Picturing the future with care and collaboration

At a three-day gathering in Johannesburg, the Black Women in Photography Conference centres their voices, struggles and legacies

- Lesego Chepape

When I first heard that the Muholi Art Institute, an institute founded by renowned photographer Zanele Muholi, in partnership with The Market Photo Workshop and the Ruth Motau Photo Mentorship, would be hosting the Black Women in Photography (BWP) Conference, I knew it would be something more than an event.

Scheduled for 21-23 August at The Market Square in Newtown, Johannesburg, this gathering feels like a reckoning, a homecoming and a declaration all at once.

At its heart lies an isiZulu proverb: izandla ziyagezana, “the hands wash each other”.

It is an ethic of reciprocity, of care, of collective responsibility. In an industry that too often isolates artists and pits them against each other for survival, this principle carries a radical charge. It says: “We rise together.”

For Lufuno Ramadwa, producer at the Muholi Art Institute, this spirit is more than metaphor; it is practice.

“For me, izandla ziyagezana is a reminder that we rise by lifting each other. The industry often makes us feel like we have to compete for crumbs but I believe there is more than enough light to go around.

“Sharing resources, knowledge and opportunities makes this work more nourishing because when one of us grows, the whole community grows.”

Her words echo the conference's intention: to create a nourishing ecosystem for black women photographers.

Under the visionary leadership of Zanele Muholi, a globally acclaimed artist, activist and Market Photo Workshop alumna, the BWP Conference will centre the voices of black women, while demanding structural change in the field of South African photography.

It is no small task. For decades, the images, stories and legacies of black women photographers have been erased, undervalued or appropriated.

The conference insists that this erasure must end and that the future of photography must be written differently — through care, through collaboration, through unapologetic visibility.