Nontsikelelo veleko biography

Early life and education.
Biography.
Nontsikelelo "Lolo" Veleko is a South African photographer most noted for her depiction of black identity, urbanisation and fashion in post-apartheid South Africa.

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Known for her sustained affiliation with the Market Photo Workshop, a Johannesburg-based institution founded by David Goldblatt in 1989, Nontsikelelo "Lolo" Veleko has risen to prominence over the past decade by virtue of her formal command of color and gesture, as well as her ecstatic engagement with the rapidly evolving vernacular of post-apartheid street- and subcultures of Johannesburg. In its earliest years, Goldblatt's Market Photo Workshop was committed to a program of democratic vision: practical and technical aspects of the photographic practice were taught and learned through the vocabulary of social documentary photography. Veleko's practice has clearly carried along this legacy of principled representation, yet signals a vibrant new generation of contemporary photographers, artists, musicians, and designers, all collectively engaged with accounting for the proliferation of hybrid identities, postures, positions, and constructions that elude otherwise straightforward classification. At a practical level, this means that Veleko's photographic eye has tracked graffiti art

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20Q: Nontsikelelo Veleko

Nontsikelelo, or Lolo, Veleko was born in the North West Province in 1977. She trained at the Market Photo Workshop from 1999 to 2004. She first came under the spotlight in 2003 when she was nominated for a MTN New Contemporaries award. Since then she has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions, contributed to various publications and raked in some coveted awards.Veleko ’s work has often examined the question around black identities. She describes her style as “totally urban” but still simple and easy to identify with.Veleko also recently became a mom for the first time.

1. Do you have a creative muse? Still looking for one!

2. Do you recycle? Yes, mostly vegetables and fruits so I can make compost for new plants or foods I plant in the garden or in pots at home. This is something passed on to me by my grandparents and I continue this tradition.

3. Describe the best moment of your life? There are too many to mention but it is the birth of my son recently.

4. Where is your favourite pla

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Nontsikelelo Veleko was born in 1977 in Bodibe, South Africa, and lives and works in Johannesburg. She was brought up in Cape Town and studied photography between 1999 and 2003 at the Market Photo Workshop in Newtown precinct in Johannesburg, an initiative co-founded by veteran photographer David Goldblatt.

Nontsikelelo Veleko

In the last couple of years Veleko has been attracting a great deal of attention with her striking work entitled Beauty is in the Eyes of the Beholder, a depiction of South African street style. Defying the clichés of what life can be like in South Africa, Veleko captures young people dressed in unique outfits, often with handmade elements.

Nontsikelelo Veleko

Focusing on issues of the identity, she examines how people present themselves to the outside world and thus construct their identities. Through the use of fashion and clothing Veleko questions perceived notions of beauty. She focuses her lens on those around her, but at times she also turns the lens towards herself, posing both in guises of various identities and representing herself in self-p