Hura is well-known as a member of Magnum Photos, and has self-published numerous photobooks under his imprint Ugly Dog. These projects tend to explore personal relationships, his position in the world and the broader socio-political contexts of his subjects. His recent urge to move away from photography was fuelled by a chain of traumatic events in his personal life. The artist suffered from lung damage induced by COVID-19, experienced a sudden death in his family, and his father was diagnosed with a serious illness.
On top of that, Hura was becoming, in his words, “tired of photography.” In June 2022, he started drawing and experienced a tenderness in the act of sculpting an image into existence. “I realized I’d hit a roadblock with photography,” he reflects. “Apart from my own numbness, we were working in a world with so much censorship, for example. Drawing and the softness of the pastels kind of softens away that violence. A photograph can hold a fact, or evidence. A drawing can also tell the truth, in a different way.”
On top of that, Hura was becoming, in his words, “tired of photography.” In June 2022, he started drawing and experienced a tenderness in the act of sculpting an image into existence. “I realized I’d hit a roadblock with photography,” he reflects. “Apart from my own numbness, we were working in a world with so much censorship, for example. Drawing and the softness of the pastels kind of softens away that violence. A photograph can hold a fact, or evidence. A drawing can also tell the truth, in a different way.”