Now that I have a faster internet connection and a bit of time on my hands as it's too cold for me to enjoy doing anything outside the house, I find myself browsing through photographer's websites that I had been bookmarking for months. Here are a few of South Africa that I particularly enjoyed, mostly because they show very different sides of the country.
This is how he defines himself in his website:
When I was child I asked my grandmother, whilst walking back from 'goga metse', "what was on the moon? She replied, "an old woman with a bucket of water on her head walking back home with a child." I still believe that to this day. Her name is Sinah Ntholi Nkoane and I am that child.I am lebogang nkoane. I am merely exploring photography.
Btw, you can also follow him on Twitter at @LTDN (which is how I found his photography in the first place).
I don't really know much about this photographer, only that I think he's based in Johannesburg and that he has amazing abstract compositions that remind me of cubist painters like Mondrian.
This Johannesburg-based photographer became famous for her series of portraits of black lesbians which she started in 2007, challenging the public's perceptions of female and male identity. She then continued with a series of intimate scenes of the domestic life of black lesbian couples in South Africa, such as the triptych below.
Another Johannesburg-based photographer, but again with a completely different style. In this case, the series that gave him popularity was Invisible Women, of women cleaning the inner city of Johannesburg which he photographed over an eight-month period at night between 11pm and 3.30am.
More recently he showed a series titled Men Only, focusing on the George Goch hostel on the East Rand of Johannesburg built in 1961 to house migrant mineworkers. Only men are allowed in such hostels, and in the collective imaginary they are places of violence, sexual abuse and illegal trafficking. They are also places where the legacy of apartheid is still clearly evident, despite the gains of the past 15 years of democracy. Mlangeni says:
It is these imaginings that led me to photograph life in these buildings, going beyond the stereotypes and trying to capture the normality that exists in an abnormal, unnatural situation.' Men's hostels are not easily approachable places, both practically and visually, and, Mlangeni says, 'my curiosity and maleness weren't enough to gain me access to this private world'. It took him two years to develop the trust and familiarity needed to show the residents' lives with honesty and clarity.
Veleko became popular thanks to her Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder, a series of bold, funky street fashion portraits providing a contemporary face to South Africa.
This is what this Cape Town-based photographer says about himself:
Extremely verastile and adaptable photographer with an easy way with people.My goal is to change the way people see their differences and what makes them unique.
To travel the world and show new and exciting perspectives on the planet we live on.
