Shadow play: Koto Bolofo on fantasy, fashion, and his first show in the Netherlands

‘I love using the word “photograph” instead of “image” ... image for me is disposable,’ says photographer Koto Bolofo, who has just launched his first solo exhibition in the Netherlands at Amsterdam’s Kahmann Gallery.
The scene he operates in has changed significantly since he came to London in the early 1960s, a political refugee from apartheid South Africa. Inspired by the visual culture of the swinging days of capital, it was in the 1980s that Bolofo really started to break through, shooting editorials for Vanity Fair, Vogue and GQ and campaigns for Hermès, Dior and Louis Vuitton, publishing several photobooks and spending two years documenting his hero, Lord Snowdon.
Yet Bolofo’s work was never strictly tied to fashion. As the title of his first exhibition in the Netherlands suggests, he’s a visionary who has spent 30 years stepping between the boundaries of his medium. The earliest photograph included in ‘Between Black and White' was shot in Capri in 1986, and depicts a young Catherina Presser in a translucent silk nightdress: combining eroticism, fantasy and fashion. Bolofo recalls the shoot: ‘I claim I was the first one to wet a silk nightie with a bucket of water which clung to her body revealing her nude body in a gentle way. At the time it was daring... and hey! The Italians published the image.’
‘Paper Weight’, by Koto Bolofo, 2008. Courtesy of Kahmann Gallery Amsterdam. © The artist
It’s typical of the frisson in Bolofo’s images, whether he’s shooting men or women. Rather than simply showing up and capturing his subjects, the photographer is known for spending time getting to know them first. ‘His intimacy with his subjects is something you really feel in his work; he works hard to make a connection with his subjects to get to a level of ease and total openness,' explains Willemijn van der Zwaan, director of Kahmann. ‘You see it in the books he makes, like Dreams and Venus: there is an extraordinary level of trust between photographer and subject.’
A regular contributor to Wallpaper*, Bolofo is also known for his use of natural light, something which arguably takes skill and precision that’s been largely lost in today’s tech-dependent era. ‘Our pace was definitely slower and precise in what one did,’ Bolofo concedes. ‘Like a good vintage wine from a glass bottle; not a carton and easily disposable.’
It’s not easy to be timeless when you work with a time-based medium like photography, but the exhibition highlights — through different series and books, including commissioned work and artistic projects — how Bolofo has consistently produced iconic images that are absent of the markers of time. Examples of this range from his audacious minimalism in the 1990s, to his striking introduction of colour in Black Beauty (2008), and Heat (2008), in which bodies are treated for their formal qualities, sculptural and sublime.
Black Beauty, 2008. Right, Heat, 2008
Doleman, Vendee France, 2004. Right, Mirror, 1998
Bear Hug, 2008. Right, Catherina Presser, 1998
Venus, Paris, 2005. Right, Peek, 2004
Not A Stitch, 1996. Right, Skin Deep, 2008
INFORMATION
‘Between Black and White’ is on view until 1 July. For more information, visit the Kahmann Gallery website
ADDRESS
Kahmann Gallery
Lindengracht 35
1015 KB Amsterdam
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Charlotte Jansen is a journalist and the author of two books on photography, Girl on Girl (2017) and Photography Now (2021). She is commissioning editor at Elephant magazine and has written on contemporary art and culture for The Guardian, the Financial Times, ELLE, the British Journal of Photography, Frieze and Artsy. Jansen is also presenter of Dior Talks podcast series, The Female Gaze.
-
Byredo holiday collection draws inspiration from Wim Wenders and Georgia O’Keefe
Byredo’s creative image director Lucia Pica speaks to Wallpaper* in an exclusive interview, revealing her off-kilter design process
By Mary Cleary Published
-
2024 Pantone Color of the Year is looking deliciously peachy
Peach Fuzz is Pantone Color of the Year – time to refeather your nest in a comforting hue?
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Design Miami 2023 explores how design responds to the world around us
Design Miami 2023 (until 10 December), curated by Anna Carnick, is guided by the theme of ‘Where We Stand’
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Caroline Walker curates as Grimm Amsterdam explores domesticity in art
Curating ‘The Painted Room’ at Grimm Amsterdam, Caroline Walker explores the intimacy of interiors
By Emily Steer Published
-
Drift Museum, a blockbusting experiential space, is set to open in Amsterdam in 2025
Drift Museum is a collaboration between art duo Drift – aka Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta – and entrepreneur Eduard Zanen
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Cyprien Gaillard on chaos, reorder and excavating a Paris in flux
We interviewed French artist Cyprien Gaillard ahead of his major two-part show, ‘Humpty \ Dumpty’ at Palais de Tokyo and Lafayette Anticipations (until 8 January 2023). Through abandoned clocks, love locks and asbestos, he dissects the human obsession with structural restoration
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
Year in review: top 10 art interviews of 2022, chosen by Wallpaper* arts editor Harriet Lloyd-Smith
Top 10 art interviews of 2022, as selected by Wallpaper* arts editor Harriet Lloyd-Smith, summing up another dramatic year in the art world
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Published
-
Yayoi Kusama on love, hope and the power of art
There’s still time to see Yayoi Kusama’s major retrospective at M+, Hong Kong (until 14 May). In our interview, the legendary Japanese artist vows to continue to ‘create art to leave the message of “love forever”’
By Megan C Hills Last updated
-
Antony Gormley interview: ‘We’re at more than a tipping point. We’re in a moment of utter crisis’
We visit the London studio of British sculptor Antony Gormley ahead of his major new show ‘Body Field’ at Xavier Hufkens Brussels
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith Last updated
-
Photographer Maisie Cousins on nostalgia, impulsive making and ‘collecting useless things’
Explore the vision of British artist Maisie Cousins in ‘Through the lens’, our monthly series spotlighting photographers who are Wallpaper* contributors
By Sophie Gladstone Last updated
-
Rashid Johnson in Menorca: a journey through migration, longing and togetherness
We visited Rashid Johnson’s Brooklyn studio ahead of the artist’s show at Hauser & Wirth Menorca, which contemplates drift – physical and emotional
By Osman Can Yerebakan Published