Sabelo MLANGENI (b. 1980)
Clocking Off I
2006
silverprint
edition 2/5
48 x 70 cm
Clocking Off I and III (2006) document street cleaners, moving through the dark and deserted streets of downtown Johannesburg while the rest of the city sleeps. Mlangeni spent from February to September of 2006 studying, working… Continue Reading
Clocking Off III
2006
silverprint
edition 2/5
48 x 70 cm
BIOGRAPHY
Born in Mpumalanga, Sabelo Mlangeni is a graduate of the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg. Working largely in black and white format, Mlangeni has built his practice around intimate photographs that draw out the inherent beauty in the ordinary. He is driven by his interest in notions of community and communing where a central part of his process requires him to spend significant time – weeks, months, sometimes years – with those he chooses to photograph; sharing intimately in their thoughts, feelings, stories and everyday lives. His practice is a continuous survey of the most challenging, beautiful and confounding aspects of the human experience.
Mlangeni’s seminal work includes Country Girls (2003–2009), Black Men in Dress (2011), and The Royal House of Allure (2020). Always refusing to centralise violence, all three bodies of work highlight queer individuals in states of repose, rest, or revelry. The Royal House of Allure is the name of an LGBTQI+ safe house in Lagos, Nigeria. Mlangeni communed with its residents, making images of celebratory moments as well as ordinary settings of people lounging about. In a similar manner, though located in South Africa, Country Girls and Black Men in Dress depict the elegant, defiant, sentimental aspects of queer life in places often perceived to be menacing.
Mlangeni has had numerous solo exhibitions to date, including most recently Imvuselelo: The revival at Cantor Arts Center in Stanford (2023) and Ngiyabona Phambli at the Institute of Ideas & Imagination in Paris (2023). His work has been widely exhibited both locally and internationally, including at The 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (2024), A4 Arts Foundation in Cape Town (2023), Haus der Kunst / The Walther Collection in Munich (2023), Para Site in Hong Kong (2022), Huis Marseille in Amsterdam (2022), K21 in Düsseldorf (2022), Palais de Tokyo in Paris (2021), Frestas Triennial of São Paulo (2021), Lagos Biennale (2019), Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (2019), Huis Marseille Museum of Photography (2019), Wits Art Museum (2018), Savvy Contemporary (2018), Kunsthal KAde (2018), Museum Africa (2015), Liverpool Biennale (2013), Lubumbashi Biennale (2012), Lagos Photo Festival (2011), V&A Museum (2011), Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum (2010), and Johannesburg Art Gallery (2010). Mlangeni has been awarded several prizes including the Columbia University II&I fellowship and artist residency (Paris, 2022), Africa MediaWorks Photography Prize (London, 2018), POPCAP’16 Prize for Contemporary African Photography (2016), and the Tollman Award for Visual Arts (2009).
He has also had residencies at A4 Arts Foundation (Cape Town, 2018), Centre de Art Waza (Lubumbashi, 2017), Walther Collection (Neu-Ulm, 2017), Akademie der Künste (Vienna, 2014), Akademie der Künste (Berlin, 2013) and Centre for Contemporary Art (Lagos, 2010). His work is represented in several institutional collections, including the Tate Modern, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Walther Collection, Art Institute of Chicago, KADIST, and CNAP – French national collections.