Pieter Hugo
South Africa, b. 1976
Untitled, from the series Permanent Error
2017
Photograph
Yossi Milo Gallery
The 15-acre site of the Agbogbloshie Market is located on the west side of the Odaw River in the city of Accra, the capital of Ghana. It is the country’s largest center for e-waste recycling and disposal. Manual disassembly of e-waste parts as well as burning certain plastic or rubber components of computers to collect the copper or aluminum inside of them, which will then be resold. As captured above, this dangerous recycling process is largely done by Ghanaian youths without protection from chemicals leaving them susceptible to a myriad of health complications such as respiratory diseases, lead poisoning, and lung cancer caused by burning emissions. When asked by Hugo about the pit where old devices were burned, the workers at Agbogbloshie repeatedly responded: “For this place, we have no name.” In his exhibition, Hugo sets forth images of the apocalyptic reality that our civilization is headed towards if our practices don’t soon change.
Yasmeen Wirth ‘22
