Ogorogile Nong (b.1999) is a South African Visual Artist from Protea Glen located North of Lenasia and west of Soweto. In 2020 Nong completed his Foundation Course at the Market Photo Workshop and continued on to complete the Intermediate Course during the year 2021. He was part of the student development program for Canon Europe in (2021). Nong became one of the students selected at MPW to work on the reebok love and equality campaign in October 2021 and later that year was featured in the Through the Lens collective annual portrait show in November (2021). Nong has completed his advanced photography course at ThroughtheLens collective(2022) where he has developed his body of work centered around global warming and its effects not only on himself but on people as well.

Nong was also Part of “The Nature Of Photography” group exhibition that took place early (2022) at ThroughtheLenscollective. Later in the year 2022 he was one of the participants selected to take part in the (EU) European Union Notions for home, Identity and belonging mentorship that took place for four months working alongside other artists to develop work centered around the theme of xenophobia. In the early month of January 2023, he was selected by Lenscratch for the favorite photo of the 2022 online exhibition. In March (2023) he got the opportunity to be part of the Eco-Cultural Justice project at constitutional hill consisting of intensive creative entrepreneurship and biodiversity workshops - the project resulted in a collaborative mural for the renovation of the Transwerke studios front wall. Approaching mid April 2023 an exhibition took place at the Javett Art Centre in the University of Pretoria, as a result of the Notions of home, identity and belonging mentorship funded by the European Union, getting the chance to be part of a group exhibit, showcasing work he created in the process of the mentorship speaking to this idea of ‘othering’ whilst addressing some of his own perceptions and misconceptions around identity and belonging.

Heat

This body of work is of a researcher but first and foremost an individual who is hoping to understand this state of out-of-balancedness that is taking place , which is caused by this intense heat we call, ‘ Global Warming’ but which somehow traces back to human existence
and our contribution to nature. Humans/ Human existence is consuming our own landscape by choosing to remain oblivious about our collective role in destroying the earth. Therefore I am not only questioning other humans but myself as well, about the disconnect that is taking place, causing a burning appetite for consuming all that is around us.
This work serves as a confrontation, and my role would be that of an advocate asking very serious existential questions through this visual documentation. Being a present individual in this context has provided an assistance in being able to observe my surroundings fully , looking and seeing things for what they are, and recording a reality that often seems far-fetched but a land that is on the verge of disperse.

A combination of still lives and landscapes allowed me the opportunity to map out a route to find, learn and hopefully understand this out
of balancedness and these rising temperatures that I’m experiencing, with the intention understand what global warming really is and to educate about the destruction that is currently taking place. Learning about how the world is changing in an effort to make sense of my
surroundings has raised an awareness in myself as an individual, a sort of sixth sense that allows me to remain aware of my role in this burning society.

Below is a  a selection of his work Heat.