Paul Mpagi Sepuya photography.
Paul Mpagi Sepuya always shoots with an umbrella that eliminates every last little shadow. They are all portraits, all shot against the same blank whiteness that is his bedroom wall. There is something about the exchange between photographer and sitter that draws one in, that captures a kind of delicacy about the sitter that we might not otherwise have noticed. You somehow suspect that they had wanted to, shall we say, “consummate” the opportunity with Mpagi, because, in their eyes (often slightly sad or distant) I see a reflection of rejection. This is all conjecture on my part, of course, if only to capture the mood of those difficult-to-describe yet apparently simple photos. ABOVE: Self-portriat (2006).
