Looking back at our exhibition during the Turbine Art Fair with Wanda Lephoto. We share snippets of our discussion on the motivations behind the Home Affairs SS22 collection, which wasn’t just a fashion collection about South Africa and its social labels. It was a collection about the world we live in today. 

Displacement, migration, corruption, prejudice, and cultural misunderstanding. These shadows inform the worlds of many today. How can fashion begin to bridge what borders and bureaucracies break apart? How do communities refashion what systems collapse? This too is a tale about what fashion can do. 

So, Take a Seat. Take action.

In partnership with AFRI and Wanted, the Roger Ballen Centre for Photography facilitated the Writer-in-Residence programme, bringing together emerging creatives across fashion, photography, fine art, and literature to engage deeply with Fashion_The Image.

Through research, mentorship, and access to the exhibition’s public programme, participants explored how African fashion photography shapes culture and visual narratives.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing their essays, perspectives, and creative processes. From left to right: Melusi Masike, Anele Turdon, Danijela Cook, Warona Motshele, Erica de Greef, Michelle-Erin Sibiya. Zinhle Khumalo, Timna Ngowapi, Bella Makhubo and Anele Nyanda.