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The 2025 edition of the festival has come to a close, and with it a month of reflection, exchange, and celebration. Our heritage theme invited us to consider how the past, present, and future remain deeply connected. Heritage grounds us in identity, cultivates belonging, and helps us understand where we come from and where we might go. Across exhibitions and talks, voices from Cape Town and beyond shared visual narratives that spanned the local, the national, and the global. We were honoured to welcome a wide and diverse audience from students and emerging photographers to established artists, curators, and collectors, all contributing to the conversations that unfolded. Cape Town has a rich tradition of celebrating photography, from the Month of Photography festivals of the late 1990s through 2014, to today’s dynamic landscape shaped by a new generation of photographers addressing urgent social, political, and environmental concerns. With its growing network of cultural institutions, the city has once again affirmed its place as a hub for photographic dialogue and artistic exchange. The first edition of the Cape Town Photography Festival was just the beginning.
Heidi Erdmann (Festival Director) Portrait by Sean Wilson
Cover image by TJ Lemon
festival Exhibitions
Attached to the Soil
Roger Ballen's Johannesburg
Attached to the Soil
Peter Glendinning (Michigan, USA).
Portraits of young South Africans and their thoughts on the significance of Nelson Mandela’s metaphor made at his inauguration in 1995 where he likened South Africans to different types of trees which were all attached to the same soil.
Frail and Flowering
Roger Ballen's Johannesburg
Attached to the Soil
Margaret Courtney-Clarke is an award-winning Namibian photographer and photojournalist. Her work explores the resilience of communities enduring the rapidly shifting landscapes of Namibia. Curated by Virginia MacKenny.
Margaret Courtney-Clarke will be present
Artvark Gallery. Kalk Bay
EXTENDED TO MID OCTOBER
Roger Ballen's Johannesburg
Roger Ballen's Johannesburg
Roger Ballen's Johannesburg
"As a photographer and artist, my work goes beyond conventional photography; it seeks to explore the depths of the human psyche"
Central Library
EXTENDED TO MID OCTOBER
Future Heritage
This was my home: Mauritian heritage
Roger Ballen's Johannesburg
Mohau Modisakeng (South Africa), Jun Ahn, (South Korea), Goo Gijeong (South Korea) & Boris Eldagsen (Germany) Curated by Suok-Won Yoon (South Korea).
©Boris Eldagsen
This was my home: Mauritian heritage
This was my home: Mauritian heritage
This was my home: Mauritian heritage
Heritage in Mauritius is not a straight line. Lineages are fractured by exile, indenture, migration and silence. Meha Desai, Karen Pang, Audrey Albert, Melisa Madanamootoo, David Rogers, Catherine Li, Laurent de Froberville & Javed Jeetoo
Alliance Française
©David Roger
District Six People Lived Here
This was my home: Mauritian heritage
This was my home: Mauritian heritage
In 1970 the Cape Provincial Institute of Architects commissioned Jansje Wissema (1920–1975) to document the building, the street life and the people of District Six.
This exhibition also includes a few images from the Van Kalker Photo Studio (1937 - 1978).
Cape Institute for Architecture
Until All Birds Can Sing: On Being Queer in South Africa
Until All Birds Can Sing: On Being Queer in South Africa
Until All Birds Can Sing: On Being Queer in South Africa
Moena Weiss (Berlin/San Francisco). Weiss is a photographer and clinical psychologist who explores the intersection of art and psychology.
EXTENDED TO END OCTOBER
Family Album
Until All Birds Can Sing: On Being Queer in South Africa
Until All Birds Can Sing: On Being Queer in South Africa
Naoya Yoshikawa (Osaka, Japan). The photographer recreated a new family album after the sudden death of his mother.
Madoli Wam
Until All Birds Can Sing: On Being Queer in South Africa
The entity outside the boundaries
Solo installation by well known Soweto-based artist, Senzeni Marasela.
Curated by Banthatile Rwasoka
Central Library
The entity outside the boundaries
The entity outside the boundaries
The entity outside the boundaries
Solo exhibition by South Korean artist, Suok-Won Yoon.
Central Library
Uitsig
The entity outside the boundaries
…Looking In
Photographs by Ashley Walters from his acclaimed series, Uitsig. Curated by Stefan Hundt and drawn from Sanlam's permanent collection.
Sanlam Art Gallery, Bellville
UNTIL END OCTOBER
…Looking In
The entity outside the boundaries
…Looking In
Selection of Jürgen Schadeberg's (1931-2020) hand prints on loan from Kilbourn Collection.
Curated by Stefan Hundt.
Sanlam Art Gallery, Bellvile
UNTIL END OCTOBER
Shifting Sands
Mapping the Jazz Scene, Cape Town 1964-1974. Ian Bruce Huntley (1939-2023)
Shooting Stars: a look at music photography
New solo exhibition by acclaimed Johannesburg-based artist, Lindokuhle Sobekwa. Winner of the 2025 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize.
Curated by Nandi Jakuja
Goodman Gallery, Cape Town
Supplied image cropped.
