Mandebele Photo Gallery

07/10/2026

ANNOUNCEMENT✨

INTRODUCING

UBUMBANO —ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAMME

MaNdebele Photo Gallery, in collaboration with Art On Paper, is pleased to introduce Ubumbano, a four-month photography Artist-in-Residence programme dedicated to preserving and documenting histories within communities across Southern Africa through the medium of photography.

The programme focuses on everyday stories of people, communities, places and lived experiences, recognising that seemingly ordinary moments form an important part of our collective histories. Ubumbano also creates a space for continued dialogue, exchange and experimentation around image-making and photographic practice.

About the resident

Thembinkosi Hlatshwayo
Born 1993, Johannesburg, South Africa
Lives and works in Johannesburg

Thembinkosi Hlatshwayo works primarily with photography, using the image as a site through which to examine first-hand and generational trauma, violence, memory and the instability of recollection.

Drawing from the environment of his family-run tavern in Johannesburg, which has also functioned as a studio, Hlatshwayo’s practice is shaped by lived proximity to charged social spaces and the residues they hold.

Throughout his work, marking and remarking become central gestures. Images are produced, worked on by hand and rephotographed, creating layered surfaces that simultaneously reveal and obscure. Through scratching, veiling, distressing and re-imaging, Hlatshwayo creates distance between himself and the violence that informs the work, while allowing its traces to remain materially present.

These altered photographic surfaces carry the weight of multiple encounters, shaped by time, touch, space and environment. In this way, Hlatshwayo creates lived-in windows through which to consider the relationship between marked surfaces and lived experience.

We look forward to sharing this journey and the work that will emerge from this period of collaboration, exchange and creative development.

Photography: Mpho Miya

06/10/2026

Meet Lesego Rampolokeng

Lesego Rampolokeng is a poet and performer, the author since 1990 of 14 books, including eight books of poetry, a playscript, and four novels. He has collaborated with visual artists, playwrights, filmmakers, theatre and opera producers, poets and musicians. His no-holds-barred style, radical-political aesthetic and instantly recognisable voice have brought him a unique place in South African literature.

Rampolokeng won the NIHSS award for his poetry collection a half century thing, and the
UJ fiction prize for his novel Bird-Monk Seding. He has performed his poetry in several countries in Europe, as well as in the USA, Colombia and Brazil, and has shared the stage with poets Linton Kwesi Johnson, Amiri Baraka, Jayne Cortez, Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze and Mutabaruka.

On 31 October, he will be in conversation with Njabulo Zwane as part of our Intergenerational Dialogue programme.

Photography: Gopolang Khumbulani Ledwaba

05/10/2026

ARTIST TALK

Lotjhani Bekhethu! 👏🏿
You’re invited.

MaNdebele Photo Gallery invites you to an engaging Artist Talk with Lesego Rampolokeng, one of South Africa’s prominent performance poets, novelists, playwrights and filmmakers.

As part of our Intergenerational Dialogue Programme, Rampolokeng will be in conversation with Njabulo Zwane, reflecting on his extensive artistic practice and exploring the role of writing, performance and theatre as tools for contributing to South Africa’s cultural history, storytelling and the preservation of memory within the communities we serve.

With a career spanning more than three decades, Rampolokeng has consistently challenged, documented and contributed to the South African cultural landscape through his pen, voice and theatrical practice.

This conversation will explore his journey as an artist, the histories embedded within his work, and the importance of storytelling as a way of preserving memory, documenting lived experiences and making sense of our collective histories.

Guest performance:

🗓 Date: 31 October 2026
🕘 Time: 12:00 - 13:30
📍 Venue: 9737 Old Cemetery Road, Bram Fischerville, Soweto
🎟️: FREE OF CHARGE

30/09/2026

This past Saturday, MaNdebele Photo Gallery opened KWASUKA SUKELA, an exhibition celebrating storytelling within communities and bringing together artists and storytellers from across South Africa.

Working across various mediums, the exhibition explores memory, identity, lived experiences and the stories that shape our communities.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who graced our space with their presence and joined us in celebrating the artists and their work. Your support and presence mean a great deal to us.

KWASUKA SUKELA is now open and runs until 24 October 2026.

📍 MaNdebele Photo Gallery
9737 Old Cemetery Road, Bram Fischer, Soweto, Johannesburg

ENTRANCE IS FREE OF CHARGE.

🔐 Secure parking and security available on site.

Gallery Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10:00–17:00

For more information:
E: [email protected]
T: +27 (0) 10 229 0711

Installation: Eric Dube
Photography: Kgotla Shai

21/09/2026

PROGRAMME FOR THE DAY — KWASUKA SUKELA

Join us on Saturday, 26 September 2026, at MaNdebele Photo Gallery for the opening of KWASUKA SUKELA.

12/09/2026

12/09/2026

LOTJHANI! 👏🏿

Ahead of our upcoming exhibition, KWASUKA SUKELA, we are pleased to introduce the artists who will be exhibiting their work at MaNdebele Photo Gallery.

The exhibition celebrates storytelling within communities and brings together artists and storytellers from across South Africa.

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Mzwandile Buthelezi
Nonzuzo Gxekwa
Nhlavutelo Ngobeni
Ntandoyenkosi Maseko
Boitumelo Motau
Dokta Moyo
Scelo Mdladla
Hlompho Shale
Thabiso Johannes Diphoko
Russel Ngolele
Thulisile Makakola

DATE: 26 September 2026
TIME: 13:00–17:00
VENUE: MaNdebele Photo Gallery, Bram Fischerville, Soweto

ENTRANCE IS FREE OF CHARGE.

🔐 Secure parking and security available on site.

Gallery Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10:00–17:00

For more information:
E: [email protected]
T: +27 (0) 10 229 0711

30/06/2026

Moments from the opening of BREAK EVEN, held on 30 May 2026, curated by Gopolang Ledwaba.

About the exhibition

BREAK EVEN reflects on the 1994 South African general election and the promise of democracy as a new dawn. Bringing together a body of work from the late 1980s, through the transition period, and into the early years of democracy, the exhibition traces the tensions, ruptures, and aspirations that shaped this pivotal moment in our history.

Featuring works by:

• Alon Skuy
• Andrew Tshabangu
• Cedric Nunn
• Greg Marinovich
• Graeme Williams
• Gille de Vlieg
• Ruth Mutau
• Jacob Mawela
• Siphiwe Mhlambi
• Oupa Nkosi

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the opening. We appreciate your support and look forward to sharing more updates from the exhibition soon.

30/06/2026

27/05/2026

It’s been a little while, we’ve missed you, and we’d love to gather again soon.

Join us for an intimate photo book session centred around Andrew Tshabangu’s Footprints, a powerful publication spanning over 20 years of his photographic practice. In a 2017 interview with Art Africa Magazine, Tshabangu described “the streets as his studio,” a sentiment deeply reflected throughout the book.

Footprints was published alongside the exhibition of the same name, curated by Thembinkosi Goniwe.

On 28 May, we’ll gather at the Wits Jack Ginsberg Centre for Book Arts in Braamfontein for an afternoon of conversation, reflection, and shared appreciation for Footprints.

This session is presented in collaboration with MMandebele Photo Gallery and the Wits Jack Ginsberg Centre for Book Arts.

If you’re a fan of Tshabangu’s work, or if you own a copy of Footprints, we would love for you to join us.

📍 Meet at the WAM foyer
🕑 13:45 for a 14:00 start
📧 RSVP: [email protected]