Young Thokoza photographer Tshepiso Mazibuko wins two major photography awards in France at a major photography fair

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

She like the legendary group of photographers known as the Bang Bang Club, could have chosen the hard news –crime and violence defined photography in Thokoza on the East Rand.  The Bang Bang Club, which at the height of politically motivated violence, a few  years leading to the country’s watershed elections in 1994, South Africa, was a group of hardened violence exposed photographers that braved bullets and violence in the township to capture the news of the time.

And some of whom unfortunately paid the ultimate price with their lives, such as Ken Oosterbroek (14 February 1962 – 18 April 1994) a South African photojournalist and member of the Bang-Bang Club. He worked for The Star in Johannesburg, which was South Africa’s biggest daily broadsheet. He won numerous photography awards for his work, before violence in Thokoza claimed his life. His posthomous display of his photography is currently on at the Bensusan Museum of Photography in Newtown at MsuemAfrika.

The point is Thokoza in democratic and free South Africa, just like several townships under the from grip of poverty and other social ills is stalked by daily crime. But Tshepiso Mazibuko instead of documenting crime in her township has chosen to point her trusted camera in a different direction by documenting the daily lives of the residents of Thokoza, such as their sense of fashion as well as other sub culture defining a life in this township east of Johannesburg.

Those that we fortunate to attend the first group exhibition at the launch of the photography art collective Umhlabathi in Johannesburg in 2021, will attest to the fact that Mazibuko’s photographs that formed part of that debut exhibition were quite outstanding. Mazibuko is part of the pioneering photography collective that also has veteran photographers Andrew Tshabangu and Andile Komanisi as members. When the debut exhibition opened, there is no way one could have missed the fact that Mazibuko’s photographs captured poignantly the daily existence of the Thokoza residents, portrayed the subjects minding their own business, seemingly oblivious of the social ills surrounding them, such as dirty, littered and unpaved streets, and of course the crime that is part of the people’s daily experiences, including violent crime.

This is not to suggest that Mazibuko did not know of these ills, she simply chose to focus on another aspect of life in her Kasie, the side that people are not used to reading about in newspapers and books. And that is that people in this part of Johannesburg, also have dreams and are quite ambitious and stylish as displayed by their fashion sense and pride in how they look and therefore feel, particularly the youth.  However this is simply a reading of her work at superficial, face value. But beneath these innocent looking photographs that seem to simply celebrate life and are seemingly oblivious to the political and socio-economic issues lies a powerful political statement about the youth that were born after freedom in 1994. The photographs critically question the youth’s purpose in a free country, the so called born frees.

Therefore these innocent looking images of happy and stylish faces are actually an oblique look at things that are not said and yet are lying under the surface of the youth’s lives in Thokoza, including their dreams and ambitions.  She captured a lot of this life under an innovative project called of Soul and Joy, which continues to play an important role in growing photography interest in  and skills among the youth in the township by having them mentored by professionals.

This work has not gone unnoticed. The photographer right now is in Paris, France, where her work as been recognized at an international photography fair, winning two major photography prizes, a development poised to change the young photographer’s professional trajectory.

Late last week, Mazibuko secured the Madame Figaro Photo Award (most outstanding work by a woman photographer) and the 2024 Discovery Louis Roederer Public Award (public vote/people’s choice for the main Discovery Louis Roederer Foundation Award) at the Recontres d’Arles photography festival, one of the world’s premier annual photography events.

Tshepiso received these awards in recognition of her project, “Ho tshepa ntshepedi ya bontshepe,” (images attached) which looks at the impact of the political designation ‘born-free’ on South Africa’s post-1994 black youth generation.

 “Of Soul and Joy is thrilled to announce that its former student, Tshepiso Mazibuko, has been awarded the 2024 Discovery Award Louis Roederer Foundation’s Public Award and the prestigious Madame Figaro Photo Award for her exhibition “Ho tshepa ntshepedi ya bontshepe” (To Believe in Something That Will Never Happen) at the Rencontres d’Arles summer photography festival in France.

 The Rencontres d’Arles, recognised as one of Europe’s premier photography events, opened on 1 July and will be on view until 29 September 2024. Since its inception, the festival has been a significant platform promoting photography and its contributors, including photographers, artists, curators, and publishers.

 For the Discovery Award, festival visitors voted during the opening week for their favourite artist. Tshepiso garnered the highest number of votes, earning a €5,000 prize. The Madame Figaro Photo Award, dedicated to women photographers, honours an outstanding artist featured in the festival’s program.

 “It’s a huge honour to be recognised by the Arles Photography Festival with these awards. Having the chance to share my work at the festival alone has been richly rewarding, so to receive this added recognition is really encouraging. I look forward to using the prize to continue realising the work that has brought me this far,” says Tshepiso Mazibuko.

 Tshepiso’s project, “Ho tshepa ntshepedi ya bontshepe,” looks at the impact of the political designation ‘born-free’ on South Africa’s post-1994 black youth generation. The title, derived from a Sesotho proverb, explores the paradoxical nature of this label and how the remnants of apartheid have hindered the full realisation of freedom. Through self-portraits and community-focused imagery, Tshepiso examines her own experiences and societal constructs.

“Tshepiso’s images seem to be suspended in time. Adopting an introspective approach, she paints an intimate portrait where frustration and benevolence coexist, where violence is latent, where faces are often tense, sometimes strained, sometimes proud, occasionally absorbed but rarely light-hearted,” says curator of the exhibition, Audrey Illouz.

Tshepiso, who completed her photography studies at the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg in 2016, uses her medium to comment on political, societal, landscape, and historical themes. Her work has been exhibited at Ithuba Art Gallery (Johannesburg), Ghent Photo Festival (Belgium), LagosPhoto (Nigeria), Turbine Art Fair (Johannesburg), Iziko South African National Gallery (Cape Town), and Addis Foto Fest (Ethiopia), among others. She is a recipient of the Tierney Fellowship (2017) and the Prince Claus Fund Award (2018), and became a member of the Umhlabathi Collective in 2021.

 “We’re so proud of Tshepiso for receiving this well-deserved recognition. Her work speaks to the difficulty of confronting the identity of ‘born-free’ thrust onto her generation, which she so powerfully captures through the people in her images. Tshepiso receiving these accolades is a testament to the critical value of her project, which crosses cultures and resonates with diverse audiences. For us at Of Soul and Joy, this is the ultimate realisation of the work we aim to achieve with our students,” says Of Soul and Joy Project Manager and mentor Jabulani Dhlamini.