South African photograher Zwelethu Mthethwa’s mother had a hope chest, a custom made box gifted to her when she married and left her childhood home. Likened to a time capsule, women keep the chest their entire lives. In Mthethwa’s ‘Hope Chest’ series, we don’t get a look inside the boxes, but what we do see – the lives and circumstances of everyday South Africans – are just as fascinating. (At Chelsea’s Jack Shainman Gallery through Feb 23rd).
Zwelethu Mthethwa, Untitled (Hope Chest series), digital c-print, 2012. Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery.