The Sweating Subject
“The Sweating Subject” is a series of group portraits of tribal chiefs and their court of Gonda or Dagomba tribe, which include the Dutch photographer Jan Banning. These selfies without self-determination recall colonial photography in which we see a white man pose as the big boss together with his coloured “subjects”. But the white man appearing in these images is a lot less imposing: he looks like a stranger, misplaced and perspiring heavily so unsuited is he to the climate.
