In the Round: Makhanda’s Heritage in Pep Ventosa Style

Pep’s unique style depends on the photographer circling the subject and taking images from all sides before combining them in post processing to form a composite that keeps the recognisable characteristics whilst producing a shimmering, ghostly effect. I like it because you make an image that is both distinct and indistinct at the same time: anchored in time and space but also floating in time and space. Solid but transient, like their historical subject matter.

If you look carefully in the close-up image of Ivan Mitford-Barberton’s Settler Family the settler wife’s bonneted head fits within her within her husband’s outline, just like a Russian doll. He is very much the dominant character in the sculpture with his splendid top hat and erect stance but this technique shows a different interpretation where he is scaffolded by his wife: an intriguing juxtaposition.

Makhanda’s six antique pillar boxes were almost lost to us a few years ago: ‘Residents See Red Over PostBoxes’ read the headline in Grocott’s Mail of June 22 2018. But they were saved from removal and still stand in their original roadside environments: in the central business district, suburbs and on the Rhodes University campus. For such solid objects, made of cast iron, they appear to float above the ground in some of the the images.

My last image is of the lovely tree cycad that is found immediately beside the oldest, and very rare, pillar box dated from 1857. It’s the fluted pillar box in the centre of the bottom row. When I was circling it I couldn’t help but wonder if it was older than the pillar box itself.