Frank Marshall (born 30 July 1985) is a South African photographer mostly concerned with portraiture and the photography of music and known for his work on portraying
heavy metal subculture
A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...
in Botswana. He is represented by Rooke Gallery,
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
, South Africa.
Life and career
Early life
Frank Marshall was born on 30 July 1985 in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, South Africa as the child of an Irish father and a South African mother. He grew up in
Kroonstad, Free State and
Pretoria
Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa.
Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...
, Gauteng. As a teenager Marshall started to show interest in hard rock and heavy metal music, mostly influenced by established American bands.
Education
After finishing high school Marshall started his studies of photography at
Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria in 2007. In 2010 he obtained his
Bachelor of Technology
A Bachelor of Technology (Latin ''Baccalaureus Technologiae'', commonly abbreviated as B.Tech. or BTech; with honours as B.Tech. (Hons.)) is an undergraduate academic degree conferred after the completion of a three to five-year program of studi ...
degree in photography from Tshwane University. For his final year thesis Marshall portrayed people of Botswana's heavy metal subculture and put the images together in his exhibition "Renegades". For his work on "Renegades" he was nominated as one of ten finalists of the
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
World Photography Awards Student Focus Competition. He was the first South African to reach the finals of the renowned photography competition. As a finalist he was allowed to take part in the World Photography Festival at
Somerset House
Somerset House is a large Neoclassical complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadrangle was built on the site of a Tudor palace ("O ...
, London and to attend talks, lectures and master classes held by distinguished photographers and
World Photographic Academy members.
He was accepted for a Master's degree programme in photography at Tshwane University but quit University to start working as a photographer.
Renegades
Renegades is Marshall’s first and so far only photographic solo exhibition which immediately earned him national and international attention. In 2008 Marshall was hired to accompany and shoot a South African heavy metal band at a performance in Botswana's capital
Gaborone
Gaborone ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census.
Gaboron ...
where he first came in touch with the local heavy metal subculture. In 2009 he decided to make these people the subject of his final year thesis at Tshwane University and finished the series in 2010. It consists of 60 posed environmental portraits and is meant to represent and transmit ideologies of heavy metal subculture in Botswana. The portraits are shot with two analogue cameras, a Hasselblad 500 CM and a Hasselblad 500 EL/M on Fujichrome Provia 100F film.
Exhibitions
Renegades was shown at various national and international galleries
* Rooke Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa: July – August 2011
*
Jo'burg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa: September 2011
* Bekris Gallery, San Francisco, US: November: 2011 – January 2012
* M.I.A Gallery,
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, USA: September 2013
Works from the Renegades series have also been acquired for the permanent collection of
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
and two prints are in the collection of
J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, USA.
Awards
* Finalist of the Sony World Photography Awards Student Focus Competition 2011
The competition is seen as the most high-profile student photography award. It is open to every institution worldwide that teaches photography at higher education level. In 2011 over 200 institutions from six continents participated in the competition. The shortlist of ten finalists was chosen by a jury of renowned photography artists and photo journalists including
Deborah Willis, Eder Chiodetto or Roger Tooth.
References
External links
Frank Marshall homepageRooke Gallery''Renegades'' exhibition catalogue (pdf)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Frank
South African photographers
Living people
1985 births
Tshwane University of Technology alumni