# Sabelo Mlangeni

Sabelo Mlangeni (born 22 February 1980) is a South African photographer living and working in Johannesburg, South Africa. His work is held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Walther Collection. Mlangeni’s photography is focused on depictions of communities, almost all of his work is done in black and white. He often spends extended time with his subjects in order to portray them more authentically. Mlangeni often portrays Black gay men in South Africa in private and public personas, his show Country Girls (2009) is one example. Though Mlangeni produced many works in Johannesburg, South Africa, he has worked globally. He has created works and had exhibitions in many countries including the United States of America, the Netherlands, and other African countries including Mali and Nigeria.

## Biography

Sabelo Mlangeni was born in 1980 in Driefontein, a village near Wakkerstroom in Mpumalanga, South Africa. Mlangeni’s career began with his education in photography through the Market Photo Workshop beginning in 2001 and graduating in 2004.

## Publications

* Sabelo Mlangeni: Umlindelo wamaKholwa. Johannesburg: Wits Art Museum, 2018. ISBN 978-0-620-79786-3.

## Exhibitions
### Solo exhibitions

* 2006 Invisible Women, Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg, South Africa
* 2007 Invisible Women, Warren Siebrits Modern and Contemporary Art, Johannesburg, South Africa
* 2010 This is Our Time, Brodie/Stevenson, Johannesburg, South Africa
* 2010 Men Only/At Home, Brodie/Stevenson, Johannesburg, South Africa
* 2011 Ghost Towns, Stevenson, Cape Town, South Africa
* 2012 Country Girls, Aceberg Projects, Chicago, USA
* 2012 Black Men in Dress and Iimbali, Stevenson, Johannesburg, South Africa
* 2015 No Problem, Stevenson, Cape Town, South Africa
* 2016 Heartbreaker, artSPACE, Auckland, New Zealand
* 2017 Kholwa: The Longing of Belonging, Museum of Archeology, Cambridge, UK
* 2018 Invisible Women, Memorial Dr. Antonio Agostinho Neto, Luanda, Angola
* 2018 Umlindelo wamaKholwa, Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg, South Africa
* 2020 The Royal House of Allure, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
* 2023 Imvuselelo: The Revival, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford
* 2023 Ngiyabona Phambli, Institute of Ideas & Imagination, Paris

### Group exhibitions

* 2008 Look Away, South African Photography Today, Kuckei+Kuckei, Berlin, Germany
* 2010 I am not afraid, The Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg Art Gallery, South Africa
* 2010 Afropolis: City, Media, Art, Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Cologne, Germany
* 2010 Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, Nigeria
* 2011 Possible Cities: Africa in photography and video, Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, Haverford College, Pennsylvania, USA
* 2011 Figures and Fictions: Contemporary South African Photography, V&A Museum, London, UK
* 2011 Appropriated Landscapes, Walther Collection, Neu-Ulm, Germany
* 2011 Lagos Photo Festival, Nigeria
* 2011 9th Rencontres de Bamako African Photography Biennale, Mali
* 2012 Centre photographie de la de Franse, Paris, France
* 2012 Recontres Picha Biennale de Lumbumbashi (Lubumbashi Biennale), DRC
* 2013 The Unexpected Guest, Liverpool Biennale exhibition, Liverpool, UK
* 2013 Present Tense, Calouse Gulbenkian French Delegation, Paris, France
* 2013 Present Tense, Calouse Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal
* 2013 Distance and desire: Encounters with African Archive, Walther Collection, Neu Ulm, Germany
* 2013 Rise and Fall of Apartheid: Photography and the Bureaucracy of Everyday Life, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
* 2014 Apartheid and After at Huis Marseille, Amsterdam, Netherlands
* 2014 Public Intimacy: Art and Social Life in South Africa at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, USA
* 2015 Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany; Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain
* 2015 Rise and Fall of Apartheid: Photography and the Bureaucracy of Everyday Life, Museum Africa, Johannesburg
* 2016 SEX, Stevenson, Johannesburg
* 2016 Close to Home: New Photography from Africa, The Walther Collection Project Space, New York
* 2017 Urban Cadence: Street Scenes from Lagos and Johannesburg, Gund Gallery, Ohio
* 2017 Recent Histories – New African Photography and Video Art, Walther Collection, Neu-Ulm, Germany
* 2018 Tell Freedom. 15 African artists, Kunsthal KAde, Amersfoort, Netherlands
* 2018 Invisible Women at Memorial Dr. Antonio Agostinho Neto, Luanda, Angola
* 2018 About Whose Land Have I Lit On Now? At Savvy Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
* 2018 Africa State of Mind, curated by Ekow Eshun, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK
* 2018 Both, And, Stevenson, Cape Town, South Africa
* 2018 Hacer Noche (Crossing Night), Centro Cultural Santo Domingo, Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico
* 2018 open agenda, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
* 2018 Recent Histories – New African Photography and Video Art from the Walther Collection, Huis Marseille, Amsterdam
* 2019 Mating Birds Vol.2, KZNSA Gallery, Durban, South Africa
* 2019 Crossing Night: Regional Identities x Global Context, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, USA
* 2019 The Way She Looks: A History of Female Gazes in African Portraiture, Ryerson Image Centre, Toronto, USA
* 2019 How to Build a Lagoon with Just a Bottle of Wine?, Lagos Biennial II, Àkéte Art Foundation, Lagos, Nigeria
* 2019 the head the hand, blank projects, Cape Town, South Africa
* 2019 Ngoma: Art and Cosmology, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
* 2024 Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere, Arsenale, Venice, Italy

## Residencies

* 2010 Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, Nigeria
* 2012 The Center Photographique d'Ile-de-France, Paris, France
* 2013 Berlin Fellowship, Akademie der Kunste, Berlin, Germany
* 2014 Akademie of art Vienna, Vienna, Austria
* 2015 Afrovibes, Amsterdam, Netherlands
* 2016 Diep, Haven, Arques la bataille, Normandy, France
* 2017 Walther Collection, Neu-Ulm, Germany
* 2017 Centre de Art Waza, Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo
* 2018 Ses Ditze Naus, Ibiza, Spain
* 2018 A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa

## Collections

Mlangeni's work is held in the following public and institutional collections:
* Tate Modern, London, UK
* San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
* Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
* Walther Collection, Neu-Ulm, Germany
* Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
* KADIST, Paris, France
* Sasol, Johannesburg, South Africa