hand printed silver gelatin

Artwork date: 2011
Signature details: signed on the reverse; accompanied by a certificate of authenticity
Edition: number 2 from an edition of 9 + 2AP

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image size: 27.5 x 28.5 cm, sheet size: 30 x 40 cm, unframed

Notes:

Working largely in black and white format, Sabelo Mlangeni has built his practice around intimate photographs that draw out the inherent beauty in the ordinary. Mlangeni is driven by his interest in the notions of community and communing where a central part of his process requires him to spend significant time – weeks, months, sometimes years – with those he chooses to photograph, sharing intimately in their thoughts, feelings, stories and everyday lives. His practice is a continuous survey of the most challenging, beautiful and confounding aspects of the human experience. "I have been moving around Johannesburg and its closest suburbs as someoneinterested in storytelling about everyday life. In my early walks, I found myself inmany spaces where the situation and the living conditions were impossible to look at and to photograph. Then I started wondering, what to frame? Soon another sideof the hardships emerged, and I attempted to capture that hidden beauty, that ordinary peace."A graduate of the Market Photo Workshop, his work has been widely exhibited locally and internationally, including at the Lagos Biennale, Lagos (2019); Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit (2019); Huis Marseille Museum of Photography,
Amsterdam (2019); Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg (2018); SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin (2018); Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort (2018); Walther Collection (2017), Museum Africa, Johannesburg (2015); Haus der Kunst, Munich (2013); Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool (2013); Lubumbashi Biennale, Lubumbashi (2012); Lagos Photo Festival, Lagos (2011);Victoria and Albert Museum (2011); Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Cologne (2010); and Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg (2010). Mlangeni was awarded the Africa MediaWorks Photography Prize (2018); the Prize for Contemporary African Photography (2016); and the Tollman Award for Visual Arts (2009). His work is represented in several institutional collections, including Tate Modern, London; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; the Walther Collection; KADIST; and the Sasol Art Collection. "In South Africa, like in other developing countries around the world, most people move to big towns and big cities for better opportunities. This ongoing body of work explores Johannesburg as a major economic hub where the street is an essential component of small businesses. This series is a direct contrast to my recent body of work, Ghost Town, where I explore the death of the small town brought upon by urban migration. Big City is a survey of the CBD as a site for opportunity, especially in relation to women who travel far and wide in search of economic independence."