WHERE AM I?
The communities we exist in bind us to history, culture and identity; giving context to our everyday experiences. In this open call: We want to know where you are? Where do you find solitude? Where do you find belonging? We are interested in photography that explores the multitudes of this theme, whether it is documented or constructed - submitted works should signal back to a particular space/environment. This is a single image open call for photographers based in Africa.
Billal Laïd, Blue Hour Tébessa
Captured during the twilight hours in my hometown, Tébessa, this spot is a popular hangout for the youth, who often gather here to capture selfies with the cityscape in the background.
Tébessa, Algeria
Kimberly Mduli, Eziko
On weekends my best friend used to take me from home to enjoy a good meal Eziko. With bellies filled to the brim with laughter and food, we would then watch people pass by and exchange pleasantries just to make their days. A constant exchange of positivity, gradually building a safe space for everyone around us until one day we just stopped. This was the last picture I took.
South Africa
Belkacem Mustapha Mesbahi, Untitled
On a boat at the entrance of Djerba island, South Tunisia
Tunisia
Chris Stamatiou, Blue Velvet
Blue velvet couches at Johannesburg's Famous Edwardian Lavatory. Johannesburg, South Africa
Awetahegn Ephrem, Presence in Absence
Inspired by a short poem:“It's always present, the absence of your presence. It's never absent, the presence of your absence". Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Caroline Sohie, Blood Stars
‘Blood Stars’ emerges from a diffuse yet palpable sense of unease, evoking a heightened awareness of the world. It reflects a physical and psychological state where the artist is acutely attuned to the uncertainties of our times.
Caroline Sohie’s work brings this unsettling tension into view, focusing on an idyllic coastal town in Eastern Tanzania, a place marked by profound contestation. In the late 18th century, this town was a hub for the African slave trade, later becoming a strategic outpost for German and British colonial forces. Now, the construction of a new container port as part of the Chinese New Silk Route signals a dramatic transformation, altering both the natural environment and the cultural fabric.
As global interests recode territories, the modern condition infuses traditional society, prompting social change and a reconceptualisation of place and identity. In Sohie’s landscapes, a form of muted violence surfaces, bridging the scars of the past with the uncertainties of the future.
Tanzania
Matt Kay, Merrivale 7
Midlands, South Africa
Mekonnen Natnael Ashebir,
Where We Are
Where We Are is a series of photography exploring Archive, Identity, Culture, and History. The visual narration has archive images, text, and digital drawings. It intends to experiment with photography in an interdisciplinary manner. The notion that inspires me is the relationship between past and present reflected through lens.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Ricky Laidlaw, Seeking
A serene morning by the Ocean (at North Beach), hand in hand with Family, Seeking God in prayer and song.
Durban, South Africa.
Awetahegn Ephrem, Morning Dew
Moments of quiet contemplation preserved in the name of the title, pentimento
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Lillian Benny, Casa
There hasn't been a revelation of who I am ,only the traces of longing to find a home. There is a constant questioning of who I am and how that relates to where I am and this image taken from a series called Invisible figures reflects this enigma.
Maputo, Mozambique
Hickmatu Leigh, Makola Symphony
"Makola Symphony" is a celebration of our shared identity. No matter where we go, we find pieces of ourselves in each other. This is my tribute to the spirit of Africa, where we all connect through our common experiences
Accra, Ghana
Israa Alrrayah, An Old Car in the Middle of a Modern City
Cairo is one of the cities where different eras meet. Amid the rapid progress the city witnesses, in a corner, you will find those who cling to the old era, especially when it comes to cars.
Cairo, Egypt
Helen Mulugetta, Old Beauty
As the city alters its image into a modern world, lots of things will be part of the changes. Sky rising buildings, wide plain roads and futuristic looking cars has become the new normal. And although those changes are inevitable and good, my heart will always remain warm for the old look of the architecturally sophisticated buildings and also the simple yet elegant looks of old cars. And it has been quite rare to see such an old beauty going around the city these days.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Sharday Swanepoel, HorsePlay
This picture was taken while driving over 'the mountain.' We have chosen to live in a coastal village in the deep south of Cape Town which allows us close access to nature but at the price of needing to spend many hours driving over ou kaapse weg to access shops and activities. My children have become accustomed to the boredom of this transient place, the car, and often come up with interesting ways to entertain themselves.
