The Centre for the Less Good Portrait

When is a portrait not a portrait? Is eye contact in photographic portraits overrated? Does following photographic conventions stifle creativity? Why are great photographic moments so hit and miss? And when you miss is something better borne from a moment of loss? Some ideas relating to photography, sparked by walking past The Centre For The Less Good Idea in Johannesburg on mornings walking the city, while photographing for my book project, I Declare I Am Here that was exhibited at the Wits Art Museum ( WAM) in Johannesburg in 2023.
'Founded by William Kentridge the Centre for the Less Good Idea is a physical and immaterial space to pursue incidental discoveries made in the process of producing work. It is in following the secondary ideas, those less good ideas coined to address the first idea’s cracks, that the Centre nurtures, arguing that in the act of playing with an idea, you can recognise those things you didn’t know in advance but knew somewhere inside of you.'