South African photographer Andile Phewa’s new body of work, Missing Subject, attempts to come to terms with his feelings of abandonment as a result of the absence of his father in his life. Produced through the Circle Series at A4 Arts Foundation, a programme that brings together emerging artists and curators to realise a personal project, Phewa’s process resulted in using the imposing architecture of Cape Town’s CBD as a personification of “the elder who was never really there.”

Creative director and Phewa’s contemporary Tandekile Mkize was so inspired by Missing Subject – which has yet to be exhibited due to the lockdown - that the pair went on to create this fashion-driven series together based on the same themes. In The Enigma, the human form returns but the identity is obscured. As the figure roams a raw natural landscape, dressed in looks by local designers, a similar sense of shadowy emptiness pervades.

“One may associate the unknown individual with Phewa’s absent father, but rather, this may be him coming to terms with moving forward and being present as a father in the life of his daughter,” Mkize states. “The vastness of the set creates a sense of isolation, leaving the individual to be guided only by their own instincts.”

Photography Andile Phewa
Creative direction and styling Tandekile Mkize
Model Lwakhe Matiwane
Assistance Buntu Mkize, Ian Mangenga and Sinalo Mkaza
Fashion Unknown Union, Masa Mara, sinCHUI 9, By Ele Apparel

Published on 20/08/2020