Nthateng creates beauty through her lens
As a creative photographer, Nthateng always wanted her photographs to speak to people or be thought provoking.
POLOKWANE – Nthateng Sethemane’s thought-provoking artwork is gaining international recognition.
The 31-year-old will have one of her pieces exhibited at the Ardhi Gallery in Kenya as part of an exhibition named ‘Ubuntu In Focus’ which focuses on celebrating unity and the resilience of African communities.
The exhibition will take place from February 3 to 29.
“I never thought it would happen anytime soon, so it feels surreal but I believe it is a wonderful opportunity to showcase my work outside of South Africa. It is a blissful moment and I am happy to have been chosen to be part of the group exhibition,” she said.
With a creative eye, her love for photography developed while she was still in college where she studied journalism, which included photo journalism.
In 2018, she worked as a photographer for a communications company in Johannesburg, before going solo with Plaka Media where she challenged herself to not be typical in her photography.
“I learned to be a diverse photographer. As a creative photographer, I’ve always wanted my photographs to speak to people or be thought provoking and also with my journalistic skills, it made sense to also tell stories through my work.”
Also making big moves locally, she is the first black female to exhibit at the Hugh Exton Photographic Museum since 1986.
She currently has her first solo exhibition showing at the Hugh Exton Photographic Museum in the city.
The photography exhibition, ‘Black like Me’ was curated by Amos Letsoalo and she worked with her brother Moraka Sethemane on the project.
“The relevance of ‘Black like Me’ is to show the beauty of dark skinned individuals within the world community. It seeks to challenge the colonial narrative that promoted white skin from European descent as something of desire to the extent that our African sisters and brothers bleach their skin to look light or have fair skin. One of the legacies of Apartheid and Colonialism in our society is the discrimination against a dark skin and the perceived fallacy that projects or presents whiteness as something that is associated with beauty. ‘Black like Me’ emphasises the term that says ‘Black is Beautiful’ and redefines art and natural beauty through photography,” she said.
She said she has always wanted to showcase her work where she comes from, and the opportunity was presented to her by Business and Arts South Africa and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture under the Debut Alumni Accelerator Programme. Her sponsors include the Polokwane Municipality.
Go see her work on Instagram and Facebook, PLAKA Media. She can be reached at 068 240 2538.
