Shani Judes – Public Pool

Inaugural Showcase of this project exhibited the Little Cape Photocentre , Mogalakwena Gallery, 3 Church Street, Central City.                                                                              15th September – 31st October 2014.

                                                                                                                                                Artist Statement

 

A slipped disc and cracked vertebra is how it started. The cure? Swim, swim some more, and then swim every day for the rest of your life.Spending up to nine hours a week in the pool, I started to experience it from a new perspective: witnessing the locals and watching the pool antics. Every morning the oldies come together to swim their calm strokes whilst chatting about their lives. Coaches and students come to train and be trained hard. School kids come to enjoy the cool water on hot days. Families from all over come to relax and play by the seaside pool.  Every moment is different, all races and ages, and everyone is there to enjoy.   continued at bottom of page…..Shani Judes BIOGRAPHYShani Judes found the love for photography at the early age of 13 whilst still at school in Cape Town, South Africa. Judes’s first solo show was during the Month of Photography in 2002 at age 17, the youngest to take part.Judes went onto study photography with Jenny Altschuler & Rima Geffen at City Varsity in 2005. Her love of photography caused her not to follow the path of a photographer, instead she founded an artist’s management agency in 2008. Following this path has led her to project manage many exhibitions and art projects, both private and public, over the last 8 years.

Shani founded SJ Artists, manages the Wavescape Festival, 1000 Drawings, Township Art Tours and is currently on the AfrikaBurn Art Committee.

Artist Statement continued…

After not photographing since I finished studying photography in 2006, I began documenting what I was seeing at the pool with my iPhone and then went into the blue with a simple underwater camera.

The more time I spent at the pool, the more I wanted to capture. I started seeing every aspect of the Public Pool as a photograph. I wanted to save and share these moments. The interactions I share with people while photographing them in and out of the water bring a fascinating element to time spent at the pool. People start talking about their lives, sharing their histories, recommending books to read. All the while they are opening themselves up to being photographed and allowing moments to be captured.

Likewise, a moment when someone doesn’t know the camera is on them makes for a telling story.

The sunrays through the water and the reflections that are formed from the light and sky bring fascinating images to life. The best – which I am yet to capture – is watching the under belly of the seagulls turn blue as they glide over the pool.

I give you The Public Pool.

Shani Judes BIOGRAPHY

Shani Judes found the love for photography at the early age of 13 whilst still at school in Cape Town, South Africa. Judes’s first solo show was during the Month of Photography in 2002 at age 17, the youngest to take part.

Judes went onto study photography with Jenny Altschuler & Rima Geffen at City Varsity in 2005. Her love of photography caused her not to follow the path of a photographer, instead she founded an artist’s management agency in 2008. Following this path has led her to project manage many exhibitions and art projects, both private and public, over the last 8 years.

Shani founded SJ Artists, manages the Wavescape Festival, 1000 Drawings, Township Art Tours and is currently on the AfrikaBurn Art Committee.