A South African photographer is behind multiple album covers for Travis Scott’s ‘Utopia’ release; another notch to South Africa’s creative belt at an international level.
Global (28 July, 2023) — As the hype continued to build until Travis Scott dropped his latest album ‘Utopia’ last night, the album cover reveals have South African creatives feeling even more connected to the project. Taking to reveal visions for Utopia recently, Scott credited South African photographer Pieter Hugo as the perspective behind the lens, sharing that the journey through the album had taken him all over the world.
Although the main cover was only revealed last night, Hugo’s involvement in creating a series of cover drops for an artist as big as Travis Scott adds another international notch to South Africa’s creative belt, especially in music.
Earlier this year, the sounds of South Africa journeyed to the world at Coachella where Uncle Waffles and Kyle Watson lit up California.
More recently, a plethora of South African acts made global noise and earned global buzzers from Belinda Davis to the Mzansi Youth Choir and of course, dancer of hope Musa Mothe.
In country music, South Africa’s Micaela Kleinsmith was crowned the Country Star of the world and in classical realms, Pretty Yende blew royal socks off at the King’s Coronation while for fictional royalty, Ofentse Pitse teamed up with Alicia Keyes for Queen Charlotte masterpieces.
The photographer behind Utopia’s array of covers hails from Johannesburg but is based in Cape Town known for his raw portraiture work. Hugo has also shot the likes of Patti Smith for Harper’s Bazaar and directed #VogueCreativity, one of Vogue’s most inspired features to date.
His work has been featured across multiple galleries both near and far, from the V&A Waterfront to the Museum of Modern Art.
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