'I Am African'
Through the Lens of Umthaxazi Pictures

Sphamandla Dlamini

Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa

SHEMBE AMANAZARETHA

The Shembe religion is a combination of Zulu culture and Christianity that has been based on the Old Testament of the Bible. Most members of the Shembe Church are Zulu and their church is located on a sacred site called Ekuphakameni, which means ‘Place of Spiritual Upliftment’, named by the founder of the Shembe Church, Isaiah Shembe. He was also the first to complete the Shembe Pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain, as he was summoned to the mountain by God in 1916. It is said God spoke to Isaiah Shembe, as he did with Moses at Mount Sinai. The Shembe religion has grown in many different regions throughout Kwa-Zulu Natal and some in Gauteng.
This ongoing project is based in the area of Verulam which is in the North coast of Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal province in South Africa and Johannesburg, Gauteng Province in South Africa.

A ZULU TRADITION

The culture of a people is what marks them out distinctively from other human societies in the family of humanity. This body of work is inspired by where I come from, Kwa-Zulu Natal. The main reason behind this project is that
I come from a family that believes in their tradition. Growing up I was always told that one must always know their background as an individual and how things are done traditionally. In this body of work I want to
show and teach people about my Zulu tradition and Zulu tribe, that is the largest tribe South Africa.

THE SUGARCANE WORKERS

Growing up in Kwa-Zulu Natal in a small township called Waterloo with sugarcane fields around us, where we would go to play as kids. Whenever we saw the cane workers, we would run away thinking they would kill us because we saw the way they dress and the weapons they carry when working. An idea came to me that I should create a body of work about the sugarcane workers, representing the faces of the people that I feared when I was a young kid. Most of the men are from the Eastern Cape. They stay in the shelters near the cane fields and they only visit home during December holidays.

UNRECOGNIZED

This body of work is about the unrecognized talents in townships. The main inspiration for this project is about how townships have people that are talented but their talent goes to waste. Their talents remain unrecognized because of the unprivileged backgrounds they come from. This is one of the projects that is very close
to my heart because I once had a passion for soccer at a very young age. My talent was not recognized
as a young kid from an unprivileged township, which is the reason the images are about soccer.
The images are in silhouette, so you can actually see the subject but you cannot recognize it. 

ZULU PORTRAITS

ABOUT THE ARTIST & HIS WORK

I am a self-taught photographer who engages in documentary and conceptual photography. I am more focused on traditional images because they define who I am. I come from a very traditional, spiritual family. My work is inspired by my upbringing with images that speak to your soul. Just by looking at them, a message is delivered.
I strongly believe as a photographer that it is better to shoot something close to your heart because you will be able to produce images that have a clear meaning to you. Through this lens, I capture and document moments
in the lives of South African communities.