UNTIL 4 OCTOBER
Shooting Stars: a look at music photography
Mapping the Jazz Scene, Cape Town 1964-1974. Ian Bruce Huntley (1939-2023)
Shooting Stars: a look at music photography
Rafs Mayet, Barry White, Frank Marshall, Jürgen Schadeberg, Oscar Gutierez, Pierre Crocquet, Tim Hopwood, Joëlle Chesselet, Paul Weinberg, Gregory Franz, John Hogg, Guy Tillim, Willem Mulder, Nic Hofmeyr, Nicky Newman, TJ Lemon, Gary van Wyk, Steve Hilton-Barber, Dale Yudelman, Patrick de Mervelec, Karina Turok and a solo exhibition of ph
Rafs Mayet, Barry White, Frank Marshall, Jürgen Schadeberg, Oscar Gutierez, Pierre Crocquet, Tim Hopwood, Joëlle Chesselet, Paul Weinberg, Gregory Franz, John Hogg, Guy Tillim, Willem Mulder, Nic Hofmeyr, Nicky Newman, TJ Lemon, Gary van Wyk, Steve Hilton-Barber, Dale Yudelman, Patrick de Mervelec, Karina Turok and a solo exhibition of photographs by Ian Bruce Huntley Curated Carsten Rasch.
6 Spin Street Gallery
©Paul Weinberg
Mapping the Jazz Scene, Cape Town 1964-1974. Ian Bruce Huntley (1939-2023)
Mapping the Jazz Scene, Cape Town 1964-1974. Ian Bruce Huntley (1939-2023)
Mapping the Jazz Scene, Cape Town 1964-1974. Ian Bruce Huntley (1939-2023)
Curated by Chris Albertyn
Huntley's gift to Cape Town is a multi-dimensional unique archive of 1500 images of musical performance, and more than 60 hours of recorded jazz music performed live in the city from 1964 to 1974.
From 1959, this land surveyor’s assistant mapped the city’s surrounding mountains and beacons by day, and ‘shot’ and recorded the musical stars by night.
Resisting the Pixel: Narratives in Analogue
Resisting the Pixel: Narratives in Analogue
Mapping the Jazz Scene, Cape Town 1964-1974. Ian Bruce Huntley (1939-2023)
Alex Hamilton, Busiswa Mazwana, Chloe Obermeyer, Claudia Schneider, Clerissa Visser, Danie Nel, Dennis da Silva, Geert Oliver, Graeme Lees, Heinz Modler, Irvine Meyer, Lunga Kama, Paul Stander, Rodney Rudman, Sayako Sugawara, Sean Wilson, Sharday Swanepoel, Sophie Smith, Tiaan van Deventer and Tiandi van Niekerk.
Curated by Tiaan van Deventer
©Busiswa Mazwana
Perde Mense
Resisting the Pixel: Narratives in Analogue
Immortal Impressions
A capsule installation by Gabrielle
Kannemeyer. Captured over two years at local horse shows and within equestrian communities, the work centers riders, trainers, and families often marginalized in prevailing narratives of equestrianism.
Central Library
Immortal Impressions
Resisting the Pixel: Narratives in Analogue
Immortal Impressions
A solo exhibition by Sean Wilson. 'Ambrotype' is the technical term for a wet plate collodion photograph
made onto glass. Loosely translated from Greek, means ‘Immortal
Impressions’.
Bijou Project Space. Observatory
EXTENDED UNTIL MID OCTOBER
Witness
Beyond the Lens: The Inside Story
Unfiltered
The exhibition reasserts the photographer’s role not merely
as observer or documentarian, but as a critical agent as producer of realities. Kuba Freter (Germany), Nonzuzo Gxekwa, Johno Mellish and Manyatsa Monyamane.
EXTENDED UNTIL END OCTOBER
Unfiltered
Beyond the Lens: The Inside Story
Unfiltered
This group exhibition curated by Heidi Erdmann is partly online and partly on view at WORLDART Gallery. Nomusa Makhubu, Patrick de Mervelec, Brenton Geach, Sam Reinders, Andreas Werner, Verity Fitzgerald, Inge Prins, Nicole Fraser, Susanna Neunast, Obie Oberholzer, Roger Ballen, Peter Glendinning, TJ Lemon and others.
WORLDART Gallery & Online
©Susanna Neunast
Beyond the Lens: The Inside Story
Beyond the Lens: The Inside Story
Beyond the Lens: The Inside Story
A group exhibition featuring some of South Africa's leading photographers.
Billy Monk, Roy Zetisky, Paul Alberts, Jodi Bieber, David Lurie, Pierre Crocquet, Roger Ballen, Jurgen Schadeberg, Ginger Odes, George Hallet, Cloete Breytenbach, Juhan Kuus, Obie Oberholzer, Gavin Furlonger, David Levine, James Soullier and Gunther Komnick.
Gallery F ©Ginger Odes
UNTIL END OCTOBER
Through Kids' Eyes
ikamanye / now / ima L
Beyond the Lens: The Inside Story
Gabrielle Kannemeyer has, since 2024, been intermittently engage in a documentary and community-focused photography project with a group of youths who ride wild-roaming horses in a valley in the Overberg. These are their photographs.
