A.J. Pretorius uses photography to come to terms with experience - in particular, the tension between the familiar and foreign.
Out of Place was published in 2020. The book contains 32 photographs that capture the impact of sociopolitical exclusionary tactics on the perception of place. Previous work includes Common Ground, a collaboration with writer Simon Guy, which raises and explores the tensions, contradictions, and questions raised by different claims to shared physical and social space. In Unhome, Pretorius explores immigration from a personal perspective by photographically commenting on the state of suspension between familiar and foreign.
Before he turned to photography, Pretorius worked at the intersection of computer science and visual design. He was awarded a Leverhulme Fellowship for his research on data visualisation and he holds a PhD from Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands.
