Naasra Yeti, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana

Pieter Hugo, artist

born 1976

Naasra Yeti, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana, 2009

Where object was made: Ghana

Material/technique: digital chromogenic color print mounted to Dibond

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 980 x 980 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 38 9/16 x 38 9/16 in
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 39 1/2 x 39 1/2 x 2 1/4 in
Weight (Weight): 30 lbs

Credit line: Museum purchase: Helen Foresman Spencer Art Acquisition Fund

Accession number: 2011.0344

Not on display

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Images

Label texts

Under Construction

This photograph forms part of Pieter Hugo’s series Permanent Error, created between 2009 and 2010 in the Agbogbloshie slum located on the outskirts of Accra, Ghana. In this project, Hugo raises an issue that is both local and global: obsolete technological devices from Europe and the United States are dumped in Africa, becoming toxic waste that poisons local populations and the environment. This photograph depicts Naasra Yeti, a young girl who stands poised with a bowl on top of her head. A scorched and littered heap of electronic waste surrounds her, still emitting smoke. Rather apocalyptic, this photograph challenges human views about recycling, the lifespan of our technologies, and the nature of the information once stored on these devices.

Roots and Journeys: Encountering Global Arts and Cultures

During 2009-2010 South African artist Pieter Hugo photographed the people and landscape of an expansive dump of obsolete technology in Ghana. The area, on the outskirts of a slum known as Agbogbloshie, is referred to by local inhabitants as Sodom and Gomorrah. This photograph depicts a young girl named Naasra Yeti who stands boldly facing the camera in a full-length pose, with a bowl perched atop her head.
Her solitary image standing defiantly alone among a digital wasteland collapses notions of time. How can this be the present when it looks a fast-fowarding to an apocalyptic end of the world, or a distant medieval setting removed from our contemporary existence? The cycles of history and the lifespan of our technology are both clearly apparent in this cemetery of industrialized artifacts. We are also reminded of the fragility of information. Documents, stories and data that were once stored on these machines are now just black smoke and melted plastic.

Exhibition Label:
"Roots and Journeys: Encountering Global Arts and Cultures," Jul-2011, Nancy Mahaney
During 2009-2010 South African artist Pieter Hugo photographed the people and landscape of an expansive dump of obsolete technology in Ghana. The area, on the outskirts of a slum known as Agbogbloshie, is referred to by local inhabitants as Sodom and Gomorrah. This photograph depicts a young girl named Naasra Yeti who stands boldly facing the camera in a full-length pose, with a bowl perched atop her head.
Her solitary image standing defiantly alone among a digital wasteland collapses notions of time. How can this be the present when it looks a fast-fowarding to an apocalyptic end of the world, or a distant medieval setting removed from our contemporary existence? The cycles of history and the lifespan of our technology are both clearly apparent in this cemetery of industrialized artifacts. We are also reminded of the fragility of information. Documents, stories and data that were once stored on these machines are now just black smoke and melted plastic.