Odette Howell, Behind our House
From my back gate I can walk right out onto Slangkop in Kommetjie, Cape Town, I love the solitude I experience on the plateau of this small mountain that rises majestically behind my home, while very much aware of the communities surrounding me. Here, the fynbos, with its vibrant colours, shifts through the seasons, and there is always something new to see. The landscape has faced fierce fires, devastatingly close to our doorstep, only to regenerate with an awe-inspiring resilience. My heart is deeply entwined with this space, the plants and animals that call this home. The triangle represents home and being grounded in my place.
Cape Town, South Africa
Sophie Smith, Between here and Heaven
This image grapples with the identity my children inherit as first generation white South Africans with little religious or cultural context. Growing up as an expat British evangelical Christian, I was taught that home was London, but our eternal home is in heaven. Now Africa is home and I doubt if heaven exists and so for me and my children, moments rooted and grounded in the land and natural world must be enough as we struggle with the idea of home.
Kenton-On-Sea, South Africa
Chris Stamatiou, Self-portrait with crocodile
Part of the body of work ‘it’, which speaks on the concept of an animal being an object or an
individual.
South Africa
Mikhail Samuel, Untitled
Johannesburg, South Africa
Untitled was a landmark photo for me as it was the first roll of film I shot in my own film lab where I had full control over the process and experimented to find the exact look that I wanted. It was the start of a new freedom for me and I wanted to create a memory of that time and place.
Johannesburg, South Africa
Haroun Loukidis, Untitled
The random things found piling up in the corners of rooms is always interesting to me.
Johannesburg, South Africa
Metche Jaafar, Not Been Eaten Yet
I loved Maadi intensely; I was puzzled by my comfort in the place, feeling like I knew it from another life. After a while, I realized this was the same setting for the adventures of "The Five Adventurers" series. Perhaps this realization awakened me to the influence of the stories I read as a child on shaping my imaginary vision of Cairo.
I feel as if I have lived in Maadi before! I rode a bicycle with Loza, Toktokh, Moheb, Nosa, and Atef along the Maadi Corniche, joining them as they teased the police officer Farqaa. I relished a cold sugarcane juice on a hot summer day. Maybe this Maadi is different from the one in my imagination, but a part of me feels joy every time I go there.
Alice in Wonderland .. The cat tells me as he lies on a tree branch… "They're all mad here" You mean crazy.
"I'm not crazy...my reality is just different from yours"
It is easy to feel the savagery and inhumanity of the city when you have another reality to lean on. It’s very easy to lose perception and awareness of your actual reality while immersed in city life…trapped in its circles like a frog in a pot of boiling water. What do you do if your roots rot?
I have been devoured... my dreams and ambitions have been devoured in Khartoum, Cairo might be another chance, a new beginning.
"I don’t want to be Eaten again...I won’t be devoured again"
Sudan
Bonolo Tlholoe, Pocket Billiard
The portrait of the man in green is a friend of my Uncle, who came to celebrate with us on my Aunt's birthday last year, and the pool table was booked for the Uncle and friends to enjoy themselves. Growing up in a township, a pool table was the game every young boy thought they would never get a chance to play, it was reserved for the "older men".
South Africa
Faswillah Nattabi, Home is a place in Time
I have been away from home long before I could remember. The wound of displacement is one that I had to learn to caress throughout my upbringing. This window in the kitchen of our Johannesburg home provided the space to do so. In the monotony of dish washing, my mind would reach far out in the past and future, and toy with visions of home, recreating the scenes my mother would share from her memory, imagining a reality where I did not have to perform my existence. I would dream of the day that I would finally return home, and sit in the embrace of my grandmother. Now that home is no longer a distant idea, now that I that I stand on my ancestral land, I can appreciate the spaces that I have encountered along the journey, that have laid the foundations for this momentous return.
Johannesburg, South Africa
Keabetsoe Makgoane, Masc Off
This photo questions how we can begin understanding self-representation as a possible extension of one’s gender identity and not part of a fixed subscription to A gender identity. To maintain ‘manhood’, the masculine ideology often holds a fixation to uphold non-femininity in the arguably irrational fear of presenting as queer. This can be understood largely as an internalisation of homophobia, and it follows that elements understood as ‘feminine’ are never given a place in the lives of masculine men.
South Africa
Sinada Aya, Danger Updates
Since July 2023 when Madani City was attacked by the RSF soldiers, my aunt Hassona watches war updates on television everyday as her husband and son are still in the war zone in Omdurman.
Omdurman, Sudan
Mayowa Oyewale, Compost
In "Compost", I am trying to deconstruct the process of photography and the ways of seeing.
