opposite characters than those of Hugh Masekela and Eugène Terre’Blanche. And yet, during Marc Shoul’s photography career, these are exactly the contradicting characters he explored. In a loose collection of images he has taken over the span of his career, titled Portraits, photographs of the two men are displayed side by side."

“In Portraits, Terre’Blanche seems to be pensively staring into the camera; Masekela is laughing, exuberant, the image filled with life. The photograph of the South African musician was taken in photographer Marc Shoul’s own flat; he remembers that moment as ‘magical', adding, 'I played a bit of guitar with him. It was just… Incredible. That night will remain one of the most memorable times.' But there are many more characters, famous and less famous, who posed in front of his lens, and Portraits is a collection of images he has gathered across cities, countries and cultures,” says Karel van der Vyver, who interviewed the photographer about his work.

All images by Marc Shoul.

Mzingwane, Zimbabwe. 2004