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Born in 1966, Hugo spent his childhood on a farm in the North of Zimbabwe. This early experience of space and the freedom to explore, strongly influenced his later decisions to work outdoors. Firstly, five years in the British army and then, ten years tobacco farming, and now pursuing Elephants throughout Africa. It is from these experiences with Elephant that he creates from, combining painting with black & white photography on canvas.
It was during his senior school years at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, England (1980 - 85) that Hugo discovered his love for photography. Many hours were spent in the school dark rooms and he had an image published in Country LIfe Magazine. |
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After school he spent a year travelling on his own in America, followed by a few months in Dubai before being commissioned into the British army where he served for five years.
In a very memorable snow storm Hugo married Alice in Hereford, England in December 1990. Two years later they left England to go farming in Zimbabwe where they remained for ten years until the middle of 2002 when the farming industry was closed down by the Zimbabwe Government. It was during this period that their daughter Zoe was born followed by twin boys, Ivan and Dima.
The loss of the farm along with a stint in jail, for his support of the opposition, made Hugo think carefully about his next career. While farming he had often thought about combining the colour of oils with black & white photography and using Elephant as the main subject matter. Hugo has held two successful solo exhibitions in the Arndean Gallery in Cork Street, London and has also exhibited in New York, Dallas and Reno America, plus Cape Town and Plettenburg Bay in South Africa.
Hugo believes in conservation and in preserving and protecting the earth’s “development-free” areas. He feels very privileged that one of England’s greatest conservationists and artists, David Shepherd, opened both of his exhibitions in London.
Hugo and his family have recently moved to a farm in Central Zambia having spent 2005 to 2007 in South Africa.
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Hugo was commissioned at Sandhurst in August 1987 and served for five years in The Life Guards. On this occasion Her Majesty The Queen was reviewing the Airborne Troop of which Hugo was the troop leader. |
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Hugo and Alice were married in Belmont Abbey in Hereford on the 8th December 1990. The wedding service and reception took place in a particularly heavy snow storm which prevented about a third of the guests from coming. |
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In March 1993 Hugo started work on Umsengesi Farm 100kms north of Harare, Zimbabwe, where he and Alice remained until June 2002 when the Zimbabwe Government stopped the business in the name of resettlement.
Today the farm supports a quarter of the number of people who only produce enough for themselves. There are no animals remaining in the farm gamepark shown in this picture. Hugo and Alice’s house is in the background.
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In this picture Alice, Zoe, Ivan and Dima are watching a number of bull elephant on the Rukomechi River in Mana Pools, Zimbabwe. |
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