Employing digital collage in respect to the title, I fuse two different pictures taken in Ibadan, Nigeria, together to make a whole meaning and interpretation. In this way, my pictures appear to be self-reflexive and self-conscious as they question the tool of the lens.
Ibadan is known to be double faced, having sharp contrasts of the have and the have-nots, the sane and the mentally deranged, of motion and waiting, of city space and rural space. I called most of these works "Study" because I am merely studying portraiture when reimagined, when it is not traditional and allows for other composites.
Nigeria
Luyolo Fihla, 'Izembe'
'Izembe' directly tranlsate to 'an Axe'. However in the Zulu culture the word also represents something sharp, a straight line or cutting edge. Something held with high regard or utmost respect. Like creased pants for gentlemen, neat and sophisticated.
Johannesburg, South Africa
Belkacem Mustapha Mesbahi, Somewhere
This image represents a picture of a tire far from the road in the middle of a lake in Bargou, Tunisia. This image makes me reflect that sometimes things are far from where they belong, but somehow, they find their way to be where they are meant to be where they go …
Bargou,Tunisia
ARTIST BIOS:
Billal Laïd
Billal Laïd, a self-taught emerging photographer based in Tébessa. Algeria Since 2012, he has been dedicated to documentary photography, seeking captivating subjects and themes of Everyday life scenes rarely seen :
Chris Stamatiou
Chris Stamatiou is a photography nerd based in Pretoria, South Africa. He is an alumni and past lecturer at Market Photo Workshop.
Over the years he has participated in workshops hosted by local and international photographers, namely Roger Ballen and Mary Ellen Mark (two of his biggest photographic influences) and received an Honourable Mention at the 2020 International Photography Awards.
His personal work explores concepts of marginalization, time and change.
Kimberly Mduli
Kimberly Mduli is a versatile contemporary artist known for her photography, mixed media collages, abstract paintings, and writing, where she skillfully uses color to convey intense emotions. Raised, in Whittlesea, in the Eastern Cape, her artistic journey began alongside her grandmother's sewing and mother's clothing design, sparking her passion for experimentation with various mediums and techniques. With a focus on mixed media, Kimberly blends acrylics, oils, materials, and digital elements to create dynamic compositions reflecting the complexities of modern life. Each piece serves as a
personal expression of intense feelings, either relived or experienced in the moment.
Faswillah Nattabi
Faswillah Nattabi is a Kampala-born, Johannesburg-raised storyteller and multidisciplinary artist. Primarily a writer, her work awakens the spirit of language through photography and the moving image. Her artistic practice, provoking curiosity in the human condition, is a quintessential depiction of her life as a third-culture kid. Drawing on the intimacy of film photography and its disregard for perfection as a mimicry of the human state, she relays themes of dysfunction, displacement, identity, agency, liberty and self-determination as they manifest themselves in the sentimental histories of the intimate relationships forged within the spaces that she inhabits. She is currently a member of the Brixton Photo Collective.
Mesbahi Belkacem Mustapha
Mesbahi Belkacem Mustapha, alias mbm, is an algerian photographer born in algiers in 1997. he studied criminal law and criminology at the faculty of law of algiers. passionate about photography, he captures his daily life in images and immortalizes the small moments that catch his eye. these images reflect his imagination and serve as a means to express what he struggles to say with words.he collaborated with the lead (laboratory for architectural idea exchanges) of the department of architecture of algiers to initiate young architecture students into architectural photography, exhibiting the images from this collaboration with the students in the department of architecture of algiers in 2019.in 2021, he participated in art tifariti in the sahrawi refugee camps of boujdour in collaboration with the italian association cisp to document the crucial role of sahrawi women in sahrawi society as well as their ongoing struggle for the freedom of the sahrawi people and the maintenance of the hassani cultural heritage of the sahrawis. this collaboration resulted in a group exhibition at the diocesan house of algiers. today, mesbahi belkacem mustapha is a freelance photographer living in algiers.
Awetahegn Ephrem
Awetahegn Ephrem is a photographer based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His images often focused on still photos and landscapes, deliberately devoid of human presence with an intention was to evoke a sense of nostalgia and liminal a spaces drawing viewers into a world where time stood still. Each frame allowing people to weave their own stories and emotions into the scenes before them.
Caroline Sohie
Caroline Sohie is a multidisciplinary artist born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She uses space as her medium to delve into the human condition, employing photography, architecture, and mixed media.
Caroline is captivated by the symbiotic, though often uneasy, relationship between human beings and their environment. Her photographic work provokes reflections on identity,
power, and memory, juxtaposed against the ephemeral nature of existence.
