Antonia Steyn

Antonia graduated from the University of Cape Town on the Dean’s merit list in 2000 and began working to establish herself in photography. Her ability to capture mood and movement has earned her a reputation for being an inimitable talent in the industry. The consistently unique, and unapologetically bold tone of Antonia’s work has led to commissions by some major global brands. With a background in portrait photography, Steyn has shot a range of athletes from Rafael Nadal and Eliud Kipchoge to Caster Semenya as well as SA icons like Antjie Krog, Pieter Dirk Uys and Eugene Terre Blanche.

Ahmed Khirelsid

Ahmed Khirelsid (born 2001 in Omdurman, Sudan) is a photographer and visual storyteller. His passion for photography began in 2019 during the Sudanese revolution. In 2024, he received the Contemporary African Photography (CAP) Prize and the Daniele Tamagni Grant. His work has been exhibited in Khartoum, Hamburg, Johannesburg, and Dublin. 

Nadia Ettwein

 Nadia Ettwein (b.1984) is a contemporary lens-based artistbased in Cape Town, South Africa.  

With a degree in Information science, her work extended into photography by means of creating and preserving her own stories. Nadia’s work is an introspective exploration of social issues, personal identity, and domesticity in South Africa. Through her works, she authors and witness individuality and diversity of womanhood.

Nadia has recently been named as a CAP 2023 winner and shortlisted for PhMuseum 2023 Woman Photographers grant. She was also a finalist for the 2023 Gomma Photography grant. Her work has been exhibited as part of the group exhibition 'Shutterland' by Lizamore and Associates in Johannesburg as well as a collective exhibition,‘(IM)Materiality’ by Notamuseum in Lisbon. She has also been featured in a group exhibition ‘Everything, Everyone, Always’ by Through the lens collective.

She resonates with the complexities of the human experience, reflecting on her own identity and abuse. Nadia continues to work on projects in analogue, digital and printed mediums. 

She is a Through The Lens Collective mentee.

Sharday Swanepoel

Sharday Swanepoel (b.1986) is a lens-based artist living in 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 childhood memory and paracosmos. 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 as 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.

Maingaila Muvundika

Maingaila Muvundika (b.1999) is a Zambian visual artist and photographer whose work explores how different demographic elements of a community inform how people interact and navigate within the wider community. Through costuming and the production of sets, Maingaila produces staged photographs that are deeply personal and observant. His practice probes aspects of individuality, fashion, beauty standards, spirituality and belonging as a discovery into how identity and sense of self is shaped. Growing up, Maingaila was always fascinated with his family’s photo album. This is where his fascination with the medium began. In his teens, he started an Instagram account that became a repository of many photographs of his immediate surroundings and observations, from foggy mornings on his way to school or plant matter in his home. As his practice developed, he began to incorporate his love for fashion and editorials with self portraiture which he is now known for. While pursuing a Banking and Finance degree at Mulungushi University, he turned the camera on his friends. Deeping his practice to not only encompass fashion and self-portraiture but to also investigate different sociological issues of class, familial structures and the establishment with a focus on how the shape who we become and when we become. In recent years, his practice has expanded to printmaking and collage further exploring his dissection of what it means to be.

Ebunoluwa Akinbo

"Ebunoluwa Akinbo is a Nigerian visual artist residing in Canada. She combines her background in Sociology with her education in Fine Arts in exploring the themes of memory, identity, and migration in her evolving practice. She uses the camera as her primary tool in communicating these themes in a figurative and abstract form to captivate her audience, by constantly unraveling the literality and non-literality of photography in her work through performance (self-portraiture) and documentary.
Akinbo has worked on both commissioned and personal projects, exhibited locally and internationally, and received awards and grants. Her work has been collected by institutions and private collectors. One of her recent works, “Bedsheet Memories”, was developed during the 2024 Plug In Summer Institute residency in Winnipeg. She also presented her work, “Archive of Semblance for Remembrance”, at the 2024 Nuit Blanche Toronto. Akinbo is the 2023 recipient of the Narwhal BIPOC Fellowship Grant in Canada, through which she developed a body of work titled “Winnipeg’s Secondhand Fashion”, published in 2024 in The Narwhal and the Winnipeg Free Press."

