Vice Style

Yeoville streetscene by Thapelo Motsumi

The Umuzi Photo Club shoot was photographed by the pupils of the club, residents aged between 17 and 20, from some of the toughest neighborhoods in all of South Africa.

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Photo by Joao Nzina

JOAO NZINA, 18

Vice: How did you get involved in the photography school?
Joao Nzina: I was chosen by the teachers from my school out of all the 10th and 11th grade classes.

What do your friends and family think of photography and you learning to become a photographer?
My family doesn't say much but my friends think it's a great opportunity.  

What do you think about fashion?
I love fashion, and I like to consider myself as a fashionable person.

What, for you, is the role of fashion/photography?
With fashion I'm trying to make people look smart or presentable, and with photography to say a million words in one picture. 

What were you trying to say with these images?
To show fashion in a different form.


Diepsloot by Thapelo Motsumi

Diepsloot by Thapelo Motsumi

KGAUGELO "CAPTAIN" MABJWE, 17 - DIEPSLOOT

Vice: How did you get involved in the photography school?
Kgaugelo "Captain" Mabjwe: Umuzi came to my school and our principal picked some of us to participate in their workshops.

What do your friends and family think of photography as a profession?
My father used to be a photographer, I have his old film camera and tripod, so my family thinks that this is a good opportunity for me. My mother likes that I am involved in Umuzi as it keeps me busy and out of trouble. I'm learning a skill and my mother hopes this will be a future for me.

What do you think about fashion?
I don't think that I thought much about it before the shoot, though a lot of people in my community are big into what they wear and getting their hair done. There are many, many hair places in Diepsloot.

What fashion and photography magazines and media do you get to see?
In the township, not many, so to do this project was like starting new. I've looked at some magazines with Dave and Andrew in Umuzi but I'm not sure what they were called.

Whose photography do you like?
I like the photography of my fellow Umuzi students, Thapelo and Joao, and also the school's founder, David Dini. When Mr. Alf Khumalo came to speak to us at our school during an Umuzi workshop, he brought all of his books and his photos were amazing.

What for you is the role of fashion or photography?
I think fashion lets a person show who they are a little bit. Photography is how I express myself as a person. It must be the same for other people.

What where you trying to say with your images?
I was just trying to capture the person really - to show who they are, nevermind what they were wearing. Hope that is OK.

What do you think photography should be?
Same as what I said before - it should let you show who you are, to share your point of view with other people.

Is there a particularly South African take on things?
I'm not sure. Photography here is mostly what's going on in the news.

Johannesburg central business district by Joao Nzina

STREET STYLE

19-year-old student, Richard Phiri in Hillbrow, by Joao Nzina

18-year-old student, Wonder Miotha in Diepsloot, by Kgaugelo Mabjwe

21-year-old panel beater, Timithy Ziligone, in Berea by Joao Nzina

18-year-old student, Percy Persley in Berea, by Joao Nzina

37-year-old fabric salesman, Mr Kazeem, in Yeoville, by Thapelo Motsumi

THAPELO MOTSUMI, 20 - YEOVILLE, JOHANNESBURG.

Vice: What do your friends and family think of photography and learning to become a photographer?
Thapelo Motsumi: They think it'll help me become someone in life.

What do you think about fashion?
I sincerely believe that fashion is for people that think ahead about clothing, and people that employ imagination to produce different styles.

What fashion and photography magazines and media do you get to see?
True Love, Marie Claire and You.

Whose photography do you like?
Kim Ludbrook.

What where you trying to say with your images?
My main character traits are tenacity and optimism, so I like portraying that in my photographs. And to show African people in beautiful clothing. 

What do you think photography should be?
Photography should be a tool or a way to express yourself, something that will speak for you even when words are nowhere to be found.

Is there a particularly South African take on things?
Photography in fashion is new to me. Photography in South Africa is documentary, photojournalism.

Photo by Thalapo Motsumi

INTERVIEWS: STACEY CLARK

TAGGED: Umuzi