Photographer Helga Kohl is a woman often found below buildings. Flat on her back, camera angled towards the heavens, if not stood pensively below watching the ever-changing magic of light, construction and sky.
In ‘Perspectives’, an exhibition currently on display at the National Art Gallery of Namibia, we see the world the way the acclaimed photographer does. Crumbling, abandoned and through doorways as in her haunting images of Kolmanskop and Elizabeth Bay or filled with light, swirling clouds and unexpected angles in her series on contemporary architecture.
Featuring a short documentary film by Hildegard Titus and curated by Elize van Huyssteen and Margo Forster, the exhibition offers some insight into Kohl’s methodology and lifelong passion written artfully on the walls. An audio, textual and visual glimpse into the mind of an analogue photographer whose work has been exhibited around the world and, perhaps most prestigiously, at the Smithsonian.
Drawing on her decades-long career, Kohl has much to tell us but what is paramount is light.
“For me, taking a photograph is a form of painting with natural light. In Namibia, I prefer the rainy season because the light is softer and we have more clouds,” she says.
“When I find a building I like, I go at different times to look at the site. I then think about how to document it before I shoot the photograph. An analogue photograph must be correct from the beginning.”
When I finally take a photograph, I stay in front of the building to see what is happening with the light and clouds. The right moment for taking an image is the combination of a perfect balance between natural light and shadow with intuitive perception of the subject matter. It is a time-consuming adventure with incredible results.”
Describing her analogue documentation supported by natural light as her tribute to photography, Kohl’s work fills the NAGN with images that are instantly transportive. Bearing witness to abandoned places while finding a similar stillness and beauty in the city, Kohl’s images hauntingly explore the pitiless march of time and nature juxtaposed with gleaming, hopeful development in Windhoek, Bloemfontein, Bonn and Hong Kong.
An avid proponent of analogue photography, which she believes should always be remembered and celebrated as the basic foundation of digital photography, Kohl’s advice to photographers seeking magic in both mediums is exploration, time and attraction.
“Walk in the city with open eyes,” Kohl says. “Give yourself time to discover the correct light. Be attracted to the image.
Love it and it will be a part of you.”
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