Tshepiso Mabula ka Ndongeni | Johannesburg | South Africa

Ku famba hi ku bona in xiTsonga means "go and you will see" - it is a common phrase used by South Africans to express shock and surprise at the events that happen in their daily lives. This body of work seeks to reconcile the past with the present using public transport spaces as a catalyst. This body of work seeks to explore the historical silence on public transport spaces in South Africa. In a quest to recollect the unseen dry bones left by ghosts of people who lost their lives in public transport spaces because of the political violence of the time. These images reflect the silent stories of ordinary South Africans of the past and how their stories interject with South Africans today. This project explores how these historical spaces sit silently with many tales to tell and how the current inhabitants of these spaces today live to reclaim their dignity and retain the things that were taken from them by my country’s violent history. I will use documentary photography and self portraiture to convey the messages in this work by documenting the public transport spaces that were once centers of extreme violence and depict how the people currently occupying these spaces are taking ownership of them while also using self portraits to embody and celebrate the different common characters found in these spaces.

Production Credits

Participants: Acey Gracey, Obunga Guya, Joy Kioko, Syowia Kyambi, Nzilani Simu
Video Editing: Kibe Wangunyu
Filming/ Shot by : Gloria Mwivanda

about the artist

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Tshepiso Mabula ka Ndongeni

Photography

Johannesburg | South Africa

Tshepiso Mabula is a photographer and writer born in the Lephalale district of Limpopo, South Africa. Mabula’s interest in photography sparked when visiting a family member she was introduced to photographer Santu Mofokeng’s work. This Led to her studying photojournalism and documentary photography at the Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg where she became a recipient of the Tierney fellowship in 2018./ where she received the 2018 Tierney fellowship.

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