Born in 1977, Nontsikelelo Veleko lives and works in Johannesburg. She is a highly original photographer and project manager/co-coordinator at the Market Photo Workshop, where she previously trained in the art of photography. In the last couple of years, Lolo has been gathering a great deal of attention with her striking work entitled Beauty is in the eyes of a beholder. She was a nominee and finalist of the MTN New Contemporary Artists in 2003 and has since been participating in important local and international exhibitions. Already this year, her photographs were exhibited in the landmark exhibition Snap Judgements : New Positions in Contemporary African Photography at the International Center of Photography in New York and in Personae Scenarios-the new African Photography, Brancolini Grimaldi Arte Contemporanea in Rome. Also recently she was participating in well publicized shows like Click at the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg, or Unsettled, 8 South African photographers in Denmark, Sweden and South Africa, as well as other exhibitions and projects in Switzerland, the United States and of course at home.

Nontsikelelo Veleko

Born in 1977. Lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa

Selected exhibitions

2008

101 Tokyo, International Contemporary Art Fair, Afronova Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2007

I am not afraid, Camera Austria 100th issue celebration, Kunsthaus, Graz, Austria

Not so Black and White, Kyle Kauffman Gallery, New York, USA

Dans la ville et au-delà, 7th African Photography Biennale, Bamako, Mali

Zeitgenossiche Fotokunst aus Sud Afrika, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Bochum, Germany

Désirrealités, Espace 1789, Paris, France

Afronism, Afronova Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

Apartheid : local racism, global apartheid, CCCP, Barcelona, Spain

Mute ! Scream ! Mute !, solo exhibition, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

Photoana, Indian Ocean Photo Encounters, Antananarivo, Madagascar

Self -Portrait, CAPE ’07, Lookout Hill Gallery and Spier Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

Fashion : Nontsikelelo Veleko & Seydou Keita, Danziger Projects, New York, USA

Reality Check : Zeitgenössische Fotokunst aus Südafrika, NBK Neuer Berliner Kunstverein Berlin, Germany

2006

Women : Photography and New Media Imaging Self and Body through Portraiture, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

International contemporary photography : the living is easy, Flowers East Gallery, London, UK

Bieler Fototage : Physiognomie, Museum Schwabe, Biel, Switzerland

Freestyle : Sanlam Fashion Week, Afronova Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

Second to None, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

Snap Judgments : New Positions in Contemporary African Photography, ICP International Centre of Photography, New York, USA

Olvida Quien Soy : erase me from who I am, Centro Atlantico De Arte Mordeno, Spain

Personae and Scenarios : the new African photography, Brancolini Grimaldi Arte Contemporanea Roma, Italia

2005

Next Wave : Commonwealth games New Wave Festival, Melbourne, Australia

CLICK, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa Unsettled- 8 South African Photographers, The National Museum of Photography, Copenhagen, Denmark

Negotiated identities- Black Bodies, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

2004

Is everybody comfortable, Fortoleza, Maputo, Mozambique

Urban Life : Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder, Jahnitos, Maputo, Mozambique

The ones on top wont make it Stop !, Cine Africa, Maputo, Mozambique

Is everybody comfortable, Bensusan Museum of Photography, Johannesburg, South Africa

Min (e) dfields, Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz/Basel, Switzerland

Lo-mo-graphy, PhotoZA, Johannesburg, South Africa

Urban life, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

Sondela : A Decade of Democracy : Witnessing South, Museum of the National Centre of Afro-American Artists in Boston, USA

2003

Fragments of the city, Bensusan Museum of Photography, Johannesburg, South Africa

MTN New Contemporaries 2003 -www.notblackenough.lolo-, Bensusan Museum of Photography, Johannesburg, South Africa

The ones on top wont make it Stop !, Playtime Festival, Bensusan Museum of Photography, Johannesburg, South Africa

2002

SHARP, Market photography Workshop, Johannesburg, South Africa

2001

MOVE, Market Photography Workshop, Johannesburg, South Africa

2000

Joubert Park Public Art Project, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

SEEN, Spark ! Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa