GROUP SHOWS
2023
Looking for the Light, Photometria awards 2022, esp+ Gallery, Greece
2022
Uhambo, Umhlabathi, Johannesburg, South Africa
2021 – 2022
Inganekwane, Constitution Hill, Johannesburg , South Africa – Northwest University
Gallery, Potchestroom, South Africa
2021
Into the Night, RESTUDIO, Johannesburg, South Africa
Elective Affinities, Bristol Photo Festival, BPF Public Gallery, Bristol, UK
2020
Of Soul and Joy, Croisière, Arles, France
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Rubis Mecenat, Cape Town international Convention Center, Cape Town, South Africa
2019
Joburg Fringe, the art room, Johannesburg, South Africa
2018
Place of Peace, organised by Rubis Mécénat, Stop Sign Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2017
Bamako Encounters, 11th Edition, AFROTOPIA, Bamako, Mali
Roadhouse, Casa Blanca Roadhouse, Brakpan, South Africa
2016
Free from my Happiness, organised by Rubis Mécénat, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2015
Free from my Happiness, organised by Rubis Mécénat and curated by Tjorven Bruyneel and Bieke Depoorter, International Photo Festival, Ghent, Belgium
2014
Visions of Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
2013
In Thokoza, organised by Rubis Mécénat Cultural Funds, Ithuba Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
CATALYST 2020/2021
English
Published by IC Visual Lab in collaboration with Bristol Photo Festival
2021
AFROTOPIA
French and English
Published by Dilecta Editions
2018
THE OF SOUL AND JOY PHOTO COLLECTIVE
English
Published by Rubis Mecenat
2017
FREE FROM MY HAPPINESS
English
Published by Rubis Mecenat
2015
IN THOKOZA
English
Published by Rubis Mecenat
2013
Rubis Mécénat’s Of Soul and Joy South African Photography Project in Arles, whitewall, August 2020
Of Soul and Joy, fisheye magazine, July 2020
Of Soul and Joy Photography Project South Africa, Contemporary &, July 2020
Of Soul and Joy : Rubis Mécénat expose à Arles, artsixMix, June 2020
Sawubona Sibusiso Bheka !, clicanoo, April 2020
South Africa’s longest running Independent Art Fair returns for its 12th edition, Art Africa, November 2019
Shortlist CAP Contemporary African Photography Price announced, Zam Magazine, May 2019
Look: SA Youth tell their stories through the lens, IOL, July 2018
Rencontres de Bamako: Afrotopia, nouveaux imaginaires de l’Afrique contemporaine, France Info, December 2017
Photographie – Ouverture des Rencontres de Bamako : « Réinvestir les imaginaires », Jeune Afrique, December 2017
Bamako : à la 11e Biennale, les photographes imaginent le futur de l’Afrique, France Info, November 2017
An Outdoor Photography Exhibition Celebrates the Night in Johannesburg, Widewalls, August 2017
Brakpan roadhouse turned art gallery puts the real East Rand on show, Sunday Times, March 2017
At night, they walk with me: Sibusiso Bheka captures the atmosphere of Thokoza after dark, Between 10 and 5, October 2015
Sibusiso Bheka
Born in 1997 in Thokoza, South Africa. Lives and works in Thokoza, South Africa.
Sibusiso Bheka is Of Soul and Joy’s Project Assistant. His series Stop Nonsense was part of the 11th edition Rencontres de Bamako -African Biennale of photography in 2017 as a traveling exhibition. The series was also shown at the National Museum of World Culture, Leiden, Netherlands in 2018. Bheka was shortlisted for the Magnum Foundation Photography and Social Justice Fellowship in 2018 and in the 2019 he was nominated for the Joop Swart Masterclass and shortlisted for the CAP Prize for Contemporary African
Photography. His work was shown at the Ithuba Arts Gallery, Johannesburg (2013), the Addis Foto Fest, Ethiopia (2014), the Ghent International Photo Festival, Belgium (2015), the Johannesburg Art Gallery in South Africa (2016), Arles Photo Encounters (2020) Bristol Photo Festival (2021)
Sibusiso Bheka’s work documents his environment by night, giving us to see his reality of Thokoza, his playful moments almost surreal just before light disappears. His work is a testimony to South Africa’s violent past as well as a celebration of the intense beauty that can be found in the details of daily life in a township.
Please read Magical Realism, an essay by Sean O’Toole