IN THE LAST 10 YEARS PHOTOGRAPHY HAS BECOME AN INSEPARABLE PART OF MY LIFE.
Four moments particularly marked this time and made me who I am today. All of these moments contributed to the birth of AMEN.

BLACKPOOL COLLEGE OF ART – BA (HONOURS) DESIGN PHOTOGRAPHY 1997-1999.
For three years in Blackpool I immersed myself in the vast world of the image. There I was able to take risks and fall with out being in the real world. I learnt not just to see with my eyes, but to feel with them and develop my own style. I left college with 15 portraits in my portfolio and the confirmation that I had found my passion.

FACES AND PLACES. CENTRAL ASIA AND AFRICA. 2002-2003.
I bought an old jeep with a friend. The journey lasted 2 years. We travelled from Brussels to Mongolia, and then from South Africa back home. It took us 80,000km through 23 countries. We had 25 flat tires, and got stuck at least 15 times. The money (or lack of it) forced us to lead a simple life. It was a time to drift and appreciate the countries that nourished our eyes and mind. It was a time to combat fears and discover my view of the world. I took photographs when it felt right, capturing ‘Faces and Places’, not quite knowing where my work was going. In retrospect, that trip feels like the start of the way I see things today. I’ve often been attracted to ‘un-western’ countries. A certain essential energy shines through where the spiritual far outweighs the material. I am interested in the poetic character of things, in the small, seemingly unimportant things. There is hidden beauty in the ordinary and great beauty in the overlooked.

CHIMIO. BRUSSELS. 2003.
My mother falls ill. Cancer. The invisible monster. I decide to record this difficult time. A short film is made in super 8.

IMPERFECTION. MADAGASCAR. 2008.
After an unsuccessful love affair, after which I ended up stranded on an Island in the Atlantic, I headed for Madagascar traveling alone for the first time. My bag full of film, a Hasselblad and an 80mm lens as well as a few other essentials. My mind was full of thoughts. My work was starting to find a clear direction. I travelled by bus, foot, pirogue and ox cart taking time to observe in silence. I said to myself. Imperfection is beautiful. I wanted to show that beauty can be found anywhere. Deconstructing preconceptions favoured by society that worships perfection and the manufactured image. Far from the luxury shops, far from chain stores, and the seemingly omnipotent hold of advertising on the beings that exist within it… to a place where the superfluous and superficial seemed stripped away and where the fundamentals just shone through. After three months I met a local photographer, Fidsoa, king of pinhole photography, without whom many things wouldn’t have been possible. We wondered in search of Imperfection, trying to be open to all of life’s wonderful little quirks. This project resulted in four series of photographs: People, Objects, Fashion and Architecture.

Jessica Hilltout, Photographer

I was very keen on taking a different look at the meaning of football to this continent. There was no real planning for the nine month trip. Nothing had been pre-arranged. So I got on a flight to Cape Town from Brussels. With me was a Hasselblad with one 80 mm lens, 300 rolls of film, a digital camera, my log book, a mini printer and a stock of new footballs, all packed into a old VW Beetle equipped with a roof rack, three spare tyres, two jerry cans and a higher suspension. 

15,000 kms later I returned the car to my Dad. Then I set off to Accra, Ghana, where I got a Nissan Vanette. I build a bed for the inside. I had four boxes; one for footballs, one for food and the other two for clothes and film. This mobile home took me 5000 kms across six countries in West Africa. Throughout the trip I had exchanged manufactured footballs for homemade ones. Back in South Africa, I found myself with thirty-five such balls and realised the extent to which they represented the essence of my trip and the heart of the project.