Stefanie Langenhoven 

Stefanie studied at the National College of Photography in Pretoria, where she graduated with a joint best portfolio award, (2004). After her studies, she started a commercial photography studio and was represented by Shine Photographers Johannesburg. In 2008, Stefanie moved to the UK where she studied for a diploma in Transpersonal Integrative Psychotherapy at the Centre for Counseling and Psychotherapy Education in London, (2009 – 2013). In June 2015 Stefanie returned to South Africa. She has been a full-time artist since 2015. In 2022 she was awarded as one of the winners of The British Journal of Photography’s Female in focus awards. In 2023 she was awarded as a finalist in the Lensculture Black and White awards, and became a winner in the Lensculture Art photography awards 2024. Recently she has also been shortlisted for British Journal of Photography Portrait of Humanity Vol 6, and BBA Prizes, her shortlisted series will be exhibited at BBA Gallery, Berlin. Her work has been Published in the book Eye Mama: Poetic Truths of Home and Motherhood by Karni Arieli (foreword by Allesia Glaviano) and featured in: The Guardian; British Journal of Photography: Brenda Magazine; Hashtagphotomag; Unvael Journal; Oath Journal; Korper Magazine; Accumen Magazine; FotoFemme United etc. She has been exhibited all around South Africa as well as in London, UK; Paris, France; Uslan, South Korea; Miami, and in New York, USA.

Teresa Menka

Teresa Menka is a Ghanaian documentary photographer known for her contemplative approach to capturing everyday life in Ghana. Her thoughtful works show a deep engagement with her surroundings, often focusing on quiet nuanced moments that highlight the rhythms of daily life.
Recent group exhibition featuring her works include Mémoires Et Permanences in Ghana(2024) and France (2023); Memory and Amnesia: In the Presence of Absent Future, part of the KNUST MFA Thesis Exhibition in Ghana(2017); and Collective Thinking ,part of the Invisible Borders Exhibition at Aperture in New York(2017). 
She is a member of the African Women in Photography and the World Press african Photojournalism database.

Hashim Nasr

Hashim Nasr (b.1990, Khartoum, Sudan) is a self-taught Sudanese visual artist whose work explores themes of heritage, identity, and childhood memories through surreal, avant-garde photography. His imagery delves into the subconscious, creating unconventional visuals that challenge traditional narratives. Currently based in Alexandria, Egypt, Nasr’s recent work reflects on the experience and consequences of living in exile.

After graduating with a degree in Dentistry, Nasr started to explore his passion to art photography , where he developed a strong surrealist and conceptual approach. Utilizing portraiture, props, and carefully chosen locations and landscapes , he crafts scenes that touch on themes of identity , connection to roots and other-worldly perspectives .

Bokang Motshabi

Bokang "JPEG" Motshabi isPhotographer and artist born and bred in Bloemfontein FreeState.
Bokang's interest to photography was discovered in 2015, when they were only 16yrs old.Their work is a visual representation of who they are and what their purpose is in the world. They were a finalist for the New Breed Art Competition based in Bloemfontein and their work was amongst 51 works which were exhibited at Oliewenhuis Art Museum in theFree State.
"My work is in me for me to tell stories about myself in all aspects of myself. I use myself as a muse and not only me, but I also extend the use of my socioeconomic background to portray stories of who I am and where I am from. I do not have a definite word to describe what I do, but I do know that my work is more led by spirit than it is by the body. Today I could work on a series that's just based on me and tomorrow I could take a walk in my "Kasi" and document the lives of the people around me. That madala (old man) who sells veggies at the local corner or that little kid playing football outside his yard is not there for me to document only, but to also share their story. I speak through my art and it speaks through me"

Nonzuzo Gxekwa

Nonzuzo Gxekwa (b. 1981) is a Johannesburg based photographer. Her approach to photography favours the everyday over the spectacular; sharing interesting and intimate moments through focusing the camera on what is around her as well as herself. Whether it is through street photography or the studio, her work explores the human condition in subtle and beautiful ways. Collaboration is a crucial part of her practice, she has worked together with a number of photographers and artists in Johannesburg. She uses the camera to notice and share, actively avoiding preconception where possible. Solo Exhibitions 2020 Life is Beautiful, THK Gallery, Online Exclusive Group Exhibitions 2020 Theater Des Lebens, GAF Hannover, Germany 2019 Yenza Kwenzeke, Underline Projects, Johannesburg Point Blank: Photography and Activism, PH Centre, Cape Town 2017 Black Excellence: Overexposed or Underexposed, Soweto Art Week, Johannesburg 2016 She.Clix: The ‘Women’ Exhibition, Daville Baillie Gallery, Johannesburg, COLLABORATIONS 2017 Soul Songs: exploring themes of jazz and African spirituality, collaboration with Thokozani Mthiyane, Johannesburg 2015 Carbon Copy, collaboration with Noncedo Mathibela, Johannesburg