The ARENA at Central Library. ©Tyrique
The Children's Photography Awards are courtesy of
MTN SA Foundation
ikamanye / now / ima L
ikamanye / now / ima L
ikamanye / now / ima L
&Student Photography. Curated by Naoya Yoshikawa (Osaka University of Arts, Japan), Ashley Walters (Stellenbosch University ) and Dr Waldemar Bussiahn (Cape Town University of Technology). ©Carmen Andrag &
Central Library
Opening Friday 5 Sept at 3-5pm
GUS Gallery (Stellenbosch)
Opening 16 Sept at 6pm
Motherhood
ikamanye / now / ima L
ikamanye / now / ima L
Motherhood: Paradox and Duality curated by Andrea Lewis, explores the multifaceted nature of motherhood through the works of 70 Southern African artists. Photographs by Zanele Muholi, Haneem Christian, Nomusa Makhuba, Jean Brundrit, Leah Hawker, Svea Josephy, Lindokuhle Sobekwa, Lebohang Kganye and more.
Iziko South African National Gallery
Poster image supplied
ON VIEW
Van Kalker Photo Studio
Sanctity Spirituality & Clay
Sanctity Spirituality & Clay
The Van Kalker Studio was started by JG Van Kalker in 1937 at 47 Victoria Street, Woodstock. This collection is a vault of private moments in which special events were immortalised and memorialised. They offer an intimate yet still unfolding account of the city of Cape Town and its people. Woman, seated, 1955. Van Kalker Photographic Stud
The Van Kalker Studio was started by JG Van Kalker in 1937 at 47 Victoria Street, Woodstock. This collection is a vault of private moments in which special events were immortalised and memorialised. They offer an intimate yet still unfolding account of the city of Cape Town and its people. Woman, seated, 1955. Van Kalker Photographic Studio. Irvine Clements Collection, District Six Museum. Presented at the Cape Institute for Architecture
Sanctity Spirituality & Clay
Sanctity Spirituality & Clay
Sanctity Spirituality & Clay
Art Formes is proud to present Sanctity, a joint exhibition exploring spirituality and clay through the works of ceramic artist Sbonelo Luthuli and photographer Paul Weinberg.
ON VIEW
SPEAKERS
cape town photography festival 2025
Alliance Française
6 Spin Street Gallery
Alliance Française
This was my home: Mauritian heritage exhibition poster
Walkabout
6 Spin Street Gallery
Alliance Française
With Naoya Yoshikawa at his exhibition.
6 Spin Street Gallery
6 Spin Street Gallery
6 Spin Street Gallery
Shooting Stars exhibition installation view
Sigma event
6 Spin Street Gallery
6 Spin Street Gallery
Stephan Hundt and Carla Bornman
Central Library
6 Spin Street Gallery
6 Spin Street Gallery
Participants in the children's photography project
6 Spin Street Gallery
6 Spin Street Gallery
6 Spin Street Gallery
Patrick de Mervelec and Oscar Gutierrez
Simon's Town Museum
Simon's Town Museum
Simon's Town Museum
Tazneem Wentzel with Peter Glendinning's
Attached to the Soil exhibition
Festival poster
Simon's Town Museum
Simon's Town Museum
Photograph by Ahn Jun
Cameraland
Simon's Town Museum
Aspire Art venue
Naoya Yoshikawa and Suok-Won Yoon with Sherkecia van Wyk and Saxola Sidali
Aspire Art venue
This was my home: Mauritian heritage
Aspire Art venue
Future Heritage exhibition featuring Ahn Jun' images
WORLDART Gallery
This was my home: Mauritian heritage
This was my home: Mauritian heritage
Tembelihle Shongwe, Suok-Won Yoon and Saxola Sidali
This was my home: Mauritian heritage
This was my home: Mauritian heritage
This was my home: Mauritian heritage
Photograph by Catharine Li
Festival events
Artvark Gallery
Cape Institute for Architecture
Sanlam Art Gallery
Margaret Courtney-Clarke
Sanlam Art Gallery
Cape Institute for Architecture
Sanlam Art Gallery
Photographs by Jurgen Schadeberg and Ashley Walters
Cape Institute for Architecture
Cape Institute for Architecture
Cape Institute for Architecture
Jansje Wissema exhibiton
Festival event
Festival event
Cape Institute for Architecture
Hanepoot Brass Band
Leica event
Festival event
Leica event
Roger Ballen and Ian Hardie (Leica)
Gallery F
Festival event
Leica event
Event Poster
THK Gallery
YoungBlood Gallery
YoungBlood Gallery
Nonzuzo Gxekwa
YoungBlood Gallery
YoungBlood Gallery
YoungBlood Gallery
Moena Weiss
Central Library
YoungBlood Gallery
Kingsbridge Art Gallery
Senzeni Marasela
Kingsbridge Art Gallery
Kingsbridge Art Gallery
Kingsbridge Art Gallery
Tiaan van Deventer with Heidi Erdmann
Sanlam Art Gallery
Kingsbridge Art Gallery
Bijou Project Space
Jurgen Schadeberg with his Leica camera
Bijou Project Space
Kingsbridge Art Gallery
Bijou Project Space
Sean Wilson