Natnael Ashebir
Natnael Ashebir is a visual artist (b.1995, Ethiopia) who has completed a BFA from Alle School of Fine Art and Design in 2021, a Diploma from Entoto Polytechnic College in 2016, and a certificate from Abyssinia Fine Art School in 2013. His work focuses on the relations between history, identity, culture, and urban sprawl. Natnael was a second-prize winner of the Emerging Painting Invitational Prize EPI 2022. He currently lives and works in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Ricky Laidlaw
I am a photographer from Durban, South Africa. I shoot both film and digital, Colour and Black & White. I like to make photographs of everyday life; the mudande, the beautiful, the ugly, the strange - all of it; and hope to make an interesting picture that makes you stop and have a closer look.I am really interested in street and documentary photography and want to try to document life in front of me, with a goal of making photographs that truly capture the mood and energy of what I felt when I was there making the picture. I also like to play with the idea that "a photograph can tell the truth about a lie, but also a lie about the truth".
Lillian Benny
Lillian Benny is a photographer based in Maputo, Mozambique, uses photography conceptual themes around the psyche, migration, and human experience. Her work reflects the intersection of two worlds, shaped by her upbringing in Johannesburg, South Africa.
In 2021, she participated in the Democrasee photography workshop and collective exhibition. In 2023, she showcased her work at the Fortress of Maputo in the collective exhibition "Um Mundo Dividido Para Todos" (One World Divided for All). Her photography has also been featured on the online platform Everyday a Woman, hosted by Through the Lens, and she took part in the Upcycles Audiovisual creative residency in Maputo ,2024 .
Haroun Loukidis
Haroun Loukidis (2004) is a photographer/musician born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He prefers to work at night with a flash, hinting at themes of adolescence as he photographs his brothers and peers. The ethereal yet somewhat playful work was created during his mid levels at TTLC. As both his parents are photographers, it is a way of expression that came easily to him. He has completed both Beginners and Mid levels at TTLC. His work was included in a TTLC Salon Show.
Israa Alrrayah
Israa Alrrayah was born in Khartoum, August 2000 and
grew up between the capital and Al 'Aylafun village,
and so far the West Sudan El-Obeid City.
Despite my attachment to visual arts since childhood,
and used it as a way to translate my ideas while
growing. My strong start in photography career was
from a tragedy, when the war broke out in my
homeland, Sudan 2023.
I started to document not only for self-expression by
photographs, but also to reflect humanitarian, historical,
and cultural stories, and communicate ideas and
messages. During a unique journey that took me from
my home to dozens of cities in the West, North, and
East Sudan. A journey titled Tragedy and
Displacement, but I see it as my dream has come true
by chance to travel around my country and document
stories to tell around the world. I experienced several
feelings, that ended in spoken art, where realized the
tools I have and what capable of, by spreading
awareness and expressing human emotions.
In a combination of photos and writing, I'm becoming
the photographer I want to be and the storyteller to
address the most complex issues and feelings to
explain them simply.
Helen Mulugetta Lemma
Born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Helen Mulugetta is a photographer that expresses herself through photography. It has been a way for her to explore her surroundings and capture moments that deep down speak her truth. She has been on this journey for almost ten years now she enjoys stories that she finds on the streets, during traveling and events. Photography gives her courage to go places, meet new people and document what the world is offering at the moment. Her photograph collections have gotten the chance to be showcased at photograph exhibitions and conferences.
Mayowa Oyewale
Mayowa Oyewale (he/him) is a Nigerian multidisciplinary artist working with photography and text. Some of his work has been recognized by Gallery 1957, Tender Photo Journal, Kranj Foto Fest, Tate, and the Poetry Foundation. He divides his time between Ibadan, Ife, and Osogbo, Nigeria.
Sharday Swanepoel
Sharday Swanepoel (b.1986) is a self-taught lens-based artist living in the coastal village of Kommetjie, South Africa.
With a degree in Architectural Studies, her affinity for sculpting with light soon led her to pick up the camera. As a mother of four, photography became a means of documenting and preserving her own stories. Swanepoel’s work is an introspective exploration of social issues, personal identity, and domesticity in South Africa. Through her works, she explores the concepts of memory. The work has a tone of melancholy: “this too shall pass” a prolific notion fed to women experiencing the difficulties of mothering. The photographs are made using both digital and analogue photography.
Swanepoel has exhibited her photographs in various group shows, including the 2023 Portrait Show, hosted by Through The Lens Collective, as well in the group exhibition, ‘The Wildest Most Beautiful Ugly’, hosted by Too Tired Project, Open Studio Kommetjie, 2023 and the 2024 August House Salon Show.
