Status symbols unveiled: Pineapple rentals & designer threads across the globe with Per-Anders Pettersson
Les Sapeurs - Per-Anders Pettersson
I ämnet onödigt vetande läste jag nyss att man under lång tid i England med start på 1600-talet kunde hyra sig en ananas. Det var dyrt som tusan med en ananas. Om man skulle på fest och vill visa lite status tog man helt enkelt med sig en ananas och höll i den under kvällen. Så hysteriskt kul! Jag ser framför mig fotografier, kändisporträtt där de skrider in på festen. Någon måste ju fått reapris på den mest mogna, eller?
I södra Afrika är det status att klä sig i märkeskläder, det är det förvisso över hela jordklotet men här gör de det med en twist. Per-Anders Petterssons fotografiska porträtt på Les Sapeurs, La Sape, en förkortning baserad på frasen Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes bokstavligen ”Society of Ambiance-makers and Elegant People,” en subkultur med ursprung från just Frankrike. Ett prestigefyllt brödraskap med sina egna moraliska och sociala koder som i slutändan är ett sätt att leva och överleva på.
Hur visar man status i Frankrike då? Jag tror inte på att de kör största bilen här i alla fall, inte med landets parkeringsmoral, kanske störst vingård?
Allt Gott! , Nette
In the subject of useless trivia, I just read that in England for a long time, starting in the 1600s, you could actually rent a pineapple. It was insanely expensive to have a pineapple. If you wanted to show off a bit of status at a party, you simply brought along a pineapple and held onto it throughout the evening. It's hilariously amusing!
I can imagine photographs, celebrity portraits where they stride into the party holding a pineapple. Someone must have gotten a bargain deal on the ripest one, right?
In southern Africa, it's a status symbol to dress in designer clothes, which is true globally, but here they do it with a twist. Per-Anders Pettersson's photographic portraits of the Les Sapeurs, La Sape, an abbreviation based on the phrase Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes, literally "Society of Ambiance-makers and Elegant People," a subculture originating from France. A prestigious brotherhood with its own moral and social codes, ultimately a way of life and survival.
So, how do they show status in France then? I don't believe it's about driving the biggest car here, not with the country's parking etiquette, maybe it's about having the largest vineyard?
All the best, Nette
Les Sapeurs, Kinshasa, DRC, LS10 & LS1 - Per-Anders Pettersson
Per-Anders Pettersson
Per-Anders Pettersson (born in Borås, Sweden in 1967) is a photographer based in Cape Town, South Africa. During his 30-year long career, Pettersson has covered a wide range of international news events, including the first Gulf War, democracy in South Africa starting with the election campaign in 1994, as well as conflicts in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Haiti. He has worked in over thirty-five African countries, covering stories on hunger in Ethiopia, civil wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Botswana and South Africa. Mr. Pettersson has worked in over one hundred countries on assignment for clients worldwide. His pictures have won praise and awards from, among others, World Press Photo, PDN, POY, NPPA, CARE, CHIPP, Unicef Photo of the Year, American Photography and Commarts. He has exhibited several times at Visa pour l’Image Perpignan, as well as at other festivals and galleries, such as Somerset House in London. In September 2013, his first book was published, Rainbow Transit, a look at democracy in South Africa. African Catwalk, a look at the fashion industry in Africa, was published in 2016.