Photo: X Fotomat website launch: Introducing Kelebogile Ntladi
Kelebogile Ntladi (b.1987) is a Johannesburg-based photographer, mixed media artist and videographer. She was born in Soweto and raised in the east of Johannesburg. Ntladi has worked with various Queer and activist media organisations in Johannesburg, including Keleketla Library, Inkanyiso Productions, the Iranti Organisation and the African Arts Institute. She was mentored by the renown photographer Muholi.
Ntladi’s work is concerned with deconstructing gender roles and explores themes of identity, history, and Afrofuturism. She explores the experience of being black and queer in contemporary South Africa, speaking to trauma and the potential for healing within black families. Through her works she hopes to connect with people of various generations and backgrounds to explore the possibility of a future society that rejects conservative notions of gender and sex in favour of individual identity.
She studied photography at the Market Photo workshop and has been included in several exhibitions including Queer in Africa in 2014 and Indentikit in 2012. Ntladi is represented by Photo:
Ntladi says, “I had begun to feel that it was difficult to express and represent queer identities through traditional photography. I am constantly looking for more dynamic ways to tell stories. Social documentary has a history of manipulating reality and telling other people’s stories in ways that do not reflect lived experiences, which is why I begun deconstructing and reconstructing the images to get closer to true representation. By cutting and tearing documentary images I deconstruct their authority as truth-speaking and present them, fragmented, into my stories.”
Image from Cobra (2016)
Cobra is a photo collage series composed of photographs depicting South African world-champion athlete, Caster Semenya in the now-iconic poses she makes after winning a race. Semenya has faced constant scrutiny around her gender identity since appearing on the world stage. This work is a tribute to her. Growing up I had no images to reference or figures to look to and I think it is important for young Queer people to see positive representations of Queer female identities in the media.
Photo: has partnered with visual website builder Fotomat to create websites showcasing the talents of nine African photographers. Aimed at increasing visibility of the photographers’ work and contemporary African photography as a whole at a time when Covid-19 has shifted interactions and engagement online, the websites play a pivotal role in creating platforms to showcase important work from across the continent.
The websites have officially been launched on 15 September 2021.
Visit Kelebogile’s website here: https://kelebogilentladi.onfotomat.com
About Photo:
Photo: is a multi-operation platform for the development and promotion of socially engaged photography practices, photographers, and critical visual culture.
Through curatorial and educational projects throughout the African continent and beyond, Photo: promotes emerging and practicing photographers and photography with the aim to encourage critical and experimental approaches/responses, that challenge and stimulate how we think about photography and our world.
Further, through commissioning, producing and connecting photography projects and practitioners, Photo: wants to encourage dialogue, exchange, engagement and participation.
Central to its vision, is the idea that photography can be a delicate tool for social change.
Learn more about Photo::
About Fotomat:
Fotomat was built by the makers of Viewbook, a photo sharing platform and portfolio website builder for professionals that was founded in 2009.
Over the past two years the Fotomat team worked with artists, art educators, and photo industry professionals as part of a publication called "Transformations, Exploring Changes in and Around Photography". During this process it became apparent that there is a need for new and different ways to show image based work on the internet.
Disciplinary lines are blurred more and more every day, and many image makers are mixing video with still photography and other media in their work. They are looking for new ways to tell stories. To fill this void, the observations and ideas learned from Transformations have been applied to Fotomat and will benefit anyone looking to make a visual website, be it a simple portfolio or an immersive online exhibition.
Learn more about Fotomat:
For more information, visit https://www.phototool.co.za/ or email info@phototool.co.za
Learn more about the nine photographers selected to create websites with Photo: and Fotomat at https://www.phototool.co.za/2020/2021/9/15/photo-x-fotomat-launch-nine-websites-for-rising-african-photographers-1?fbclid=IwAR22N6Ds5ZyxI6O4RrRjmDrLcPjXXd7aHYFurhpJD5oeARW8zXP17Sjj88E
Websites for South African photographers were supported in part by the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture.
Posted 28/10/2021.