Pogus Caesar is a conceptual artist utilising multiple media. He was born in St Kitts and grew up in Birmingham, England. Caesar was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Birmingham City University in 2018 for his outstanding contribution to the visual arts.
Caesar's career began as a pointillist painter and later photographed multiple communities worldwide. He often reworks 35mm negatives into new forms, challenging the notion of religion, sex, history and identity from a Black British perspective.
Caesar’s work has been exhibited widely and his photographs and artworks have been acquired by National Portrait Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum, Mappin Art Gallery, Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. In 2004, he established OOM Gallery in Birmingham, which represents his photographic archive worldwide.
This photograph shows a man looking through a broken window with a cigarette in his mouth. You can see bits of the surroundings outside as well.
Using the natural light that is coming from the window, the man, who is the main subject of the image, is highlighted nicely. The lighting on the man makes him seem strong. The details in his face, clothes and the broken glass add texture. Seeing the other buildings through the window gives us another setting within the image. Everything in the photo is spaced perfectly, which indicates that the use of the rule of thirds.
I think Caesar took this image as a portrait. The man is the main subject due to viewers being drawn to him with the lighting and his expressions. I also think it was taken to show strength or maybe anger. He gives the impression of a leader or someone important. From the building in the background, I think Caesar took image around 1980. Considering the topics Caesar covered, we can suspect this to be showing black masculinity and makes you wonder what he might be thinking, seeing, or feeling. The building they are in seems old due to the broken window and the piece of board next to him.
This image goes with the work I'm doing since it is taken in black and white. In the future, I will be trying to take portrait images, and I think that this image is a good example.
I like the tone, lighting and spacing of the image and the framing of the dark and light backgrounds. I think that the man could have shown his face more, but that is also one of the reasons why the image is strong.
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