The everyday waiting comprises a selection of photographs taken by emerging South African photographer Jabulani Dhlamini during the past four months of national lockdown in South Africa.
This photographic essay extends on the emerging photographer’s characteristically contemplative approach to documentary photography, looking at the psychological impact of COVID-19 on South Africans living in confined spaces in the photographer's community, Soweto.
For Dhlamini "Shooting my surroundings at this time led me to understand that this pandemic is starkly highlighting entrenched social and economic problems. After 25 years, what has changed in South Africa’s townships and rural areas? Not enough.”
In 2018, Dhlamini was selected by the Financial Times to document his life for 24 hours for The millennials series, which coincided with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s funeral. Rather than shoot the national memorial event held at the Orlando stadium, Dhlamini focused on informal street-gatherings surrounding the stadium in Soweto. “When everyone is running towards a certain event, we lose some of the meaningful narratives,” he explains.
Dhlamini’s approach, avoiding the major events and focusing on more subtle displays of human experience and interaction, is reminiscent of that of his predecessor David Goldblatt who mentored Dhlamini. For the young photographer, this was a crucial relationship: “getting to know him [David Goldblatt] personally was a turning point in my practice, as the relationship nurtured my understanding of photography like no other”.
Artworks
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Artist Bio
Jabulani Dhlamini (b. 1983, Warden, South Africa) is a documentary photographer whose practice reflects on his upbringing in the post-apartheid era alongside the experiences of local South African communities. Dhlamini’s meditative approach to photography encourages a closer look at what lies on the edges through an exploration of personal and collective memory.
Dhlamini’s most celebrated bodies of work have focused on key moments in South African history, such as 'Recaptured' which looks at cross-generational recollections of the Sharpeville Massacre, 'Isisekelo' which documents the familial impact of land dispossession, and 'iQhawekazi,' which mapped the shifting legacy of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela at the time of her death in 2018.
Solo exhibitions include: 'Casa/iKhaya Lami,' Mitre Gallery, Brazil (2023); 'Isisekelo,' Goodman Gallery Johannesburg (2019); 'Recaptured,' Goodman Gallery Cape Town (2016); 'uMama,' Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg (2012).
Group exhibitions include: 'Inganekwane,' North West University Gallery, South Africa (2022); 'iHubo – Whispers,' PhotoSaintGermain festival, France (2022); 'Side to Side Johannesburg,' La Permanence Photographique, France (2022); 'A Different Now is Close Enough to Exhale on You,' Umhlabathi Collective Gallery, South Africa (2022); 'Five Photographers. A tribute to David Goldblatt,' Gerard Sekoto Gallery, French Institute of South Africa and the Alliance Française of Johannesburg.
Dhlamini is an alumni fellow of the Edward Ruiz Mentorship programme and the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg.
Dhlamini lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa.
