So said ANC Provincial Secretary Songezo Mjongile of his party’s mayoral candidate for Cape Town, Tony Ehrenreich.
Sadly, Mjongile was referring to the ANC poster of dear Tony, in which he has an obviously forced smile and looks rather creepy as a result. But COSATU have also released a poster of the man, which I think is really cool.
The neutral background, the dated red and green blocks of colour, the three-quarter profile, the slightly raised chin, the positive, but firm gaze into the middle distance. It’s all terribly reminiscent of a Soviet propaganda poster. The politics, of course, aren’t all that different either.
And while I’m disinclined to agree with Mjongile’s assessment that Ehrenreich will get the 750,000 votes he needs to become our Mayor until 2016, he actually did get the poster thing right. Albeit accidentally.
I saw the ANC version of the poster after the COSATU version and I found it hard to believe it was the same guy. He looks totally different in the other. It made me realise again that photos are subjective in their very nature and should always be taken with a pinch of salt. Even if they look really cool. Especially if they look really cool.