Caroline Sohie

Caroline Sohie is a multidisciplinary artist whose work traverses the realms of photography, architecture, and mixed media, using the medium of 'space'; as her primary entry point to explore the human condition. Her artistic practice is rooted in examining the intricate and often ambivalent relationship between people and their surroundings. Through photography, Caroline invites contemplation on themes of identity, power, and memory, juxtaposing these elements against the transient nature of existence.
Caroline is a member of the Through the Lens Collective and practices between Cape Town and London. Her work has been part of various exhibitions and was featured most recently in a group exhibition 'The Uncanny'; by Through the lens Collective at the FNB Art Fair Open City 2024 in Johannesburg

Silasse Salomone

Born in Maputo. He is a self-taught photographer. His relationship with photography begins as an extracurricular activity that over time becomes resistance and a mechanism of manifestation that begins in the photographic tours of the group of professional and amateur photographers “VÊSÓ”. For the first time, he has a work exhibited in the Núcleo da Arte gallery as one of those selected in the “Pais Com Amor” competition in (2017), and remains the winner in the photography category of the “Ponte Que Liga Vidas” competition promoted by the CCMA in ( 2018), from the democraSEE photographic narrative construction workshop in (2020) guided by John Fleetwood, participates in the CATCHUPA FACTORY artistic residency (2021) and exhibits in a collective at the KYOTOGRAPHIE KG+2021 festival, collective exhbiton THE MARKET PHOTO WORKSHOP (2024).

Kalenga (aka bonkoti) Nkonge

Kalenga (aka bonkoti) Nkonge’s images are captured digitally and during long extensive walks that he takes around Lusaka. In his current body of work the images are predominantly taken in Lusaka’s markets, busy residential areas, and wherever inspiration shows itself. When he’s shooting in busy areas he likes to capture people in their element, preferring to “shoot from the hip”, allowing him to be both participant and observer of a moment. There are equally special moments on his adventures where he gets to interact with the people he meets and he’s afforded the opportunity of taking portraits. There usually isn't a predefined idea of what he will capture, which he sees as a plus in his process, as he likes to be surprised by the compositions, colours, and stories that the space will present. Kalenga’s photography work centres, as its subject, the ordinary Zambian and the everyday Zambian experience. The documentary style of his photography is mixed with equal portions of grit, humour, and colour.

Ryan Enslin

Ryan Enslin is a Pietermartizburg-born, Joburg-based photographer and travel writer. Qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in the early 2000s, he soon came to understand that storytelling flowed in his veins. A self-taught photographer, Ryan is happiest when lensing a scene that speaks to the storytelling nature of his soul.

Ryan photographs his subjects using prime lenses, preferring to physically frame the scene using the placement of his body to ensure a more detailed level of engagement with the subject. This approach delivers frames which are personal and evocative, as he translates the initial internal connection to a subject into the physical manifestation of the final photograph.

Geremew Tigabu

Geremew Tigabu is an Addis Ababa-based photographer with over nine years of experience in documentary photography. A former photojournalist at Fortune, he co-founded Stops Creative Communication and now works as a freelance photographer. His work has been exhibited internationally, including at Addis Foto Fest, Lagos Photo, and Capture Addis. Geremew is a member of the African Photojournalism Database and has earned recognition from PicFair, Canon, and the CAP Prize 2023. Featured in outlets like The Guardian, CNN, and World Press Photo, his photography captures the essence of life in Ethiopia and beyond.

Sara Weir

Sara Weir is an American film photographer, writer, professional ballerina and mother of five living and working in the high desert of Nevada. Her work explores the tension of the mother-artist observation of self through imagery and text and photography not as artifact but as a tool of insight into the present. For ten years she photographed documentary portraits; now she turns her lsens toward herself as memoir.

Mikhail Samuel

Mikhail Samuel is a South African photographer, writer, and filmmaker, whose works explore identity, memory, philosophy, representation, and space through analog media. Samuel is best known for his study of South Africa’s complex racial, gender, and cultural divisions, which he unpacks through film photography. Samuel focuses on societal observations that blur the lines between the imagined and conscious realities, and which have been brought to life in his recent film, An Ode To Youth: Joburg Nights (2021). His work has been exhibited internationally with his photography series in Information is Currency debuting in Germany at the 8th Photo Triennial alongside An Ode To Youth: Joburg Nights, which screened at SAUFF. Samuel’s contribution to film extended beyond his practice with his collaborative project, Cult Film, which saw the artist work with Troye Shannon on the establishment of a film community through a boutique film lab. Cult Film was a project that encouraged artists to experiment with analog media and provided bespoke development services in Johannesburg.