Phumzile Khanyile

Phumzile Khanyile is a Market Photo Workshop graduate originally from Soweto. She is the recipient of the 2015 Gisèle Wulfsohn Mentorship in Photography, a developmental platform and opportunity to continue activism through photography in the spirit of late South African documentary photographer Gisèle Wulfsohn. This afforded the young artist the opportunity to produce a body of work under the guidance of renowned photographer Ayana V. Jackson.

What followed was Plastic Crowns.

A series of self portraits, Plastic Crowns contains a strong narrative expressed through a striking visual language. Phumzile’s work explores aspects of women’s lives through evocations of her own experiences; breaking down social taboos in its explicit exploration of sexual politics. There is little distinction between her craft and her own life in the images, which read like a private journal of informal snap shots made public. Her gritty aesthetic, characterized by harsh shadows, soft focus and lush textures, lends her work it’s notable emotive quality.

Read the full ITW on Between 10 and 5