Odette Howell
Odette has been exploring the world through a lens since she was 10 years old, yet she only started calling herself a photographer in the last two years. She completed a National Diploma in Photography at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in 1998. She proceeded to work in the Photographic Industry as Studio Assistant at the Worx in London and was inspired by the likes of Anton Corbijn, Corinne Day and Nick Knight. On return to Cape Town, she spent some time at ORMS, she assisted photographers, she did a stint in the film industry, she produced stills shoots, she was a creative representative and found a very happy place as Picture Editor for SARIE, SHAPE and OPRAH magazines from 2007 until 2013, when she became a mother.
Without the pressure of deadlines she started creating, she rediscovered her love for photography, especially medium format film and is enjoying the process of creating visual stories.
Sophie Smith
Sophie is a documentary lifestyle photographer living and working in the Eastern Cape in South Africa. Her expertise lies in crafting narratives that seamlessly blend storytelling with artistic expression, capturing profound shared connections between people and the environment.
Deeply rooted in her awe of nature, Sophie’s artistic vision is enriched by her connection with the natural world. Drawing inspiration from the landscapes that surround her and the transformative years spent raising her young children, she possesses a unique ability to uncover the sublime within the ordinary. Her photographic compositions eschew the constraints of conventional styling and technical precision, instead focusing on evoking an emotional response.
Sophie’s journey as a photographer mirrors her personal evolution, as she embarked on a path of introspection and healing while documenting the tender moments of her children’s lives. This introspection has fuelled her fascination with the intricate dynamics between women, children, and nature, particularly the healing properties of water. Through her lens, she endeavours to capture not just images, but the essence of human connection and the healing embrace of the natural world.
Metche Jaafar
Metche Jaafar, is an artist from Khartoum whose journey began as a self-taught photographer. Inspired by Sudanese folklore and culture, she blends architecture, photography, and storytelling.
Her artistic evolution is shaped by a passion for learning and experimentation. Drawing on a background in architecture and photojournalism, Metche explores themes of History, Traditions, and Folklore. reflecting her experiences as a woman and mother.
Through storytelling and Folk motifs, Metche addresses social and political issues with sensitivity. Her work continues to evolve, challenging norms and inviting viewers to connect and reflect. Metche Jaafar's art celebrates cultural diversity and the transformative impact of visual narratives
Hickmatu Leigh
Hickmatu Leigh is a dedicated public health professional and talented photographer from Freetown, Sierra Leone with a passion for storytelling and raising awareness. She is equipped to merge her expertise in public health with her artistic abilities to craft compelling visual narratives that resonate with audiences and drive positive change.
Bonolo Tlholoe
Bonolo Tlholoe (1995) born in a township called Mabopane situated in the north of Pretoria (Tshwane) ,Gauteng.
I am a Fashion Designer, Stylist, Model and self-taught photographer.
My interest in Design started from upcycling and transforming materials into own goods with friends from a young age, experimenting with hay, clay and sticks to build our own
shelter.
Kesaobaka Sephoti
Kesaobaka Sephoti is a 21-year-old photographer, filmmaker and director from Johannesburg. The majority of his childhood was spent being raised by his mother Karabo Sephoti, enclosed by walls appropriate for a middle-class family, located in the south of Johannesburg, Alberton. He completed his first degree in
Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Psychology and Philosophy, at Rhodes University. The next chapter of his life involves following his true desires of becoming a filmmaker and his studies at AFDA where he pursues a Bachelor of Arts in Motion Picture are a step in the right direction. For
Kesaobaka, having been a photographer for most of his life, filmmaking seemed an appropriate next step, a more challenging medium for self expression. Throughout his childhood, he was drawn to imagery— portraiture, landscape, scenes from movies and documentaries that replayed in his mind. He was already a
visionary, he just need to find a means to channel this brilliance. A camera teaches an individual to see the world without one and he became the camera. An artist at heart, photography was his primary means of self-expression and the camera was his tool.
Aya Sinada
Embracing diverse art media, my current focus is on photography. My style revolves around everyday life, documentary work, realism with a touch of nostalgia, centered on cityscapes. My education as an architect initially steered me towards cityscapes. However, this background uniquely developed my eye for capturing the essence of communities and telling their stories. My art is currently dedicated to documenting my journey from Khartoum to the Northern State. An upcoming project, aims to shed life on how nature mould life on an island of Dagarti, exploring sustainability and the threats posed by slight climatic changes.
