Lolo
Created | Updated Jun 15, 2008
A fashion photographer whose subjects are galore in the ever-busy streets of Johannesburg, Nontsikelelo Veleko, known as “Lolo” amongst her friends and family members, has made the city’s streets her home as she searches for the fashion crazy minds and souls decorating the bustling streets.
Her world is cast in larger-than-life, brazen beauty statements characterized by shaven heads and outlandish make-up styles of women in their youths. Her work also encompasses images of graffiti, which is inspired by Jozi (slang for Johannesburg)’s sometimes-turbulent sidewalks. Her graffiti images are a stark reminder of the sobering years under Apartheid. She explains that the graffiti might have been a response to the need to utilize public spaces in pre and post independence South Africa. “It was like how can we make art illegal”, she recalled. “Give me drugs, not hugs”, splashed on a train’s body panels, is a rhetoric yet illustrative call by people living with HIV/AIDS in a new South Africa to access remedial medication. All her work is loud especially the graffiti part. “Although I am involved in the fashion photography, I think graffiti has impact and last longer”.
The 1978 born photographer recalled her first encounter with graffiti. “The first graffiti I came across was written “Viva Mandela, Release Mandela”. She confessed that she had no clue who Mandela was but still the message eclipsed her mind. “As a young girl, I did not know who Mandela was but the message was so powerful, I liked it”, she remembers. She says she does photography for herself first before she thinks of who will view it. “I have always been an individual who speaks her mind through photography and I do it for myself”. In the end, she said, she has always been amazed at the response of the public to the work that she has shown in Switzerland, Denmark, USA, South Africa and now Zimbabwe.
What is the secret behind her success so far? “I don’t hide what I do or what I am. I interpret things my own way”. Born in a poor family, she believes that her disadvantaged background contributed to what she is today a strong willed woman.
"I think that the world over those who have poor backgrounds have set standards because they want to be heard. I am being heard and it looks things have gone well so far”, she said. Lolo sees herself as an artist still learning about the photographic profession.
She said she does not have role models even though she was once compared to Keita, the Malian photographic legend. After showing my work in New York recently someone said that it was similar in style to that of Keita. I was surprised because I had not heard or seen his work before.
"I felt happy to be compared to a legend but at the same time worried to have been doing something that had already been done before”. Preferring to call herself a “street” photographer, Lolo is influenced by music styles such as hip-hop and Christianity. “ In Christianity you do it for the world, while in Hip Hop you do it for yourself”, she philosophizes. Her work communicates a sense of African pride, which resonates throughout her portfolio. It celebrates being born in Africa, and she says, “I want to restore some dignity to African history. In South Africa history has been removed from history, as few young people know their past. I am also celebrating colour as I come from a Xhosa background where the language is colourful”.
Her world is cast in larger-than-life, brazen beauty statements characterized by shaven heads and outlandish make-up styles of women in their youths. Her work also encompasses images of graffiti, which is inspired by Jozi (slang for Johannesburg)’s sometimes-turbulent sidewalks. Her graffiti images are a stark reminder of the sobering years under Apartheid. She explains that the graffiti might have been a response to the need to utilize public spaces in pre and post independence South Africa. “It was like how can we make art illegal”, she recalled. “Give me drugs, not hugs”, splashed on a train’s body panels, is a rhetoric yet illustrative call by people living with HIV/AIDS in a new South Africa to access remedial medication. All her work is loud especially the graffiti part. “Although I am involved in the fashion photography, I think graffiti has impact and last longer”.
The 1978 born photographer recalled her first encounter with graffiti. “The first graffiti I came across was written “Viva Mandela, Release Mandela”. She confessed that she had no clue who Mandela was but still the message eclipsed her mind. “As a young girl, I did not know who Mandela was but the message was so powerful, I liked it”, she remembers. She says she does photography for herself first before she thinks of who will view it. “I have always been an individual who speaks her mind through photography and I do it for myself”. In the end, she said, she has always been amazed at the response of the public to the work that she has shown in Switzerland, Denmark, USA, South Africa and now Zimbabwe.
What is the secret behind her success so far? “I don’t hide what I do or what I am. I interpret things my own way”. Born in a poor family, she believes that her disadvantaged background contributed to what she is today a strong willed woman.
"I think that the world over those who have poor backgrounds have set standards because they want to be heard. I am being heard and it looks things have gone well so far”, she said. Lolo sees herself as an artist still learning about the photographic profession.
She said she does not have role models even though she was once compared to Keita, the Malian photographic legend. After showing my work in New York recently someone said that it was similar in style to that of Keita. I was surprised because I had not heard or seen his work before.
"I felt happy to be compared to a legend but at the same time worried to have been doing something that had already been done before”. Preferring to call herself a “street” photographer, Lolo is influenced by music styles such as hip-hop and Christianity. “ In Christianity you do it for the world, while in Hip Hop you do it for yourself”, she philosophizes. Her work communicates a sense of African pride, which resonates throughout her portfolio. It celebrates being born in Africa, and she says, “I want to restore some dignity to African history. In South Africa history has been removed from history, as few young people know their past. I am also celebrating colour as I come from a Xhosa background where the language is colourful”.
